Digital Trends

Garmin's Nuvifone has drawn the ire of Nuvio, a company with a similar-sounding name that will take Garmin to court over alleged trademark infringement.

It looks as if there just aren’t enough creative phone names out there to keep companies from walking all over each others’ trademarks.  Just like the Cisco iPhone/Apple iPhone debacle of last year,  Garmin’s new Nuvifone has stirred up trouble with Nuvio, another manufacturer with a similar name, selling similar products – phones.

Nuvio announced on Thursday that it had filed a trademark lawsuit against Garmin in the US District Court of Kansas, the state where both Garmin and Nuvio are headquartered. According to the company’s press release, it attempt to reach a settlement out of court before issuing a cease and desist letter in late Janauary and now seeking legal action.

“While we would have preferred to settle this without resorting to a lawsuit, we felt it was important to ensure that our customers and potential customers are not confused by someone abusing our legally protected trademark,” said Nuvio CEO Jason Talley, in a statement. “Our customers commonly refer to our service as the Nuvio phone.”

In the suit, Nuvio has requested a permanent injunction barring Garmin from using the name, along with damages for the alleged infringement. Garmin has not yet publicly commented on the situation.