A company called Nuvio, a communications company providing, among other things, internet phone services, is demanding that Garmin immediately stop using the name “Nüvi” for its new telephones, the Nuvifone.

It appeared that, in the internet age, Garmin was shooting itself in the foot by adding the Ü to the product’s name in the first place - do a search on Google for “nuvi” and the search engine will understand that it’s the same as “nüvi” and give you all the results together, but many search services aren’t as intuitive. It seemed that users would have a slightly harder time finding information about the Nüvi, and that could make or break a company. Fortunately, Garmin squeezed by that, and blossomed into the industry leader.

So does Nuvio have a leg to stand on? Let’s look at some of the arguments:

In Nuvio’s favor…
• Nuvio was founded in 2003; Garmin announced the Nüvi on September 12, 2005 (read the original press release here).
• Nuvio and Nüvi are undeniably similar words.
• According to Nuvio’s CEO Jason Talley, “Our customers commonly refer to our service as the Nuvio phone.” This is borne out by a scan of the company’s website, which has mentioned the phrase “Nuvio phone” in the past, though usually quoting others, and rarely if ever officially. “Nuvio phone” is one way to refer to the company’s phone service, but far from common.

In Garmin’s favor…
• Nuvio’s services seem only tangentially related (to put it charitably) to what Garmin does, even the Nüvifone. Nuvio is demanding that Garmin stop using the word on it GPS devices - quite a reach, since Nuvio is not involved in the same business.
• In the business world, might makes right, and Garmin is mighty. Far more people have heard of Garmin than Nuvio, and its resources are much deeper than Nuvio’s could ever hope to be.

OUR PREDICTION
Garmin will keep using the name Nüvi, and not have to pay Nuvio anything.

At least that’s what we’re hoping. Nuvio may have chanced into a similarly-named product, but the similarity is thin already; stretching it so far that a lawsuit is in order is so clearly a misguided attempt at cashing in on a minor coincidence that we don’t think Nuvio deserves a penny.

It’s like when the Beatles’ Apple Corp. sued Apple Computers because Steve Jobs had come out with some minor piano keyboard device. Apple Corp. decided that anything music-related from Apple Computers would confuse people, hence the lawsuit. Completely retarded. Obviously so.

Furthering the disconnect between reality and law is not a good thing. Nuvio’s cynical ploy to get a few million dollars (or whatever they’re looking for) deserves to be consigned to the trash can of legal history.

Garmin isn’t trying to steal your customers. Lighten up, Francis.

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