You've just found out the name you want for your brand is owned by somebody else. So, the temptation is to say, "Let's move on."
Not so fast. Names are property, and can be bought and sold (or leased) like real estate.
Coors licensed the name of its upscale beer Irish Red from a long-defunct brewery. Yves St. Laurent bought the name of its Opium fragrance for only $200 from two elderly perfumers.
The 1999 relaunch of National Airlines came about after the new owners paid $175,000 to buy the name at a bankruptcy sale from defunct Pan Am. (Pan Am had acquired the carrier in 1980.)
Not that long ago, we helped a Fortune 100 company acquire the rights to an automation software name from its Japanese owner. One week of phone calls and faxes produced a letter of agreement.
When the name you covet is owned by somebody else, go after it. Use an intermediary to open a channel of communications. Have a valuation in mind. Make sure the assignment of rights is perfectly clear. (For which countries, for what period of time are you acquiring the name?)
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