Bridgestone Americas the tire company has reportedly sued Commerce Max Inc a Texican company that sells 'Amberstone' branded tires.

Commerce Max Inc sell a full range of tires including Bridgestone. The 'Amberstone' branded tires are manufactured by a Chinese company and are sold in Texas. Bridgestone have claimed trade mark infringement and have demanded damages, account of profits, destruction of all offending products and marketing materials and to for Commerce Max to contact all of their customers and inform them that 'Amberstone' is in no way associated with Bridgestone.

It seems a long shot, after all trade mark law considers the first aspect of marks as the most important i.e. 'Bridge' and 'Amber'. Of course they are not similar and it therefore appears that Bridgestone are looking to rely on the suffix 'Stone'. Of course this is generic, it seems likely that Commerce Max if they choose to fight it would state that its use is descriptive of the properties of the product i.e. 'stone' to denote that the tires are tough (hard as stone if you will).