Can two businesses have the same name in different industries?

Trademark rights cover a word for particular goods or services, not the word everywhere. That's why Delta the airline and Delta the faucet maker coexist, and why Dove soap and Dove chocolate sit on nearby shelves without a fight. The same name can live in two industries when they're far enough apart that no reasonable customer would think the products share a source.

Trademarks are organized into 45 Nice classes: 34 for goods, 11 for services. When you apply, you register your mark for specific classes, and your rights are strongest there. Two businesses in genuinely unrelated classes (say, Class 025 apparel and Class 009 software) can frequently hold the same or similar names, because the goods don't overlap and confusion is unlikely.

The coexistence rule has real limits:

• Related is not the same as identical. Coffee shops (Class 043) and packaged coffee (Class 030) are different classes but closely related, so a shared name there is risky. Examiners look at whether goods are related, not whether the class numbers match.

• Famous marks get a wider berth. A well-known mark can be protected even across unrelated categories, because using it elsewhere can dilute or trade on its reputation.

• Expansion plans matter. If you'll plausibly grow into the other business's space, "different industry today" may not hold tomorrow.

So the honest version is: same name in a truly unrelated field is often fine; same name in a neighboring field is where trouble starts. Screening tells you which one you're in.