A Wellington woman has lost her fight to protect her trademark against a Dutch multinational company with the same name.
Gaylene Hosking registered her public relations company, TomTom, with New Zealand's Intellectual Property Office in 1998 but the GPS company TomTom has been trying to register its own trademark here since 2008.
The office found there was significant confusion between the two companies, with many GPS customers mistakenly contacting Ms Hosking's company.
But it said most of the confusion was low-level, such as mis-directed mail and phone calls, and allowed the Dutch GPS company to trademark its name.
The office said any bigger problems had come about because Ms Hosking's company did not have a major reputation.
Ms Hosking said she had not decided whether she would appeal the decision.
