I used the actual names in the title and listing. My listing was reinstated 10 mins later with the brand name removed from the title but not the description. I read thru Reverb's listing guidelines and it specifically states trademarked names are not allowed to be used with clones. I looked up these names in the official US Trademark & Patent Office website. The names I used, that pertained to this item, are not listed as current, live, pending, or even expired trademarks. I checked a few other pedal companies and they are listed. I mentioned this in the conversation and it was weakly rebuffed. There were some other things that didn't add up but that's to be expected with something like this.
Just to add some gloss here:
I’ve not read the actual Reverb policy and question to see whether it talks about “trademarks“ or only “
registered trademarks”. But, at least in the U.S., you absolutely have legally protectable trademark rights in a brand or product name under federal law even if you
never attempt to register it with the USPTO or any corresponding state trademark authority. All that is needed is that you use the word or phrase to identify your product or service in commerce (i.e, you are offering it for sale). This is what the law terms to be “commonlaw trademark rights” and they are explicitly protected under federal law. In fact, if you attempt to register a trademark that someone else has already used in commerce without registering it, they have the right to oppose your trademark application or to get your trademark registration canceled (if you happened to get an actual registration). So the fact that this company didn’t apply for or get a trademark registration absolutely does not mean they don’t have a legally protectable trademark, so long as they can show that they’ve been using the name on products that they have been offering for the sale in the U.S.
Again, if the relevant Reverb policy limits this protection to only “registered” trademarks, that may be a different matter, as this would require that the trademark at issue be covered by a current trademark registration at the USPTO (or, at a minimum, under the trademark registration scheme of a given U.S. state).
Source: me, US attorney practicing trademark law since 1998. I often have to burst clients' bubbles when they tell me that they searched the USPTO database and conclude that the trademark they want is free for the taking just because it is not federally-registered.
