It’s hard to believe that it’s already been about 6 years since we had to change our company name from NightScapes to NightScenes. Even though it’s been that long, many still call us NightScapes. This makes me smile sometimes because it means we must have really made an impact for that name to be remembered for so long. There are even other Nightscapes companies now like Texas Nightscapes or Creative Nightscapes, etc.!
We are often asked why we changed our name, so here is the story.
In March of 2004, NightScapes Landscape Lighting Professionals was born in my home office in Kingsland, Texas which is only about 50 miles from Austin. It came about after a very small lighting project from my electrician business. Our first few blog posts from 2009 tell the whole story, so I’ll not bore you with all of the details here.
In two short years NightScapes built a very strong reputation and received some national attention. There were a few articles printed that mentioned our work, but our greatest opportunity to be seen was the project we did for huge hit television show, Extreme Makeover: Home Addition. There was a shot in that show that had our truck and trailer parked right in front of the home we were working on; and there was even a close-up shot of my mug to boot!
That show caught the attention of a lighting manufacturer in California who had a trademark on a similar word. He threatened to sue us if we didn’t stop using our name, NightScapes. Well, I checked with the Federal Trademark Office lawyers and, sure enough, they told me that I would not win this fight if I decided to go to battle. We were a very young company, of course, and the “other guy” was the guy who pretty much started the whole outdoor lighting industry – so, my wife Patty (CEO of the company!) and I decided to go another route.
Although we hated the thought of losing our brand, changing the name seemed the best option. We could change only two letters in our name and become NightScenes Landscape Lighting Professionals, which was pretty darn close, right? When I found that we could trademark the name NightScenes, it made the decision much easier too. So we did it, we went from NightScapes to NightScenes, filed for a federal trademark and got it. We also decided to also trademark our slogan “Refining the Night” — and now we own two federal trademarks for our business.
The irony in this whole deal is that the company owning the trademark that caused us to change our name 6 years ago is now out of business! But we are still kicking, and plan to do so for a very long time. NightScenes Landscape Lighting Professionals has continued to prosper, gaining an even bigger and better reputation around the country – and even around the world, thanks to this blog. We have readers from just about every country now; and, naturally, they also keep up with us on our Facebook page which wasn’t even around back in 2004.
So that’s the story of why we changed our name, but we’ll still always smile when someone calls us NightScapes as long as they’re not confusing us with one of those “other” Nightscapes.
We are here for you in the greater Austin and hill country areas if you need us. Contact us here.
