And I suspect no-one can trade mark a general word, such as Audio, Sound, HIFI and the sort, unless it has a prefix or a suffix, such as Chord-company, Chord-electronics, Audiolab or monitoraudio.Both companies have registered the word CHORD as a trademark. The registration for The Chord Company covers "Cables, lines, wires and interconnectors; parts and fittings for all the aforesaid goods." The one for Chord Electronics applies to "Audio equipment and devices; multimedia equipment and devices; accessories for the aforesaid goods; application software for mobile devices; electronic signal receiving equipment; electronic signal transmission equipment; electronic signal processing equipment; electronic storage devices; power supplies; power storage and distribution equipment and devices; none of the aforesaid goods being audio and video leads, cables, wires and connectors." Note the bolded (by me) part.