What is Our Association’s Legal Name Anyway?

Will the real “Woodlands” please come forward?

By: Sharon Aron Baron

Thanks to a resident who did a little investigative work, he came across a very interesting discovery which gives cause to consider: just who really owns the word Woodlands because our WHOA sure doesn’t.

On our official HOA website, they have the name of the association incorrect.

The attorney with Becker & Poliakoff says that the association owns common law rights to the name “The Woodlands.”  However, we have found that since 1970, they have been registered with the State of Florida not as “The Woodlands” but as “Woodland” without the “s” on the end.

How can they claim they have the legal rights to “The Woodlands” when they don’t even have it themselves?  How did they overlook this?   Another thing, why does the WHOA keep sending mailers and minutes as the “Woodlands Homeowners Association, Inc.” when this is not how they are legally registered with the state?

This site is called The Woodlands in Tamarac.  The only word it has in common with our association is the word “the.” There are also thousands of other Woodlands websites out there and many in Florida are in communities just like ours. Can our HOA show these communities that they have the exclusive trademark to this name?  They may have to open their checkbook a little wider if they want to catch all these doppelgängers masquerading as them as well.

Careful, we wouldn’t want you feeble-minded souls to be taken by these impostors!

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