You may have heard of Troopergate and Travelgate. And of course, the grandaddy of them all: Watergate. But now a controversy is brewing among Pacific Northwest technology companies over the use of the word dango in their corporate names. Just call it Dangogate.

The primary dispute resides between Portland online jobs site Jobdango and Seattle geo-based search engine Zoodango, though a tiny Seattle area startup that used to operate under the moniker Goddango also has been caught in the fray.

First off, what's a dango? According to Wikipedia, it is a Japanese dumpling. The word also is commonly used in a Japanese phrase meaning "dumplings rather than flowers."

Dango has risen to popularity in the U.S. over the past decade as companies such as Fandango and Handango -- both of which were founded before Jobdango -- used it as a catchy add-on.

But the dango dispute heated up recently when attorneys for Jobdango asked that Zoodango stop using the name. James Sun, the chief executive of Zoodango, called the trademark issue "silly" since the two companies operate in different sectors.

And Sun, whose company just raised $625,000 in angel financing, also wondered how Jobdango could lay claim to the word since other online businesses have operated with that term for longer periods.

Fandango, for example, announced its name in June 2000. A spokesman for the online movie site said they have not been contacted by Jobdango about the usage of dango in their name.

"We are all startups, and we all need to support each other," said Sun, who plans to fight the issue even though Zoodango is in the process of changing its name to GeoPage. (Sun said they are switching names in part because a large media partner didn't like Zoodango. And he said they still plan to use Zoodango in some form in the business.)

Jobdango executive Ralph King filed for a trademark of "dango" on August 14, 2007, and while it has not been granted the process is moving forward despite some initial opposition. According to documents with the trademark office, a notice of allowance was issued to King late last year.

King did not return calls for comment. And the Portland patent and trademark attorney listed on the application, David Cooper, could not be reached immediately. 

Adam Philipp, a Seattle patent attorney with Axios Law Group, said that companies must enforce their trademarks or risk losing them. Still, Philipp thinks the dango case is ripe for settlement.

Philipp

"I expect this will be a tempest in a teapot because dango is a vulnerable mark since other people in the online space were using it before them," said Philipp.

It may seem odd that a portion of a name would be trademarked -- say "micro" or "soft" for the world's largest software company. But Philipp said it does occur, citing the example of Toys 'R' Us which has been very aggressive in protecting its trademark.

"They've been brutal in going after anyone who uses the 'R' Us," said Philipp, adding that the corporate parent of the retailer has been very successful in protecting that aspect of the name.

Zoodango isn't the only Seattle area startup caught up in Dangogate. Shortly after launch in 2007, Goddango was asked to stop using its name.

Goddango founder David Vaughan said he decided against fighting the issue, since he was juggling so many other tasks in trying to get the business off the ground.

"As with a lot of entrepreneurs, I felt I had enough in the way of alternately compelling projects not to pursue the dango avenue at that time," said Vaughan.

A message on that company's Web site now reads: "This Web project is currently on hold while 'JobDango Corporation, a Northwest jobs Web site, seeks to clarify a position of full legal ownership over all business uses of the word 'dango.'"

UPDATE: Over the past two years, Jobdango's King has objected to at least half a dozen uses of the word dango in company names, according to filings with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The most recent being MyBrandango.com, which abandoned the name in March after King's attorney alleged that its use would cause "confusion, mistake and deception" with Jobdango. 

Others that have run into trademark issues with Jobdango include: Grubdango, Labdango, Kidango, Endango and Bandango. In many of those cases, the defendants have either abandoned the name or have failed to respond to the legal inquiry.

The Zoodango case is still pending, according to filings with the USPTO. And like the other cases on file, King alleges that Zoodango's trademark is "confusingly similar" to Jobdango and asks that it be canceled.