Can I advertise a program if there is a competitor with a similar registered name?

Question

Marketing

Hello.
We are a group of enthusiastic developers who have been working on the SystemTools project for 11 years (apparently it is not allowed to place links to third-party sites here). In essence, the program is a Swiss knife-wrapper for the WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) interface, which allows you to execute scripts of operations (say, copy a file, start a service, reboot) on hundreds of machines with one click.
Over the past time, the project has grown from a hobby utility into a fairly serious product, with automatic updates, documentation, etc. The idea was to sell it.
It so happened that we have a competitor close in functionality and name. We have a program called System Tools, and a competitor has a company called SystemTools Software Inc. and a product called Hyena (there is also WMI and similar functionality, but our pricing policy is much more interesting). A competitor has a sign (R) on its website and says that the company is registered in the US, Texas.
We do not have a company yet, and trademarks are not registered.
Since we are IT specialists (not lawyers), and the product was not originally conceived as a commercial one, we are tormented by questions:

• Can we advertise our product as it is now (named System Tools)? Will this lead to a legal conflict?
  
• If we open a legal a person in Russia or in Europe, does this reduce the risk of a legal conflict?
  
• Is it possible to start advertising now as it is, and when we reach a serious (what exactly?) level, to rebrand to remove possible contradictions?
  

Answer 1

as soon as a competitor can reach - consider that in the USA there will be a lawsuit, get off with at least 20k, or cleverly divide the proceeds among foreign companies, a non-US legal entity reduces, but it would be
better if you start with a trade mark, this is up to 5k or even just payments on uspto.gov
whatever you like, it’s better to start with judicial practices - it’s muddy there, try to make it as unlike a competitor as possible - website logos, etc.
the court itself on a similar brand / logo is often more than a show-off / loshka, but you will have to spend money on lawyers

Answer 2

Because we are IT people

they simply had to face "I'm an accountant, how do I know that you can not write on the command line format with: / y?" and similar moments when an unqualified IT specialist in another field breaks firewood ...
Hence the only correct answer is - hire a lawyer
ps I think within the framework of a similar "you programmer - weak me for a quick site with 3D animations just like that" - a lawyer will not be free.

Answer 3

There are several points here.
• You need to have your brand registered.
• It is necessary to check competitors for relevance.
• It is better that everything should be similar to the general profile trends and standards in this direction, but at the same time have differences and own recognition.
• sow on the Internet with a new logo, with a new slogan, fill social networks and instant messengers with cross-posting, have your own website, blog, and support (not necessarily gigantic, it can be modest, but it's better to have at least the same FB or Twitter)
Compare if your competitors have it.
• four buttons per sharing - not enough for recognition.