someone's using my band name!

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Tucson
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someone's using my band name!

Post by Tucson » Thu Dec 08, 2005 10:56 am

What do you do when another band starts using your band name?
I wrote them a very sweet email letting them know it was already taken, but they're being dicks, even posting stupid shit on my Amazon.com page.
I know I've got the legal right to the name (I am in law school, after all), but enforcing is an entirely different matter.
It's not like I'm losing an assload of money off this, it's just disappointing to see other bands be petty and mean. If I started using a name, and found out it was already in use, I'd be disappointed of course, but fair's fair, isn't it?

Any of you dealt with this?
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Post by audioarts » Thu Dec 08, 2005 11:22 am

This happened to a band I played for in Austin (Alliance) back in the early eighties, twice! What a drag especially if the offending band is petty about it. The problem we had is that one of the other bands really sucked so we had trouble booking gigs for awhile until they disbanded. We contacted the other band via telephone (they were somewhere in LA and they changed their name from Alliance to Allies. That was a pretty cool thing. I think they actually had some commercial success but alas we didn't go too far!

Good Luck in your quest!
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chris harris
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Post by chris harris » Thu Dec 08, 2005 11:52 am

they'll probably just disappear before too long.. especially if they're douchbags.

but, if they don't, just wait until they're poised to make it big, THEN hit them with legal action...

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JGriffin
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Post by JGriffin » Thu Dec 08, 2005 1:01 pm

subatomic pieces wrote:they'll probably just disappear before too long.. especially if they're douchbags.

but, if they don't, just wait until they're poised to make it big, THEN hit them with legal action...
or, when you're poised to make it big, your label's lawyers will sue them into the stone age.
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Post by i am monster face » Thu Dec 08, 2005 1:46 pm

Yeah, that's happening to my band right now.

We have a cd out and all that stuff. Registered band name...the like...

We're a rock band, but more along the lines of Rilo Kiley. You know, non-offensive, indie rock that makes you think.

This rip off band came out with a cd and a song called "Girl, You Like Cock Too Much"

Wow, that's odd fielding questions from friends who have done searches on P2P sites to download our new song..."Girl...You Like Cock Too Much"...wow..

Ian

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jv
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Post by jv » Thu Dec 08, 2005 4:24 pm

i am monster face wrote:Yeah, that's happening to my band right now.

We have a cd out and all that stuff. Registered band name...the like...

We're a rock band, but more along the lines of Rilo Kiley. You know, non-offensive, indie rock that makes you think.

This rip off band came out with a cd and a song called "Girl, You Like Cock Too Much"

Wow, that's odd fielding questions from friends who have done searches on P2P sites to download our new song..."Girl...You Like Cock Too Much"...wow..

Ian
Your band should write and record a completely different song called "Girl, You Like Cock Too Much".

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;ivlunsdystf
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Post by ;ivlunsdystf » Thu Dec 08, 2005 4:37 pm

What is the band name anyway?

(edit) Oh, got it. I'm listening now.

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;ivlunsdystf
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Post by ;ivlunsdystf » Thu Dec 08, 2005 6:09 pm

Cool tunes. Way better than the derivative junk I recorded in professional school!

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joelpatterson
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Post by joelpatterson » Thu Dec 08, 2005 8:17 pm

"Too much"? How can they tell?
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Post by lanterns » Sat Dec 10, 2005 9:50 pm

Alliance, Allies, Alas? hahaha that was a priceless post.

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Post by stinkpot » Mon Dec 19, 2005 11:58 am

Since you're in law school, know that you have the legal high ground, tried to take the nice road and were rebuffed, then why not play a little hard ball and send them a cease and desist letter? Scare 'em a little bit. Have one of your profs write it on his professional letterhead. That type of thing.

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Randy
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Post by Randy » Mon Dec 19, 2005 12:16 pm

That happened to me a few times. Once it was "Monster Zero." We had been together 3 years and did tons of shows in Central and Southern Illinois, then we heard of some heavy metal band that used our name. There really wasn't anything to do. We also figured if some Zeotrope coverband wanted the name, it must be a stupid name anyway.

Another time was just recently. My band's name is Faker. There is a band from Sydney, Australia with that name too. Evidently we both applied to SXSW and the Sydney band was listed in the preliminary lineup. I got a call from a friend who saw "us" on Pichfork. For a brief second, I thought "shit, now I gotta go down to Texas and pay to play." Then I realized there may be another band with that name, I mean how original is the name "Faker?" Sure enough- http://www.faker.com.au They are sorta like Green Day, if they were led by Justin Timberlake.
not to worry, just keep tracking....

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hauser gabone
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Post by hauser gabone » Tue Dec 20, 2005 8:07 am

we named ourselves the originals....but ran into some problems..
i'm sitting here in a moustache cause it needs to recharge

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alissa
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Post by alissa » Sun Dec 25, 2005 3:05 pm

stinkpot wrote:Since you're in law school, know that you have the legal high ground, tried to take the nice road and were rebuffed, then why not play a little hard ball and send them a cease and desist letter? Scare 'em a little bit. Have one of your profs write it on his professional letterhead. That type of thing.
i like this idea.
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Post by cwileyriser » Sun Dec 25, 2005 4:49 pm

I'm a lawyer - I don't practice trademark law for a living (I do tax and business stuff), but I do some pro bono arts law work and a little trademark registration work, so I know enough about it to speak semi-intelligently.

Assuming neither of the bands has registered the band name as a trademark, then each band's respective rights to use the name would be determined under the common law of trademarks (whereas registration provides registrants with very specific statutory rights).

The extent of the protection afforded to each band's use of the name depends on how long and where the band has been using the name (the geographical region - not necessarily determined by state borders) commercially.

It's entirely possible that under the law, your band would have the right to use the name in, say, the Southeast, and the punk band would have the right to use the name in, say, the Southwest - and some other band could call itself the same name and have the right to use the name in the Northwest, etc.

Trying to distinguish a name by using "The" or spelling it a little differently is unlikely to work.

You probably won't get a lawyer to write a cease-and-desist letter in a matter like this one unless you can provide some kind of factual backup that the other band is using the name in one or more geographical regions where you had used the name commercially before they did. The Internet kind of mucks things up a little - what "region" is that? But I'd feel pretty confident that any battle of band names would probably require the bands to show where they've played, where they've sold records, where they've gotten airplay, etc., and the internet wouldn't factor into things too much. Just my opinion.

Registration of a band name is never a bad idea (though not necessarily cheap), even when there's a problem like this one. Registration should at least lock up the regions for you where the other band has no common law trademark rights. In a band name battle, the holder of a federally registered trademark is very likely to "win" as a practical matter, since the user of the unregistered band name will be limited as to where the name can be used legally without infringing on the registered name. So, if the band was to engage in commerce (live show, advertising, CD sales, etc.) outside their "safe zone", it'd be forced to change its name (or infringe - but at least then you'd definitely have the law behind you in stopping them).

Whenever a band name is registered as a trademark with the US Patent & Trademark Office (http://www.uspto.gov), the band should consider who actually owns the name, particularly in the future - like if the band breaks up. Better to hash that stuff out ahead of time.

Sorry, but I have to add this cover-my-ass disclaimer in case someone gets the wrong idea: This isn't legal advice and doesn't create an attorney-client relationship. If you need legal advice, contact a lawyer licensed to practice in your jurisdiction.

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