Band Name Legal Rights?

[David Hooper]

It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that there's some singer songwriter out there called 'Philip Collins', but if he tries to market himself in the music biz and starts to get some success he'll soon be slapped down by Phil Collins' lawyers and told to desist from using what is his own birth name. Scarey!

So i guess even using your own name is not a safeguard, you could spend years working bars and clubs getting your name known locally only to have it all taken away from you by some big music biz act that has been promoted nationaly throughout the media by a lot of money being spent. Sure you could try suing them on 'first use' grounds, but they have more money than you for the best lawyers!

There have been a couple of cases like this. One was a guy called Sting who was a programming guy and got sting.com or something similar. The musician named sting didn't like that, so he sued. Sting.com now points to the musician named Sting, so maybe they worked out some kind of financial agreement. The computer guy didn't lose the case though.

There was also a guy named Don Henley with a similar issue.

 

[glynb]

There have been a couple of cases like this. One was a guy called Sting who was a programming guy and got sting.com or something similar. The musician named sting didn't like that, so he sued. Sting.com now points to the musician named Sting, so maybe they worked out some kind of financial agreement. The computer guy didn't lose the case though.

There was also a guy named Don Henley with a similar issue.

Yeh, I think it depends what line of business they are in. if someone called 'Sting' offers plumbing services so there would not be any confusion between the two Stings then both may be able to keep the name, but if the second Sting was also something to do with music or theatre where confusion may arise, whereby the unknown Sting profits from the fame of the other then i guess he'd lose the case.

I think with the web site cases first use doesn't seem to make too much difference if you can prove you have the biggest claim on a name then you can force someone to let it go for a reasonable compensation.

It's still a scarey thought that even though you may have been performing under your own name for years some bozo in a manufactured boy-band could appear from nowhere with your name and you're sunk!