What if someone already has my "band" name

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antispatula

antispatula

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My name's "Ollerton." I'm a solo artist, it's my last name. MY question is: What if someone already has the name trademarked or something? I did a search at the official trademark site and nothing came up.....but still....I don't want to come out with an album just to run into trouble.
 
i've run into that problem a couple of time's. there's a couple of things you can do, while your still indie you can keep the name (so long it's not popular like "white stripes" or something) or you can change the spelling like "stix" or just come up with a new name.

personally i don't care any more. i had a band that never gotten truly started becouse we couldent come up with a name... don't let that get you. be a band without a name. let your music say who you are
 
It depends on the sitaution, i had friend who had a band name well before another band on the other coast decided to use the same name, but the other band copyrighted theirs first, and my friend had to change their name or be the target of lawsuits.
kinda messed with the band too, since htey had to build up a new name. Not too long afterward, they broke up.

I would suggest you try to copyright it now, it would probabaly never be an issue until you started to make some money off it, and then it would be a gimme for someone who beat you to it to sue and just screw wiht your hole life.

daav.
 
You don't copyright a band name, you trademark it.

If you trademark it first, it's yours. If you don't and either one of you starts to make money, the lawyers win.
 
I don't think you can be sued for using the name on your birth certificate as your real name. Now if your birth certificate says you're Brad Pitt, then you're Brad Pitt. If you go out and make a movie using your real name and a lot of people show up, you might get sued for false advertising, but the real Brad can't sue you for using "his" name. Or maybe he can....oh, well....if you're serious about making music as a business proposition, you should talk to a lawyer anyway.
 
This is from WIRED news.

Imagine the horror faced by Louisiana indie band Bones. One day, singer Michael Miller went to his band's MySpace page and found . . . the face of actor David Boreanaz! There were no more bad bluesy riffs pIaying in the background, no more pictures of white dudes in black ties. All 2100 of Bones' friends were gone! Instead, all he could see was the pasty face of Angel Seely Booth from Prime Suspect Fox TV show Bones. Oooooh, spooky! I get the willies just looking at that neckerchief.

Apparently MySpace overlord NewsCorp had waved its bejeweled fists and decreed that Fox shows could simply take over whatever pages they liked on MySpace -- even if those pages had been occupied for two years by someone else. It's good to be the king. I guess Bones the band has more fans than Bones the TV show, because a huge uproar ensued. It was even bigger than that time the fans of Forever Knight did a letter-writing campaign to save their favorite show about a Candian vampire police detective. Eventually MySpace founder Tom Anderson gave the page back to Miller and Co., apologizing for the misunderstanding.

The freaked-out band took some time to process the trauma with music industry rag FMQB:

"Losing our URL was a complete surprise to us," Bones singer/bassist Michael Miller said yesterday. "We logged on one day and found David Boreanaz staring back at us. It sucks because we've used that URL for almost two years to build our band name and fan base, and it's on all of our product and posters. We're as indie as it gets and can't afford to reprint everything."

As one commenter on Whedonesque put it, "Wow, that must have been scary."

We couldn't have said it better ourselves.

I just wonder what's going to happen to poor, 15-year-old Roxy, who owns myspace.com/cops? Whatcha gonna do when Fox comes for you? Hope you have lots of friends.
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so many people with dreams of grandeur on here will tell you to trademark it and sue anybody else that takes it... but that attitude really just perpetuates the madness. honestly, you're probably not going to be very popular outside of your county or region, so nobody will care. play shows and get your name out there and if anybody else comes along with the same name they'll feel stupid when they realize you've been doing it way longer. if theres already a band with that name in your area and you're too far detached from the music scene to realize it then you probably have nothing to worry about because nobody has a clue who you are.
 
you don't have to trademark your family name. that's it. as said before. i mean, just think about it: would it make any sense to get a pseudonym because you're not allowed to use your real birthname? this sounds not like living in a free country to me :p .
 
true story....

a band here in iowa called TEN GRAND had a different name VIDA BLUE before a person from the band PHISH offered up some money for the rights to the name...

i would sell my birth name for a dollar if someone wanted! not that vida blue was a birth name, but you get the picture.
 
six said:
you don't have to trademark your family name. that's it. as said before. i mean, just think about it: would it make any sense to get a pseudonym because you're not allowed to use your real birthname? this sounds not like living in a free country to me :p .
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You might have to change the spelling or something. But really, if your name is Lucas Van Halen, do you think you would be able to call your band Van Halen? (the answer would be no.)

If your name were William Nelson, do you think you could bill yourself as Willie Nelson? (no)

As soon as you become a business entity, this sort of thing comes into play.
 
Ron Hawkins from Lowest of the Low went solo and at several of his shows people showed up expecting to see Ronnie Hawkins.
 
treymonfauntre said:
so many people with dreams of grandeur on here will tell you to trademark it and sue anybody else that takes it... but that attitude really just perpetuates the madness. honestly, you're probably not going to be very popular outside of your county or region, so nobody will care. play shows and get your name out there and if anybody else comes along with the same name they'll feel stupid when they realize you've been doing it way longer. if theres already a band with that name in your area and you're too far detached from the music scene to realize it then you probably have nothing to worry about because nobody has a clue who you are.
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This is pretty horrible advice. The thread starter is 17, he could be the next Beethoven or a serial killer, its yet to be determined.


As a solo act, you dont have to worry much. John Williams- big composer, John Williams- big guitar star, same name. If it's your name, its your name. A union such as the Screen Actors Guild will make you use a middle initial ( Vanessa L. Williams is famous, Vanessa Williams is not but she joined SAG first.) If your name is Ralph Van Halen, you have every right to use that name, so long as you use Ralph.

If your name were William Nelson, do you think you could bill yourself as Willie Nelson?
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Sure you can. Ive played with two Brian Wilsons, the Beach Boys one and some schmo. :D Last year Dave Matthews played here ( not THE one). I am friends with a Ted Kennedy, he can call himself that. I know lots of sound-alikes in music. They arent trying to deceive people, it's their name. If my name was Willie Nelson ( and I was commonly called "Willie), I could and would use that name. In general, it wouldnt be an issue unless you were trying to cash in by fooling people you were somebody else.
 
the best names are either taken or gay...

Farview said:
You might have to change the spelling or something. But really, if your name is Lucas Van Halen, do you think you would be able to call your band Van Halen? (the answer would be no.)

If your name were William Nelson, do you think you could bill yourself as Willie Nelson? (no)

As soon as you become a business entity, this sort of thing comes into play.
Click to expand...

i was going to name my band "fairview" and it was trademarked :(

www.myspace.com/starshinerocks
 
Farview said:
You might have to change the spelling or something. But really, if your name is Lucas Van Halen, do you think you would be able to call your band Van Halen? (the answer would be no.)

If your name were William Nelson, do you think you could bill yourself as Willie Nelson? (no)

As soon as you become a business entity, this sort of thing comes into play.
Click to expand...
It's called dilution of trademark, and that phrase should give everyone a clue. If you are not making money with it (band name) anyone who is can kick your butt at will.
 
here is a band name genration it will show u how to come up with a band name .... very easy to use and alot of band names

http://rockstarname.com/

u can choese any type u want ( rap, country, pop or rock)

hope its helpful for u .....
 
six said:
you don't have to trademark your family name. that's it. as said before. i mean, just think about it: would it make any sense to get a pseudonym because you're not allowed to use your real birthname? this sounds not like living in a free country to me :p .
Click to expand...


Another true story...


We had a local coffee shop here in town that was named after its owner: Sam Buck.

Guess who brought their lawyers in and won a court case to make Sam Bucks coffee change their name?

http://www.dailyastorian.info/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=29498&SectionID=2&SubSectionID=&S=1
 
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