Trademark?

[Zed]

Sorry to stray from the strictly mando-centric once again, but was wondering if anyone has trademarked their band name and how you go about doing that. PM me if you'd like.

[Dale Ludewig]

I don't think trademark law would apply to a band name. You could probably copyright it. I, not long ago, spent some time with a lawyer who specializes in this area. He said, even if you can get trademark, copyright, patent, you'll still have to spend money in court to defend it. How much is it worth?

[J. Mark Lane]

Uh, Dale, you should stick with making mandolins. You should also get a new lawyer. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif


You might be able to trademark a band name. Depends on various factors. You most certainly could not copyright one. It's not particularly expensive, and it can mean a great deal.

I won't get into it beyond that. This isn't the place. Look up the website of the US Patent and Trademark Office. There's a ton of very useful information there.

Mark

[Zed]

Well.... Let me ask a different question, perhaps. Is it common practice to trademark/copyright/secure/whatever a band name just as it's common practice to copyright your original songs? Our band is certainly never going to hit the big time, but at the same time, i don't want to have a problem with our name at some point in time because some band with the same name does happen to get popular, for example (or even some guy in the next county names his band the same thing).

So any of you who have bands and sell CDs, etc, did you trademark your name? Planning to?

[jim simpson]

Zed,
As I understand it, the best thing to do is record public use of your name to prove how long you have been using it. I would register it in Bluegrass Unlimited in their yearly registry. I have had folks contact me after seeing a group name that I used to use. I would tell them how long I have used it and they would usually say they didn't know another group had the name. I would check all of the resource that you can think of to make sure your group's name isn't already being used. Hope this helps.
Jim

[J. Mark Lane]

Here's a fun one:

http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=hm6cu9.4.1

On that same site, you can search to your heart's content. Interestingly, "The Bluegrass Boys" is no longer a valid registration.

Have fun....

[Desert Rose]

Some real confussion here

You TRADEMARK your brand name such as Gibson, Fender etc You can trademark ANYTHING connected with your commercial venture, name, logo design slogan anything

However to be awarded a trademark the mark MUST be in commercial use FIRST. In otherwords you have to supply proof that you are using the trademark commercially before they will grant it to you


I did mine.

If you want to wade thru the stuff the US gove homepage on patents and trademarks allows you to do it online.

HOWEVER there are risks such as if somebody has allready trademarked the name in the same catagory you dont get your money back when the US govt does the search

Go online and simply type in trademark search and you will find hundreds of legal offices who will do the enitial search for a fee and many have stipulations that if yours is taken they will allow you one more choice for the same fee.

AFTER the search these firms will do ALL the paperwork for you

Total cost this way is usually under $800

Scott

[J. Mark Lane]

You can trademark ANYTHING connected with your commercial venture, name, logo design slogan anything

However to be awarded a trademark the mark MUST be in commercial use FIRST. In otherwords you have to supply proof that you are using the trademark commercially before they will grant it to you
Not really. There's a lot more to it than that. You can't register a trademark just because it's "in commercial use," and you can't just "trademark anything." There are other requirements, such as secondary meaning.

Other than that, Scott is mostly correct. As I have said many, many times, the US Government website for the US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) is a great source of information. I strongly suggest reviewing it in careful detail if you really want to understand how trademark registration works. I suggest NOT listening to people on the Internet giving out legal advice.

http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Zed]

What I most want to know at this point is: Is it necessary for a regional band? Do I need to bother with this?

[jim simpson]

Quote:
Is it necessary for a regional band?

A friend of mine in a regional band discovered a band in the next state had the same name. They might have been using it longer and it did cause confusion when it came to bookings. They decided to modify the name by adding "String Band" to the exising name.

[Plamen Ivanov]

Hello,

I`m not going to give out a legal advice. I`m just happy to see people discussing trademark related issue here and would like to contribute, sharing a little bit of my knowledge and experience in that matter.
I think Scott and J. Mark are right in their own ways. Of course, in order to be registered a TM should meet some more requirements, depending on each country`s domestic legislation or on the International treaties like the Paris Convention, the Nice Convention, TLT, TRIPS, The Madrid Agreement and Protocol, etc., if member. There are two main characteristics for a trademark - to be distinctive and not to be deceptive. There are of course more - not to be misleading, not to be descriptive, not to contradict the morality, etc. May be for some of you will be interesting to know, that the requirement for the trademark to be in commercial use is arranged otherwise in the most countries, than in the US. One can first register the trademark and then start to use it in a determinate period (3 or 5 years).
One cannot register everything as a Trade mark, but can try. Even objects, that are to be protected otherwise by copyright, industrial design, patents, etc. could be protected as trademarks - smells, colors (!), holograms, sounds, three-dimensional devices, etc. Succeeding in such kind of a registration has a GREAT PRACTICAL VALUE, because the protection of a registered trademark is practically interminable. You just have to renew the registration at a definite period, depending on the domestic legislation (10, 20 years), while the protection granted by copyright, patents or industrial design is limited in time.

Jim, that doesn`t help much, right?! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

Good luck to you and your band!

Plamen

[craig]

at BandName.com (http://www.bandname.com)you can search for registered names. not sure what it means "legally", but seems that most of the bigger bluegrass names are registered. looks like there's a $10 fee if you want to register your name. i'd imagine it's a start, anyway.

craig

[AlanN]

Lawyers and mandolinists - I guess they both pull strings http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Desert Rose]

Mark

Not atempting to be a lawyer but trying to pass on some sound advice because Ive done it and been involved in patents and trademarks as my job for thirty years with people like Fender, Jackson Charvel Ibanez etc

With common sense you can trademark virtually anything you feel contributes to your product subject to acceptance by the PTO no doubt

And if you try and trademark something NOT in commerce you will get a six month window to get it into commerce and recieve the trademark or you dont get it.

Scott

[J. Mark Lane]

Scott,

I appreciate your efforts, and certainly respect your experience. I have seen so much bad advice on IP issues given out over the Internet, I tend to be very cautious. Plus, for some reason, IP issues always get people upset. Apparently, not everyone agrees on what the law *should* be. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

That said, and despite the fact that I dislike discussing legal issues online, I must again say that it is simply not the case that you can trademark "virtually anything you feel contributes to your product." There are many, many reasons that is not true. But most fundamentally, in order to be capable of trademark registration, your mark must have "secondary meaning." It can't be "merely descriptive." The common example is: you can't trademark "Bill's Barber Shop," because, well, all it does is describe the business. But you can trademark "Apple Computers," because it has a "secondary meaning." There are many other restrictions on what can and cannot be registered.

As for the "window," yes, generally you can register your mark (assuming it is capable of registration) with an intent to put it into commerce, even if it is not yet in commerce (and that is always *interstate* commerce, in this country). So that much is correct.

Just trying to help....

Mark

[Zed]

So, when you hear about band member so-and-so "owning" the bandname, is this what they're referring to? The trademark? Or is there some other rights ownership mechanism?

[J. Mark Lane]

So, when you hear about band member so-and-so "owning" the bandname, is this what they're referring to? The trademark? Or is there some other rights ownership mechanism?
Could be a trademark issue, or could also be a simple contractual issue (if the band members signed a contract saying that one of them has the rights to the name).