Naming a band question

[Bill Mecca]

Okay, I can, and have, come up with all kinds of ideas, but what I need to find out is: how do I find out if the name is in use in my area, any ideas?

[larry]

Try Googling the name and see what you get? Or see if http://www.yourname.com is covered?

[Bill Mecca]

Thanks Larry,

I did google and got zip, found http://www.bandreg.com/ and it's listed, but also as last time known to be use as 1998, and the url linking to the band's page is dead.

Just curious, how many have gone the route to trademark and protect their bands name. I'm sure it's not really an issue unless you plan BIG things

[kcp]

...Just curious, how many have gone the route to trademark and protect their bands name. I'm sure it's not really an issue unless you plan BIG things

I don't know any local bands who has and even the "big" ones around here, as far as I know didn't. But you still have to be careful when picking a name for your band regardless. My bf had trouble with this kind of issue recently; My bf has a Dixieland band which was called "Montréal Dixieband". There is another Dixieland band in Montreal which has been around for longer than my bf's band and this band is called "Le Dixieband". Nearly every year since the past 15 years if not more, Le Dixieband has been a regular at the Montréal jazz fest. So this band, I guess we could say, that it sorta is known to be the Dixieband in Montréal (Note that around here we don't say "Dixieland band", but "Dixieband") or at least, "Le Dixieband" is the one of the most famous band of that type locally.

For some reason that I don't get, apparently people began to confuse the two bands. Apparently (although nobody who has hired my bf's band has ever made mention of this directly to my bf) that some venues hired "Montréal Dixieband" thinking that they were actually hiering "Le Dixieband". And this even though, as far as I know, both bands never performed at the same venues. It was simply believed that people could confuse the two bands. To add to the confusion, like everywhere I suppose, it is common practice that bands occasionally hire as substitute player, musicians from another band. So it happened on some occasions that my bf hired musicians from "Le Dixieband" as substitute player for a gig :?

Anyhow, finally the issue has been resolved last summer when my bf needed a substitute player for a gig and hired Le Dixieband's band leader. They had a talk, and finally my bf changed his band's name for "Montréal Dixie" Thought that the concern was for the "Montréal" part of the name but no, it was "Dixieband". Anyhow, everyone is happy since.

[larry]

Just curious, how many have gone the route to trademark and protect their bands name. I'm sure it's not really an issue unless you plan BIG things
Maybe some of the lawyers on this forum can fill in the details, but I don't believe that you can trademark a "name" - I think you can only trademark a "mark" (glyph, symbol, logo) - something that is actually printed. I think the best way to protect a name might be to (1) create and trademark a logo, (2) copyright something using the name and (3) grab the web domain.
Our band name, Sambossa, got grabbed by a simlarly named band in the UK, so we ended up grabbing www.sambossajazz.com But because I know about how Google uses cross-references for establishing priorities, I've been able to get to the top of Google searches for Sambossa.
I'd be interested in hearing from one of the lawyers how to best register and protect a band name! (At least here in the States!)

[Bill Mecca]

Larry,

here is the results of my research:

I found this http://www.music-law.com/bandname.html

and this http://www.hitme.net/useful/tmfaq.html

and there was a discussion with an intellectual property attorney
M. Arthur Auslander
Auslander & Thomas-Intellectual Property Law Since 1909
505 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10018
212-594-6900, fax 212-244-0028,

that discussed this... the url was www.auslander.com

http://www.intelproplaw.com/Copyright/Forum/msg/7458.shtml

it would seem that trademark is the correct, albiet not cheap, way to protect the band's name. I do remember a discussion of getting a trade name certificate in your state that woudl protect you locally, and here in NJ, that was $35 when I did it a number of years ago for my video business. Not sure what other legal ramifications that entails, once you do register the name.

[Morry]

I don't believe that you can trademark a "name"

I don't know. I bet you'd get sued a zillion times if you called your band The Beatles.

[Media Lint]

You can trademark it but it can also be territorial. For example, your band might be from Oroville, CA and called The Supreme Love and there might be a band in Cherry Hill, NJ called The Supreme Love and if it comes down to it, since both of you will have a hard time legally winning it from the other you can mutually co-exist. Just your band can't play in Philadelphia and they can't play in Sacramento. Also, that doesn't stop me from opening The Supreme Love Cafe in Cherry Hill, usually, but it might. At least that's the way I understand the law to be ... :-\ I think it depends on how much money you have to throw at lawyers should it come down to dispute.