Seattle Trademark Lawyer

Part 2 of the article, “How the Band Protects Its Brand: The Use of Trademarks to Protect and Promote the Musical Artist,” was published today in IPToday. For those who missed it, Part 1 is available here. Here’s an excerpt from the second installment:

“Like any other trademark, when selecting an artist’s professional name it is important to adopt a name that is both distinctive and unique. The more distinctive the name, the more effective the protection the name has as a trademark. Moreover, an artist should not only chose a distinctive name to protect its own identity, but the artist needs to avoid infringing upon other parties’ names. Because the likelihood of confusion between the two marks is the hallmark for trademark violations, a new artist should not choose a professional name that is identical or confusingly similar to an existing name in the music industry….”

“There have been numerous instances where an up and coming artist had to change its name due to trademark problems. For example, DINOSAUR JR. (formerly DINOSAUR), THE HOPEFULS (formerly THE OLYMPIC HOPEFULS), GREEN JELLY (formerly GREEN JELLÖ), AL FATZ (formerly FAT AL), DEATH FROM ABOVE 1979 (formerly DEATH FROM ABOVE), and THE VERVE (formerly VERVE) all had to change their professional names due to various trademark issues, the latter two involving similar record label names rather than other artist names. Moreover, commercial success does not guarantee litigation success: relative unknowns have forced successful artists to change their professional names. A recent example involved CBS’ rock band reality show Rock Star: Supernova, wherein the band, comprising famous musicians and the show’s winner, would be called SUPERNOVA. A lawsuit filed by a lesser known band called SUPERNOVA forced the reality band to change its name (not too creatively to ROCK STAR SUPERNOVA). Even the U.S. Postal Service was not pleased to see that there was an artist called “The Postal Service,” but an amicable resolution allowed the artist to retain its name.”

STL readers know of my interest in this issue. As I’ve said before, this is a series I wish I had written. Kudos to author Christopher R. Chase. I’m tempted to yell “Rock on!” but will just leave it with a dignified “Kudos.”