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Another band has our name?

O

oniman7

Jun 1, 2010
2,490
10
Saint Augustine, Florida
#1
I know that threads like this have been done before, but I'd like a more personalized response, I guess.

Anyways, I'm in a startup band that's been together about 3 or 4 months. We have a facebook page, a setlist with some originals, and most of a logo finished. However, my friend recently did a search on our name (which he had another friend do much earlier on, but he must not have been thorough) and the name was taken by an acoustic duo on the other side of the country, registered in 2005.

My question is, could this cause problems? For all we know, the band's died off and will never return. But they could also be touring their way through the country. what kind of issues would it cause?

For what it's worth, the band name is The Magistrate. The only issue we'd have in changing the name is creating a new logo and a new facebook page. However, we'd have to try to re-herd our group of 70 some fans.

Anyways, we're about to start gigging, so I was curious what TB thought of this.
 
#3
IMO, any time before you start gigging it's fine to change the name provided you haven't spent a lot of cash on banners, biz cards and such. The name really doesn't have much capital until then, and since you have fans already, they must be eager to be fans so it should be easy to migrate them.

Plus changing gives you the chance to pick something you can get the .com for. Obviously themagistrate.com is taken.

So yeah, if I were you, I'd change it. I doubt you'll have any problems with the other band if you decide not to, but changing to something no one is using avoids the chance, and you don't have to think about it.
 
#4
If you havent started playing out, go ahead and change it. If you really like the name, contact the other band and see if they arestill playing under that name. Either way, its not a big deal. Sounds like the other band is a good enough distance from you to not cause any issues, unless they play in your area or you in theirs.
The thing about start up bands, is that 75% of them never make it longer than a year, so it probably won't be a big issue.
 
#5
oniman7 said:
Anyways, we're about to start gigging, so I was curious what TB thought of this.
Click to expand...

It would help to know if the other Magistrate is an active band, and it would help to know if they have bothered to trademark the monicker. Fortunately it is pretty easy to figure out both issues.

In the instance that they both (A) have had the name longer than you and (B) are actively creating/recording/sharing music with the world/performing, then my advice is always the same: Do the right thing, go back to the drawing board and start over with your band name. Even if The Magistrate is not registered in the Trademark Office, it's still not a good idea to keep using it in my opinion. Especially since you are working original material into the mix.

If you go too far with this name, and you begin to seriously assert and establish yourself with this name, and then the confusion and potential legal ramifications of the other band come into the picture, it's more trouble than renaming yourself early in the game.

My classic rock band, that does not one original tune, went through an agonizing naming period, forcing ourselves to reject countless great band names that had the appearance of already being used. It isn't easy, but it's probably the safe call, some would even say the more ethical and creative call.
 
#6
IMHO, change it now to avoid hassle and a "Cease and desist" order later. Two of my friends' bands had to change their names after receiving such notice. Both bands are actively gigging bands with a solid local following in their area. So it kind of sucked for them to have to change all their stuff to a new name!

There's a band with the same exact name as the original band I play keys in. They're in AZ. We're in FL. They play Death Metal. We play Acoustic Roots Rock. They have some 2000 or so fans on FB\Reverbnation. We have about 700. I'm sure their and our fans have Googled the band name and been surprised at what comes up! Lol!

By the way, there's an original band called Bad Magistrate out of Tampa Bay, FL that is an active, semi established, original, local band. I know it's different than, The Magistrate, just illustrating how common bands names can be!
 
#9
dpbass613 said:
I bet there is more than one band named The Magistrate on the other side of the country, they just aren't promoting the same way...
Click to expand...

+1
What are your chances of having any sort of encounter with them anyway?

Do you two bands play similar music and be likely to move in similar circles? If yes, perhaps a name change could be considered. If no, you're never gonna hear of them again, chances are.
 
#13
I would change the name to something else. You never want your band to be confused with another. Just in the case Rappa, you may play a different style of music and will confuse people which is never good. Also the other band could be a bunch of screw offs and will ruin your good name, or vice versa.

I only want to be know as who I am, not one of three or four (or 400 hundred) different bands with the same name. Your music is unique, so should your name.

Rock on
 
#15
I think that the advice to change the name (with which I normally agree) is premature. I would like to know:

1) What do you mean that the other band "registered" the name?
2) How serious was the other band? (i.e. Do they have original works? Do they have published recordings?)
3) Are they still working?

It also is smart to distinguish between what's POSSIBLE and what is LIKELY. If the other band used the name first, has "registered" a myspace page, played a couple open mic nights, and broke up, it is POSSIBLE that they could send you a cease and desist letter, and if you refuse, it is POSSIBLE that they could try to force you to stop, but this is insanely unlikely, like getting hit with a meteorite.

On the contrary, if the band has a catalog of recordings and is actively touring, then you definitely need to change the name.

IMHO, don't worry about a band "registering" a name unless it's with the USPTO. Doing so will probably cost about $2k in legal and filing fees (highly variable) and shows that they definitely mean business - like *kaching* cash money "we pay our business taxes" business.

FWIW, my personal opinion is that "The Magistrate" is fatally generic. Putting that into google gets nearly 6 million hits, many of which have to do with local government. COMPLETELY IGNORING the issue of another band, I would suggest finding another name.
 
#17
My band had the same problem. but the way we handled was the band with the same name was also an acoustic duo.we didnt change it because we realized a group of four guys living in california (thats us) who have 200+fans vs an acoustic duo from arizona who registered before us with a fan base of 12, we win. so maybe don't change names until your sure these guys are more known than you in either areas
 
#18
Change it. I was involved in a nightmare scenario some years ago where my band and another band with the same name were touring the same East Coast circuit and released records around the same, both of which charted on CMJ in the same month. Thousands of dollars in legal fees and thousands of hours of stress later, there was no resolution and both bands broke up. It sucked. Change your name now before it's a big deal.
 
#19
oniman7 said:
I know that threads like this have been done before, but I'd like a more personalized response, I guess.

Anyways, I'm in a startup band that's been together about 3 or 4 months. We have a facebook page, a setlist with some originals, and most of a logo finished. However, my friend recently did a search on our name (which he had another friend do much earlier on, but he must not have been thorough) and the name was taken by an acoustic duo on the other side of the country, registered in 2005.

My question is, could this cause problems? For all we know, the band's died off and will never return. But they could also be touring their way through the country. what kind of issues would it cause?

For what it's worth, the band name is The Magistrate. The only issue we'd have in changing the name is creating a new logo and a new facebook page. However, we'd have to try to re-herd our group of 70 some fans.

Anyways, we're about to start gigging, so I was curious what TB thought of this.
Click to expand...
1) This is why you do things yourself when you want them done right. (so much for relying on your friend)
2) You should have researched the name BEFORE getting hot & bothered about a logo
3) A generic name like The Magistrate should have made you guess that it's already been taken. Other groovy names that have been taken include: The Church, The Cult, The Police, The Parliament, The Association, The Syndicate, and many other cool "institutional" names.

Yeah, the name could cause you trouble in the future. It's better to change it now. Good luck, bro. :D
 
#20
oniman7 said:
How do I go about checking to make sure there aren't others under any name?
Click to expand...

Easy, google. I always put "band" after the name I'm researching, that will get bands to the top 1 or 2 pages, i.e. try searching "the magistrate band" and you'll see them all including "Bad Magistrate."

I ran a search on a couple of your ideas:

- A search for "breaking life band" gets no hits for bands, however breakinglife.com is taken.

- "Encyclopaedia Metallum - Reviews for Azathoth (USA) - Azathoth4 posts - 4 authors - Last post: Oct 5, 2010
Azathoth is a band out of Fresno, CA who has apparently made a large impact ...
metal-archives.com/review.php?id=147484 - Similar"

Try to think of names that are easy to say and spell, and type. It's really tough to get a name that no one is using, that has the .com without putting "rocks" or something like that with it, that's easy to say, spell, and type, and that's GOOD. But it can be done.

Good luck!
 

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