Band Name Question

[KenSmithFan]

Similar anecdote from decades ago: Wrathchild, one of the top bands in my area, got signed to a record deal. Just before the release of their album, they were sued by a band in England by the same name. US Wrathchild apparently had proof they had the name first (Wikipedia seems to bear this out), but didn't want to delay the release of their album with a lengthy trial. So, they settled the case by changing their name to Wrathchild America. The English Wrathchild got to keep the unmodified name, but goes by Wrathchild UK here in the States.


Obviously the above is a much bigger deal than dueling tribute bands. On that note: my Cheap Trick tribute band discovered after our first gig that we have an identically-named counterpart out in the midwest, but both bands are local and I highly doubt that they'll lawyer up or even bother to complain.

Remember Starz from Clinton, MD in the 70's? They had the name first, but a band with the same name had a record company behind them and Starz couldn't afford the legal battle and changed their name to DC Star.

In America, you are entitled to only as much justice as you can afford.

 

[LordRyan]

In Britain for quite a while tribute bands were required to put the name of the original band in their name. There was The Bootleg Beatles, Counterfeit Stones, Australian Pink Floyd, UK Queen, LA Doors, Ultimate Adele, Australian Doors, etc. Things seem to have changed with word play on names or song titles more like US tribute bands have done since the beginning. The very first tribute band I know of was Doors tribute Crystal Ship from New Jersey who started in the late 70s and continue today with all new members.

 

[Fuzzbass]

Remember Starz from Clinton, MD in the 70's? They had the name first, but a band with the same name had a record company behind them and Starz couldn't afford the legal battle and changed their name to DC Star.

I became a huge DC Star fan after the name change, opened up for them a bunch of times in a couple of bands. I did eventually become aware of that story.

Another way DC Star got burned: they got signed to a major label subsidiary. Their album was titled "Rockin' in the Classroom", and featured a reworked cover of "Smokin' in the Boys Room" by Brownsville Station. You may recall the established metal band who got wind of this idea and released their cover first.

In America, you are entitled to only as much justice as you can afford.

Sad but true.

 

[Bar Band Bassman]

In Britain for quite a while tribute bands were required to put the name of the original band in their name. There was The Bootleg Beatles, Counterfeit Stones, Australian Pink Floyd, UK Queen, LA Doors, Ultimate Adele, Australian Doors, etc. Things seem to have changed with word play on names or song titles more like US tribute bands have done since the beginning. The very first tribute band I know of was Doors tribute Crystal Ship from New Jersey who started in the late 70s and continue today with all new members.

Squeeze had to become UK Squeeze at some point. Don't think it's still an issue.

BBB

 

[srosenthal13]

 

[51PRI]

Hey, I've got a question for everyone - How careful are you about your band name being original? I'm putting together a new band and I see that there is a band in Illinois with the same name and it looks to be a local band in the jazz genre. I'm putting together a CCR tribute band in West Virginia, near DC. I'm inclined to go ahead and use the name as I doubt our paths will ever get close enough to cause confusion.

Just looking for opinions- pro or con.

Thanks!

I'm not sure you could fina a band name these days that is (1) a good name and (2) completely original and (3) not in use somewhere by somebody unless the band name is on of the member's names, like, for example, The James Montomery Band. Just use the name you picked and have fun. The side band we're working on putting together just picked a name that a band in the UK is already using. Will our paths ever cross? Doubtful. It will probably never be a problem.

I missed that it was a tribute band. How about naming it after one of CCR's songs? The Rolling Stones got their name from a Muddy Waters song.

 

[KevInDaBassment]

In the pre-internet days you sort of had a chance of it not becoming an issue, but seeing as how nearly anyone can carve out an online presence now, I'd go for something not claimed yet.

Sucks...but eh, it's the times. Just be sure to reserve it before some band name-stealing A.I. model comes out and grabs it.

 

[H K]

Cover band, tribute band, event band etc; originality doesnt matter.

Originals band to play locally? Doesnt matter as much, but the moment you start thinking about actually pushing your music online, it's important AF.

 

[Pocket Dave]

Am not an attorney, but have seen that get into Trademark / Servicemark infringement territory.
A friends band had a name and was local etc., They received a cease and desist letter and had to change the name because someone had already trademarked it. They changed their name to the Spanish translation.
Do a web search for USPTO which is the Patent and Trademark office. On their site, you can search the exact name you are wanting to use as to avoid any future conflicts.
Best of luck.

As @51PRI mentioned, it's almost impossible to come up with a name that's 100% original.

We received a cease and desist once on a band name we'd had 10 years. It wasn't trademarked, but it was listed in our original limited partnership filing a year after we launched. Armed with this evidence, we sought advice from a lawyer who advised us to ignore the cease and desist, to basically call their bluff. He suggested the high likelihood that someone's attorney dad drafted it to intimidate us into dropping the name so we wouldn't muddy google search results. He recommended no response, especially no attorney-drafted response, which could've inspired more posturing and could've pushed things to critical mass.

We took his advice and never heard from these knuckleheads again.

The lawyer explained that a cease and desist letter only carries weight in that it signals intent of legal action, and in that it can also be used in court to demonstrate notice of wrong doing was given and it was ignored. This assumes a case goes all the way to trial and wrong-doing resulting in injury (to plaintiff reputation or income) is proven. In this use, it's value is in showing level of willful disregard for injury to others in determining awarded damages after a verdict.

If a case actually goes to trial, geographical operational area weighs heavily in determining outcome - a trademarked band name applying to a cover band operating in Poughkeepsie, NY won't hold much legal sway over another band using the same name in Phoenix. OTOH, a trademarked band name applying to an ORIGINAL band with releases on Spotify and YouTube can be said to have a national or even global operational area. Legal action to protect that trademark is more likely to succeed.

In our case, it was a local band in Florida - we were operating in North Texas.

It's important to understand that it's insanely expensive to go to court in an intellectual property case - IP attorneys are some of the highest paid legal professionals out there, many holding dual degrees in both law and engineering. It's a cost that's beyond the means of most bands/musicians.

It's also important to understand that you can sue anyone for anything, no matter how frivolous, and that most attorneys will advise their clients strongly against going to court with a case that the judge is likely to dismiss with prejudice.

 

[2tonic]

.... I'm putting together a CCR tribute band in West Virginia, near DC.....

Call it "Chooglin'"

 

[2tonic]

..... They changed their name to the Spanish translation....

That, right there, could be a great band name...."The Spanish Translation".

 

[billiard]

That, right there, could be a great band name...."The Spanish Translation".

Do it!

Awkward phrases could be awesome.
Something like "Thank You!!!! We are Come La Pinga!"

 

[2tonic]

...my band trademarked our name...
we found.. a band with the same name.
We had our name before they had theirs... we went to an attorney.
He wrote...several letters...they ignored him. We decided it would be too expensive to fight it.
Not saying anyone shouldn't trademark their whatever, but unless you have the money and tenacity to protect it, it's not worth much....

50 years ago someone should have told this to Fender.

Or

Maybe you're the one who did!


I guess it worked out OK in the end, but I bet there was a period of time where Fender wished they spelled their name
R I C K E N B A C K E R.

 

[crguti]

If you play covers, nobody cares about your name. You’re just a cover band.

 

[MoireBass]

A trademark is literally a mark affixed to your product to enable trade, i.e. buying and selling it. Same as Heinz ketchup or Kellogg's cereal.

It used to be that local even regional bands generally wouldn't pay the expense to trademark their name.
Then when a product (record) was issued by a record company, they'd have a lawyer file the paperwork. Once that was granted, they'd send out cease-and-desist letters to any other acts using the same name that they heard about. The recipients of those letters could then fight the trademark claim, or wait to get sued, or change their name. Change it entirely or sometimes just add a geographical suffix, like 'UK', 'US', or 'Tx'.

And now that anybody can sell MP3s off their website, it's even murkier. I feel sorry for new, upcoming bands in this respect, seems like it'd be very hard to find a new, unique name.

So here's three:
One name proposed for us (when our previous one was deemed to be 'too complex for our fans') was 'Luna'. But there was an established band in another region already using that name. I just checked the USPTO website though and they've abandoned their trademark (I think there's a recurring fee) so Luna is now available.

Our drummer suggested "the Micro-Dwarf Penì*es". We agreed that was a catchy, memorable, distinctive name, but it got voted down. The USPTO says that name is available as well, and it's likely that people will remember it.

Another possible one is 'Dinosaur Breath', and the USPTO says that one's open too.

 

[KenSmithFan]

If you play covers, nobody cares about your name. You’re just a cover band.

First - totally wrong. A good, catchy name is easy to remember, sets expectations. Second, could you be any more condescending? Playing originals doesn't make you special at all.

 

[Pocket Dave]

could you be any more condescending? Playing originals doesn't make you special at all.

THIS.

I saw the post you responded to and was close to responding with something along the lines of "everyone and their dog has got originals no one cares to hear".

Thank you for taking the high road and keeping me from responding in such an equally condescending manner.

Oops

 

[gln1955]

THIS.

I saw the post you responded to and was close to responding with something along the lines of "everyone and their dog has got originals no one cares to hear".

Thank you for taking the high road and keeping me from responding in such an equally condescending manner.

Oops

Now, now, I'm sure that poster is a member of the most famous originals band in his immediate neighborhood.

 

[Pocket Dave]

It used to be that local even regional bands generally wouldn't pay the expense to trademark their name.
Then when a product (record) was issued by a record company, they'd have a lawyer file the paperwork. Once that was granted, they'd send out cease-and-desist letters to any other acts using the same name that they heard about. The recipients of those letters could then fight the trademark claim, or wait to get sued, or change their name. Change it entirely or sometimes just add a geographical suffix, like 'UK', 'US', or 'Tx'.

The high cost of litigating an intellectual property claim even before it's ever assigned a trial date makes this almost always a bluff coming from another rising working band in a different region, especially with geographical operational area weighing heavily in determining case outcome regardless of TM filing status.

Then the plaintiff would still need to prove wrong doing resulting in injury to reputation or income, assuming he took out a second mortgage in legal expenses and risk a negative litigation outcome.

Wait to get sued. It's the smart move.

 

[Pocket Dave]

Now, now, I'm sure that poster is a member of the most famous originals band in his immediate neighborhood.

At least among his next-door neighbors, though the guy who lives behind him and takes in the neighborhood stray dogs probably has the larger audience.

You can hear 'em howling at night.

If he cranks his PA, you can also hear the neighborhood cats chime in.