{"id":1916,"date":"2014-06-20T11:23:35","date_gmt":"2014-06-20T18:23:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/?p=1916"},"modified":"2014-06-20T11:23:35","modified_gmt":"2014-06-20T18:23:35","slug":"how-to-trademark-your-band-or-artist-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/how-to-trademark-your-band-or-artist-name\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Trademark Your Band or Artist Name"},"content":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s your band name?\u00a0Are you sure it\u2019s YOUR band name?<\/strong><\/p>\n

What I mean is, are you sure you own the rights to use that band or artist name when you create music and conduct business? In short, is your band name protected as a trademark or service mark?<\/p>\n

Why your band name should be protected by a trademark<\/strong><\/h3>\n

1. Avoid duplicate band names<\/strong><\/p>\n

You don\u2019t want to tour and record for years under one band name, only to find out that there\u2019s another band working under the same name in another part of the country (or world).<\/p>\n

In that event, one of you is either going to have to change your name entirely or tack on a little extra identifier, \u201cCharlatans UK,\u201d \u201cThe All New\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019d suck because you\u2019ll have to exert a lot of extra effort to regain the recognition you once had with the old band name.\u00a0Your band name is your brand name \u2014 and if you have to change it, it\u2019s going to cost you money too: repressing discs or vinyl with the new band name, distribution fees associated with replacing your music in stores, etc.<\/p>\n

2. Protect your domain name and social profiles<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Whichever band wins the trademark dispute is going to have the right to claim or shut down the other band\u2019s web address and social media URLs, handles, etc. You\u2019ve worked too hard building your online presence to have some jokers five states over kill your music career momentum just because they filed the paperwork first.<\/p>\n

How to see if someone else is already using the band name you\u2019d like to trademark<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Well, Google is always a great place to start. Do any other band names come up in a search? If not, phew! But it doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re free and clear yet.<\/p>\n

Next you\u2019ll want to use the search on the USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) website to look for registered trademarks or cases where a trademark application is pending:\u00a0http:\/\/www.uspto.gov\/<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Be sure to search for similar names and common misspellings too.\u00a0If you\u2019re still not seeing any competition for your band name, it\u2019s time to file the paperwork to register your trademark.<\/p>\n

Having gone through this incredibly confusing and lengthy process myself, I STRONGLY recommend hiring a lawyer to help you file everything correctly the first time around (which I did not, and ended up regretting it).<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t have the budget to hire a laywer, check out \u201cProtecting Band and Artist Stage Names<\/a>\u201d by Michael I. Santucci (an entertainment attorney who focuses on copyright, patent, and trademark law) for advice on how to register your trademark yourself.<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

Do you have any trademark horror stories, either in terms of filing the application or with an actual trademark dispute? Let us know all about it in the comments section below.<\/p>\n

Via CDBaby<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s your band name?\u00a0Are you sure it\u2019s YOUR band name? What I mean is, are you sure you own the rights to use that band or artist name when you create music and conduct business? In short, is your band name protected as a trademark or service mark? Why your band name should be protected by a trademark 1. Avoid duplicate band names You don\u2019t want to tour and record […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1917,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[311],"class_list":["post-1916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-tips","tag-trademark"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1916"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1918,"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1916\/revisions\/1918"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vakseen.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}