Hi

Do you know of any magicians or entertainers for that matter that have trade marked their stage name? I'm selecting a new stage name & the one I like is being used on Facebook by someone else. It is not being used by a magician, it is just a teenager in Puerto Rico who happens to have that as his real name.

If I change to a new stage name I'd like to use it as my Facebook identity, for example: http://www.facebook.com/MyStageName

So, I've seen Facebook have a procedure where if someone else is using your trademarked identity on Facebook you can get it released to use. The only catch seems to be that you must have evidence that your name or brand is legally tradmarked, in use and that the other party has no such trademark. A US trademark also trumps a trademark from any other country.

Does anyone have any advise or knowledge of similar situations?

I like the way you say "it is just a teenager" and then mention also that it is his real name.

I'm not sure since he was on FB first, and it is his real name, that you could have him stopped/deleted, if that is your thought/goal. (That's what it sounds like.) Even if you have your stage name trademarked.

THAT BEING SAID.....as I am SURE you are wanting to start a business/fan page using your trade marked stage name I do not see a problem with that, and there would be no reason to have him change.

Blair

If you take out facebook from yours considerations, you don´t have any real problem.

I am confused why it matters if a kid in Puerto Rico has the same name?

Also trade marks aren't granted for universally for everything. You would trade mark it for a magician or magical performer. So it has no bearing if it someone's real name unless they'd be using it as a magician or for the category(s) you've registered it for.

My interest is really about trademarking a stage name if anyone knows of it happening. The comments about Facebook are just to give you some background as to why I am asking.

Blair, thanks for your comments. It is food for thought. I see your facebook URL is in the format of: http://www.facebook.com/real.name.location.profession, so you were in a similar situation. I'd rather have http://www.facebook.com/stage.name (same as my .com page URL). I am still quite new to Facebook, but the way it appears to me as that an individual generally uses Facebook differently than any kind of commercial entity. My comments about the other guy were meant to draw attention to him using facebook as a non-business individual rather than anything to do with his age or location. As an individual using Facebook your actual URL does not really matter much. You are not printing it on stationary, flyers or name cards with the URL on like a business might. You can use facebook without ever needing to type in somebodies URL directly.

Perhaps as a business it could be the same. You could just put a 'find us on facebook logo' on your business card & no URL, then it would not matter if you had a really long URL or not.

http://indieambassador.com/articles/what......rademark

Hey Andy,

I started using Facebook for personal use as: Facebook.com/GordonRuss. I like this because old friends, school mates, and relatives were able to find me. I the selected Facebook.com/MagicianGordonRuss as my Fan Page/business page. It works well for me. What ever you chose for your business page, I would stick with it. It can be hard to get those "likes" and changing you name to something better after you establish your self, might cause you to loose a lot of hard earned "likes".

Gordon (you old friend for the Deans List)

I call myself Al Angello and I don't think anyone else is using that trade mark.

You want to know if you can trademark a name? You are just starting out and want to trademark a name?

Ok. Even if you could why would you?

I'm curious about trademarking also... not a name, but rather a title. For example a title like "edutainer", "infotainer", etc. I think we've all seen these two. I came up with something for my new branding that I would like to protect from everyone else using.

Anton tried to do it years ago and was unable to do so. Today these have become so common they are actually, in my opinion, ineffective.

Keep in mind that a trademark or copyright are only effective IF you go after someone violating it. That means lawyers and expenses upfront. Even if someone is found guilty, that doesn't mean you will be able to cover the legal expenses. On an international level, it becomes even more difficult. I'm not saying a trademark or copyright is a waste of time - but if you don't intend to enforce it, they are meaningless.

Tom points out an unwritten yet incredibly useful principal of law. Any contract is only worth what you are willing to pay to enforce it.

Danny,

Also, any contract is only worth the amount of the prepayment! Unless you want to spend $$ to enforce it!

I remember talking to Anton about that many moons ago. Just can't remember why he was not able to get it done.

The solution is obvious: this Puerto Rican kid needs to change his name.

I Googled Andy and Andrew Walker, there is already an actor named Andy Walker. Plus others in different fields. I don't believe such a common name could be copyrighted. There are just to many Andy Walkers in the World for you to try and capture the name. After all you parents most likely named you Andy because that was the going "Fad Name" of the time.

My advice is to either come up with a totally unique name and have your name legally changed or use a middle initial or middle name that no other Andy is using.

I lucky, I have the only unique name in the world, outside of a brother and a couple nephews, are the only ones that have the same last name.

On the news yesterday, lady has 35 letter last name and will not fit on here drivers license. Refuses to change name for license bureau.

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20734265,00.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/11......051.html

How it is pronounced:
http://www.khon2.com/2013/09/10/action-l......license/

Names are not protected by copyright law. However, some names may be protected under trademark law.
But a common name like Andy Walker would never pass. It has to be really unique to get a trademark.

Now you can register your name as a business, but that won't stop others from doing business under their real name too.
Here in the USA the protection of a business name is usually limited to the state. Unless it has qualified and been approved as a trademark name.

A lot about Trademark Basics on this long video here:
http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/basics/

Tom

To my knowledge you can copyright a stage name but yes it is hard to enforce.

An example of this in the entertainment field is the WWE they routinely copyright or outright own names of the wrestlers. examples are the tag team DUDLY BOYS or Ken Kennedy. Also note that in the early 90's they had a wrestler named Justin Credible but for somereason they have not went after the magician with the name of Justin Kredible. They may even have a case for it too.

Once again it comes down to enforcement, think about all of the fake celebirty facebook/twitter accounts does it really matter chances are FB is not going to be your PRIMARY source of income in this biz.

Jesse