Using an existing song name as a company name?

Zamboni

Are there any legal/copyright issues naming a business that has the same name as an existing song?

Lots of examples
Brown Sugar by The Rolling Stones. There are cafes and hairdressers in Ireland with the same name.
Blackbird by the Beatles is also the name of a pub in Rathmines etc

Is it that there are no issues doing that or that the song title owners are either unaware or not bothered to pursue?
Or what would the steps be to "pre-clear" a name for use?

Thanks!

is_that_so

I think you're thinking of trademarks rather than copyright, hence that kerfuffle by McDonalds over Supermacs. Copyright is just the words, not the title. Research is always good anyway!

brian_t

There were Blackbirds and Brown Sugar around well before those songs were written.

Victor

Also consider the matter of passing off - are you trading on someone else's image / IP an creating the impression among customers that you are associated with the artist?

coylemj

Victor wrote: »

Also consider the matter of passing off - are you trading on someone else's image / IP an creating the impression among customers that you are associated with the artist?

Indeed. I always wondered if the ladies who patronise the Brown Sugar beauty salon in Blackrock, Dublin had the expectation/delusion that Keith Richards would look after their nails and Mick Jagger would do their hair

dennyk

It would be trademark laws that would govern the use of a particular name. Trademarks are generally limited to a particular area of business or industry, and a key factor for deciding whether a mark infringes on an existing trademark is how likely it is that a consumer would reasonably confuse the two or believe that the two are associated. For instance, if a company named Acme makes power tools and trademarks that name in that context, it would usually not prevent someone from opening up a restaurant named "Acme", or from trademarking "Acme" as the name of a restaurant, because in most cases consumers are unlikely to confuse Acme the restaurant with Acme the power tool manufacturer, or to believe that the restaurant is somehow associated with the power tool company or vice versa. (Of course, other factors can come into play; if the restaurant was somehow themed around power tools or a related industry, for instance, and used a similar logo and colour scheme, the case for infringement would be much stronger...) Basically the idea behind trademark law is to prevent competitors from tricking consumers into believing their products are somehow associated with an existing well-known brand.

There are also limitations on exactly what can be trademarked as well, primarily relating to the distinctiveness of the mark in question; generic or descriptive words associated with a particular product or service generally can't be trademarked on their own in relation to that product or service. For instance, a manufacturer of biscuits couldn't obtain a trademark on the word "Biscuits", as that is a generic term for the product in question and not a mark associated only with a particular brand of sweet baked goods. Similarly, they could not trademark the name "Sweet" for selling biscuits, because "sweet" is a common descriptive word associated with that product. However, if a company were to have an unrelated product or service (say, again, power tools) trading under the name "Biscuits", that would usually be a viable trademark, because although "Biscuits" is an existing word, it isn't one that would ordinarily be associated with power tools, and therefore the use of that word to market power tools would be arbitrary and thus distinctive.

To see if you can use a particular existing word or phrase for your business, you'd need to do a trademark search to see if anyone else currently has that mark trademarked in the context of the business you want to use it for (or another area of business similar enough that it could create confusion). The Irish Patents Office and the EUIPO both have searchable trademark databases you can access online. It would also be wise to consult your legal counsel that you've retained when setting up your business for advice on the trademark process and how to avoid any potential pitfalls.