Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California
Trademarking a name and sub name
Lets say we have a sports event called the Land of the Gods tournament, which features a costume character named BigTree. We also intend to produce a video about the mythical Land of the Gods and BigTree and wish to protect these names. Would those need to be separately trademarked? Or if we trademark them as Land of the Gods/BigTree must we forever used them in exactly that fashion? What if we produced a video ''BigTree visits the Land of the Gods'' would it be covered?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Trademarking a name and sub name
In general terms, there is a "one mark per application" rule. The legalese behind it is that each mark having a "separate commercial impression" must be identified in a separate application. From your description above, it certainly sounds as though you have two separate marks.
You are correct that if you run them togther, then it might function as one unitary mark, but you would then need to use the mark in that manner.
A title of a single work cannot be registered, so the video idea wont likely work either. That being said, the title of a series of videos could be protected, but that involves other considerations.
Final thought - before you launch, you should conduct a comprehensive trademark search to make sure your use wont be infringing on someone elses rights. Be cautious in that the test is not whether the marks are identical, but whether consumers are likely to be confused. Thus, phonetics, spelling, commercial impression, all come into play.
Feel free to contact me if you have further questions.
Re: Trademarking a name and sub name
Another factor to consider is that your proposed video would fall into the area of copyright as well as trademark law.
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