Some TM/copyright info........

Posted by Shawnkara from spider-tf063.proxy.aol.com on May 19, 2001 at 02:09:56:

In Reply to: Something to think about........ posted by Indy Andrew Jones on May 19, 2001 at 00:45:26:

: What would you think, if someone went to court, and wanted to have their name changed to "Indiana Jones"?

: Would this person be a devoted fan, or some looser trying to steal what belongs to everyone?

: (Heres the big one....) Could Lucas Arts TM. "Indiana Jones"??? I mean, how you you feel if someone TM. your name?

: Hmmmmmmmm..........

For what I know of TM and copyright law I do believe it would be possible. The purpose of these laws to prevent another party from profiting from your creation or pledgerizing (sp?) it. You would not profit from changing your name to Indiana Jones if you chose to do so. I hold both copyrights and TM's and was told that you may TM a character's distinctive likeness but not a name. If the name appears as a logo, as with Indy's, you can TM the logo but not the name itself. There is always a chance that someone somewhere has that name. After all, Jones is a name and so is Indiana. The only issue that comes to mind would be on the part of the office that does the name change. If they were to accept payment from you to perform the service of legally changing your name to Indiana Jones then, technically, THEY... are profiting form the name Indiana Jones. However I have seen personalized plates on cars that use the names of film characters, titles and band names. In this case the DMV is profiting from these protected properties, so I guess it's a grey area....

Follow Ups:

So...If I... Georgiana Jones 13:10:55 5/19/2001 (2)
- Well, sort of..... Shawnkara 19:28:40 5/19/2001 (1)
  - Hummm, well, if that were the case... Michaelson 10:41:17 5/21/2001 (0)

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: 
: :     What would you think, if someone went to court, and wanted to have their name changed to "Indiana Jones"?

: :     Would this person be a devoted fan, or some looser trying to steal what belongs to everyone?

: :     (Heres the big one....) Could Lucas Arts TM. "Indiana Jones"??? I mean, how you you feel if someone TM. your name?

: :     Hmmmmmmmm..........

: 
: For what I know of TM and copyright law I do believe it would be possible. The purpose of these laws to prevent another party from profiting from your creation or pledgerizing (sp?) it. You would not profit from changing your name to Indiana Jones if you chose to do so. I hold both copyrights and TM's and was told that you may TM a character's distinctive likeness but not a name. If the name appears as a logo, as with Indy's, you can TM the logo but not the name itself. There is always a chance that someone somewhere has that name. After all, Jones is a name and so is Indiana. The only issue that comes to mind would be on the part of the office that does the name change. If they were to accept payment from you to perform the service of legally changing your name to Indiana Jones then, technically, THEY... are profiting form the name Indiana Jones. However I have seen personalized plates on cars that use the names of film characters, titles and band names. In this case the DMV is profiting from these protected properties, so I guess it's a grey area....

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