Quote:
Originally Posted by bgrotto  
That's good news!
BTW - I'm checking out your Myspace right now and I'm noticing the "Black Hood" label/gear. Just wanna give you a heads-up: I've had two clients up here in Boston that use "Black Hood" as their DIY label imprint. I don't think they own the copyright for the name, but you may wanna pursue registering that name (if you haven't already) if you wanna use it in a more serious way. If two groups up here are using it, I can only imagine how many folks are using it nationwide. |
What his group would need to do is "trademark" the black hood label ... not "copyright" it. And even a federal trademark registration would be of limited value if others have used that name prior to the registration of the federal trademark. Within the U.S. "common law" trademark gives the right of use to first users (prior users) of a certain trademark, however common law protection is limited only to the places/areas where the trademark was actually used.
If his group were to later receive a federal trademark application for the black hood label, their rights would be limited only to the areas where the prior users did not already use the trademark. So it
depends on who started using the mark first. Sorry to complicate things a bit, but this is a common trademark issue that a lot of folks run into. You may want to check with an intellectual property attorney for advice... and I suspect that there are more than two users of a black hood trademark in the rap world... look for something a bit more original and distinctive.
Oh... I also agree that you can pursue
both a solo and a group deal. One can easily lead to the other... so be open to all options and be honest with your bandmates. Also make sure your house is in order on the copyright ownership front... written agreement concerning material that was jointly written by all bandmates, beats created by certain bandmates... use of band gear for individual pursuits... etc. Get the business in order.