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Trademarking a Name
Can you trademark your name?
Can someone else trademark your name?
Can you trademark someone else’s name?
three questions -
three answers below
Can you trademark your name?
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A name “identifying a particular living
individual” cannot be registered as a trademark without written consent. 15
U.S.C. §1052(c).
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The name in question does not have to be a full,
or legal, name.
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If it’s your name
and your registration application, your consent will either be presumed or
easily provided.
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You must, of
course, use your name as a trademark or service mark in commerce.
Can someone else trademark your name?
-
A name “identifying a particular living
individual” cannot be registered as a trademark without written consent. 15
U.S.C. §1052(c).
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The name in question does not have to be a full,
or legal, name.
-
The “your name” factor alone is insufficient.
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You must be sufficiently known in the field of the
product or service that an association between you and the trademark will be
made by the relevant public, or
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You must be so well known that the name will
invariably be associated with you (such a Prince Charles).
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The same principles apply to trademark use.
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Your remedies are opposing a registration
application if it successful passes the registration stage or a Section 43(a)
trademark action.
Can you trademark someone else’s name?
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A name “identifying a particular living
individual” cannot be registered as a trademark without written consent. 15
U.S.C. §1052(c).
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The name in question does not have to be a full,
or legal, name.
-
This impediment to trademark and/or use protects
privacy rights and publicity rights that living persons have in the
designations that identify them.
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Publicity rights of celebrities routinely survive
their deaths, so the impediment to trademark registration and/or use extends
to deceased celebrities.
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Whether intended
or not, if the public would recognize and understand the trademark as
identifying a particular person, consent is required.
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Such public
identification means the person is sufficiently known in the field of
the product or service that an association between the person and the
trademark will be made by the relevant public, or
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The person is so well known that the name will
invariably be associated with the person (such a Prince Charles).
other topics -
trademark
registrations,
trademark myths,
naming and branding,
oppositions,
trademark searches, slogans
questions, inquiries
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contact the firm
(all contact modes)
or call 312.419.8055
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