Question on registering your business name and if you have to copyright everything?

D

Deer Film

Well-known member
Hi
For example, Lets say you use your last name and add "Film" on the end.
RollingerFilm (this is a fictitious name for now to use as an example)
I use this for my side video production business name and youtube channel, Vimeo, and email. I am from the USA. Never thought anyone would use this as a business name, its my family name. I have used this name for at least 7 years. Never thought I would need to spend money to copyright my name. Or would it be trademark?
This week I googled my name, and came up with another video business that has this name but with a "s" on the end. The company is from Uruguayan , and their name is RollingerFilms.
What should I do? I don't want to have to change my business name later on. I am not to worried about their company in another country, but I don't want to loose my name.
Maybe they did not trademark or copyright there name yet. Or maybe they had the name longer then mine. Also what about the "s" on the end of a business name. Like LucasFilm, can a different company make LucasFilms, LucasFilmz or LucasMovies? I am not going to take their name, but just a question on adding or subtracting letters. How does the law handle that? I am sure George Lucas used a lot of money to cover all different angles for anyone getting close to his trademark film name.
I assume I would have to pay around a 100 dollars to register my name. For me, a hundred dollars is a lot of money and I am trying to justify spending that. But I don't want to loose everything I have put so much time into.
thanks
also, if you create different shows on youtube, does that mean you have to register/copyright/trademark/ each youtube show? So no one takes the same name and idea and then trademark it then sends you a letter saying you can't make your own show anymore. I would hope you could say, look at the date of the show, I created mine first. They are just silly shows for now, but I hope to make them bigger. I really hate the idea of paying to trademark /copyright/ everything for someone starting small. I just want to have fun making movies and creating my own shows on youtube and vimeo, and doing my side business with video production with my family name.
 
Unless you are rich, International copyright is pretty pointless, as you need to protect your brand in every individual territory, and by the time you are aware that this business is running in say Uruguay, then that owner will have copyright in place. You need to get in first - clearly impossible.

In most countries, like the UK, business registration is done for other purposes, not brand name protection - but, the legal test is establishing prior usage - so 7 years of taxes, adverts and purchases in the business name would probably be quite enough to back up any claim for a newcomer wanting you to change. Here, you could have Rollingerfilm Ltd, and something very similar both registered as a Ltd company. The only problem would be if one passes itself off as the other. My own business has 'services' on the end. Another company has 'group' on the end of the same first three words. We are on opposite coasts, and the other is a radio station. We've both been in business the same kind of time, and their turnover is hundreds of times more than mine. Occasionally we get emails for each other and sometimes junk mail - it never causes problems. Somebody calls on the phone, and we explain that while we could do this, they are probably not talking to the right people.

If they felt I was pretending to be them and stealing their business, then if it went to court, I'd probably lose because I can't afford big legal costs. If somebody close enough to cause confusion has a similar name, then legal advice is sensible. If the other party is in a remote foreign country, I'd forget it. I do know that if somebody in Venezuela wanted me to change my name I would tell them what they could do!
 
As far as business registrations go, say for an LLC or corporation, uniqueness is a requirement at the state level. But not so for sole proprietorships, e.g. every town could have a Bob's Appliances with a different Bob owning each one. If you had a brand you needed to protect on a national level then you might file a trademark. That could apply to a film series or a business. Copyright is a different matter. Register copyright on everything you do. It's easy to do, cheap, and provides access additional redress in the event of a violation.
 
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Thank you for this great information. I will start looking to see how and where and what type of things to copyright. I don't want to get to crazy.
Thank you again
 
Good tips. Check that the business isn't already registered using the business registration apparatus in your particular country. Companies House is the one you want to look at in the UK.

Don't sweat the small stuff. Put a copyright and DMCA notice on your website. That'll do it. :smile:
 
If you're not doing business in Uruguay, don't worry about it.

In the US, trademarks are filed with the US Department of Commerce's Patent and Trademark Office: http://www.uspto.gov/trademark. You typically register an unincorporated business with your local county government, consult the county clerk for information. Corporations are registered at a state level, consult your accountant or lawyer for more information.

In other countries, consult your national government. The legal liabilities, protections and process will differ with each country.

And once you've registered for whatever protection you think you need, it's up to you to take someone to court. Don't be surprised to find out that it costs more to defend your rights than you can afford or are likely to collect.
 
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