Legal Question in Entertainment Law in Iowa
Production Company Business Name
Hello,
Thank you for taking my question and I will make it as brief as possible. I am an independent filmmaker and just started my own film production company ''Movie Buff Productions''. My business partners and I took wind of a production company out of California called ''Film Buff Productions''.
I was wondering in your professional opinion, do you think we should seriously consider changing our name, since they started first, or should we be ok since it is a different name? If there are steps to ensure we won't come across problems in the future, please let me know. Thank you.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Production Company Business Name
It's probably a good idea for you to change your name. This area of law is called trademark law. It's aim to prevent customer confusion and protect business goodwill. If two business have the same name (or in this case, service mark) there's a likelihood that the public will be confused as to the source of the product or service. The one who started using the name first has priority (whether or not that first business has registered its trademark) and can seek to have the other stopped from using the name.
Now there is a chance that you both could peacefully co-exist--a lot of businesses are able to do. Like how many restaurant's are called Jon's Diner? Probably a lot. But film production companies have internet sites and with you both being indies, there's a chance that you could bump into one another. They would have superior rights to the name...
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