Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California

Re: Trademarking a name and sub name

In general terms, there is a "one mark per application" rule. The legalese behind it is that each mark having a "separate commercial impression" must be identified in a separate application. From your description above, it certainly sounds as though you have two separate marks.

You are correct that if you run them togther, then it might function as one unitary mark, but you would then need to use the mark in that manner.

A title of a single work cannot be registered, so the video idea wont likely work either. That being said, the title of a series of videos could be protected, but that involves other considerations.

Final thought - before you launch, you should conduct a comprehensive trademark search to make sure your use wont be infringing on someone elses rights. Be cautious in that the test is not whether the marks are identical, but whether consumers are likely to be confused. Thus, phonetics, spelling, commercial impression, all come into play.

Feel free to contact me if you have further questions.

Re: Trademarking a name and sub name

Another factor to consider is that your proposed video would fall into the area of copyright as well as trademark law.