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Possible to Trademark Living Name?

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trixiiz

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Michigan

BEFORE RESPONDING:
Please don't respond if you only assume to know this answer out of common sense. My initial response would be no. However, I haven't found a law or documentation to suggest otherwise yet. Internet websites with no reputable government source or library I try not to consider. I'm not asking for you to go digging and find that source for me. I'm asking for opinions on those who may have seen such documentation in their past experiences that suggests a living name could or cannot be trademarked and copywritten.

Question: Can a person's living name --OR-- the corporate entity created when you were born with your social security number in ALL CAPS name be trademarked? After all it is your name and depending what kind of law you study, you may or may not have knowledge that your all caps name is a corporate entity created to protect you.

Examples:
John Doe <-Normally references a human being.
JOHN DOE <-Normally references to your corporate entity that you use on a day to day and for administrative purposes. Social Security, SSI, Credit Cards, ETC..


Thank you so much should you decide to comment.
 
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The Occultist

Senior Member
Your question cannot be answered with only the details you have provided. In what way is the name being used?

Also, if you have issues with who responds and in what manner they respond, then please do not use this website. Instead, sit down with an actual attorney versed in such law. And if you argue further on the point of who gets to respond to your post, then expect a lack of help from anybody on this board.
 

justalayman

Senior Member
damn, and I had a pretty good guess as to the answer, and even why but since I don't have that field experience to back it up, well, I guess I just can't respond.:eek:

OP, you misunderstand a lot concerning this. Here is one mistake:

the corporate entity created when you were born with your social security number
while there is obviously a corporeal entity when you are born, there is no corporate entity, at least in the legal terms, to consider that statement as having any weight in your question.
 

quincy

Senior Member
As a note to trixiiz: Surprisingly enough, a lot of law is actually based on common sense. ;)
 

trixiiz

Junior Member
Please forgive me if it seems I was trying to dictate who could respond in why. My goal of saying that was I wanted to prevent people who respond without a valid point, that is all. It wasn't my intention to discourage any answers but to discourage those who might be guessing just to respond to a post. If you have a theory or have seen any documentation or sources you would like to point me too, I'm definitely open for listening and finding out for myself.

In regards to what it will be used for someone asked. It would be used to protect your name from being used. In theory, if it could be proven that your all caps name is indeed a corporate entity (more theory), then what's to say it couldn't be protected from someone using it in a document for commercial gain? I'm not actually fighting the law or anything, just something I am interested in finding out.

Again, I apologize if I came off like an as****e, but if you post on a lot of forums, you'll always find the people who like to respond with no reasons as to why they think that way. Just interested in getting their post count up or something. That is all I'm trying to avoid.

My apologies,
 

quincy

Senior Member
If you are asking if you can use your own real name as a trademark, the answer is yes. Paris Hilton uses her own real name as a trademark, to market her product line (at least I think that is her real name).

The thing with a trademark, however, is that it is used to distinguish your product or service from that of others, and it must have a continued use in commerce if you hope to retain the rights to the mark.

If your name is John Doe, therefore, you can market your product or service as JOHN DOE (if someone has not already used the name or a similar name in a competing way already that would make your use of the name confusing to consumers). Then, when your JOHN DOE mark becomes identified in people's minds with your product or service, you can prevent others from using the same mark (name) on their product or service if another's use of it would lead to consumer confusion.

I could not name my fast food restaurant McDonald's, for example, even if my name was McDonald, or I could not market my cookies under the name Mrs. Field's, even if my name was Mrs. Field - at least without the risk of being sued.

But, if you do not have a product or service to market, and you are just looking to protect your name from all use by others, then, no, you can't trademark your name for that purpose. You cannot prevent others from naming their babies John Doe or using their own John Doe name as their name. You cannot prevent others from calling you by your name or writing your name when referring to you. And, even if you had a product or service named JOHN DOE, you could not prevent people from freely using your name to describe your product or service or to criticize your product or service. The most you could do is to prevent others from infringing on any rights you have in the name/mark (and these rights have limits).

Because I am actually a bit confused by your question, that is the best I can do to answer it. :)

You can go to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's official website for more information on trademark law.

United States Patent and Trademark Office
 
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trixiiz

Junior Member
Very good response Quincy, thank you. I guess The Paris Hilton thing would depend on if she applied to create a corporation using her name or attempted to trade mark her already existing all caps name given to her at birth. Can't be certain until I look up those details but I'll see if I can find that answer.

So I guess what can be found is a entity not involved in commercial activities cannot trade mark. So the question then becomes if the all CAPS name given to normal people on their birth certificates like me and you truly can be proven to be a corporate entity or not. Very hard to prove that it is or isn't and have heard points from both sides of the fence of this both bringing very good valid points why it is, or isn't. I guess I'll have to begin researching this again.

There must be a purpose for the all caps name besides it looks nice on a computer screen or fits in a database better. This is only used on what appears to be legal or commercial documents for the most part. However, I suppose this discussion would be for a different forum.

Again, thank you for your informative response! :)
 

justalayman

Senior Member
she owns her TM's as an individual.

but you must realize, the trademark isn't so much her name but her name being associated with something.
 

The Occultist

Senior Member
trixiiz, I think we are all confused on what you are asking here. Could you please provide an example of one action you are attempting to ensure cannot be done with your name?

A general answer to a question you might be asking is: if you have some sort of trademark, changing small details can still result in infringement of the mark, e.g. there is no difference between Wal Mart, Wal-Mart, wal-mart, or WAL-MART; anybody attempting to use any of those variations for the name of their general goods store would quickly find themselve on the losing end of a lawsuit.

Your name, however, cannot be trademarked until it is associated with selling a product or service or somesuch. If you are not selling/marketing anything with your name, then your name has absolutely NO protections and anybody can use your name however they want.

I think we need to know some more details about the situation you are attempting to ask about.
 

divgradcurl

Senior Member
I assume the purpose of this question is along the lines of a person being a "sovereign" and therefore not subject to the laws of the U.S., or you plan on trying to sue the U.S. Government for trademark infringement every time they send you an official form or letter with you name all in capital letters.

The law is pretty clear on this -- personal names cannot be trademarks unless they have acquired "secondary meaning" -- as others pointed out, people must associate your name with a product or service, and at that point, the name may obtain enforceable trademark rights with respect to that product or service.

But your name, on it's own, can't be trademarked without being associated with a good or service, and cannot be copyrighted or patented. And having a social security number does not make a person into a corporation either.
 

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