Stage names & aliases

[KellyK469]

Hi, I have a couple of questions, but I need to fill in some background first. I have been a participant at a Renaissance Faire for about 8 years now, and I am a Graphic Designer. I have had the nickname of Legs LaRue since I was about 12, which was given to me by my neighbor. I live in Illinois, but the RenFaire is in Wisconsin. Now a friend and I created an informal "Pirate" club for people who dress up as Pirates at the RenFaire. I go by the name Legs LaRue. I created three different documents for this club: a Recruitment Poster with a story about the fictional ship & it's crew, a Wanted Poster with a picture of my friend who plays a Pirate Captain, and a Pirate Certificate that has both mine and my friend's "Stage Name" signatures (not copied) at the bottom of it. We both colloborated on these documents and have never discussed who the owner is. The way I see it, we have Joint Ownership of the documents as far as copyright is concerned. But, he keeps trying to say that they are his work and is making copies of them with my "Stage Name" signature at the bottom. Is this a violation of copyright? Can he copy my signature like that? Do I need to get this name trademarked? Is it worth bothering with if it's not a name I use to make money with? What are my options? Any help would be most appreciated.

Thanks!

Kelly

 

[ALawyer]

You really have a partnership dispute. As the work seems to have been joint, you need some way to resolve this.