So, after much hemming and hawing, a list of over 100 new name candidates, and an exercise in which the four of us individually eliminated candidates and then compared our results, we settled on a new name: Dear Static.
Dear Static is an old io song that we don't play anymore, and we just thought the name suits us very well.
Last night we played in Oakland as Dear Static, and it was pretty fun. Jamie got a little too fired up at the close of our set and repeatedly smashed his guitar into Eric's cymbals, destroying a ride cymbal and gouging his guitar to the point that the neck looks like he took a chainsaw to it. Doh. He'll have to get that fixed pronto. There were about 8 different record labels there checking out Street to Nowhere -- you could tell because amongst the sea of kids were older dudes in nice clothes.
So, yeah -- Dear Static. Turned out to be a one-show run for that name. We found out that there's some new major label LA glam band called Clear Static. Dammit. Back to the drawing board.
Comments (4)
In the US trademark database, the only entry for 'io' that looked like it would conflict is this one:
http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=hhb9bb.2.37
for a North Carolina band called io. However, note that their registration was considered 'abandoned' as of March 21, 2005 -- meaning, their trademark is no longer valid. (Probably forgot to send in a filing fee or something)
Their black & yellow logo is very similar to yours -- are you sure they didn't rip you off to begin with?
Anyways, if you were to register the trademark yourself at this point, you'd become the owner of record and be able to prevent them from using it. Maybe that seems like a hardball tactic, but it's merely an application of the time-honored principle of 'you snooze, you lose'.
Posted by Shortbus | February 20, 2006 9:27 AM
Posted on February 20, 2006 09:27
The USPTO site uses sessions that expire, so unfortunately it's impossible to copy/paste URLs for other people.
The expired black/yellow 'io' logo isn't the issue, it's the trademark serial #2645979.
Posted by BK | February 20, 2006 10:48 AM
Posted on February 20, 2006 10:48
My bad. Has the Illinois io band actually told you to not use the name, or are you just pre-emptively steering clear?
Posted by shortbus | February 20, 2006 4:35 PM
Posted on February 20, 2006 16:35
I can't really divulge too much in the way of details, but we've been in contact with them. The tone of the conversation was always cool and never threatening, but the bottom line is that they own the name and we don't.
Posted by BK | February 20, 2006 4:44 PM
Posted on February 20, 2006 16:44