Business name question.

[dieselstation]

Let's say i want to start a business. and i want to name my business after a popular movie. My business has nothing to do with the movie except the name. Is this possible? or am i infringing any copyrights? what should i know if i want to do this?

The business is a lan type gaming center. basically a room full of computers hooked up to play lan games. and i charge $2/hr. i want to call it Fight Club. what do you think?

 

[Tauren]

If it is not a 'registered trademark', you are not infringing on a 'copyright'.

 

[BigSmooth]

You'd be naming it after a book, not a movie.

 

[Linflas]

I would suggest consulting an attorney. It will obviously cost some money but will save you money in the long term. I have heard numerous stories about small businesses that chose a name only to later lose the name due to complications fair or unfair when they become big enough to be noticed. I would be surprised if you could name a business after a movie unless given permission by the studio since they no doubt retain full legal rights to the title and contents of the movie. An example of how bizarre all this can get: A friend and I used to go to a bar a couple times a week the name of which was Benningtons. One day we went there and the name had been changed. It turned out that Bennigans the national chain threatened legal action against them for having a name that was similar even though as far as we knew they had been around long before Bennigans. No doubt they would have had a good case had they chose to fight it but who can afford such a fight against a large chain with lawyers on retainer for just such a situation?

 

[Tauren]

As a matter of fact, there are two movies named: 'Bad Boys'. Neither is anything alike and are not done by the same person. Also, if you look, you will find several different companies having the same name in the same state, but different counties.

 

[Tauren]

<<I would suggest consulting an attorney. It will obviously cost some money but will save you money in the long term. I have heard numerous stories about small businesses that chose a name only to later lose the name due to complications fair or unfair when they become big enough to be noticed. I would be surprised if you could name a business after a movie unless given permission by the studio since they no doubt retain full legal rights to the title and contents of the movie. An example of how bizarre all this can get: A friend and I used to go to a bar a couple times a week the name of which was Benningtons. One day we went there and the name had been changed. It turned out that Bennigans the national chain threatened legal action against them for having a name that was similar even though as far as we knew they had been around long before Bennigans. No doubt they would have had a good case had they chose to fight it but who can afford such a fight against a large chain with lawyers on retainer for just such a situation?>>

That is a waste of money. Just go to the local county offices and you will see what I mean. If it is not a trademark or a copyrighted NAME, it is just a title. Go to the book store and see how many books have the exact same title.

Bennigan's is a trademark, as is McDonald's.

 

[GasX]

Make it a club about fighting, and there is not much they can say...

 

[GasX]

If you do go ahead with this, keep in mind that you will get very little business from customer referrals (1st rule of Fight Club)...

 

[Urinal Mint]

Be super lame and call it &quot;Phight Klub&quot;

 

[MrBond]

It's a touchy area. As long as you're small scale, you should be fine. I remember when numberous gym's were calling themselves &quot;Arnold's Gym,&quot; it went on for some time, but once they got noticible, Scwartzineger(sp!) sued them for using his name (as they were actually associating it with him, not just using the name). So as long as you don't put &quot;Fight Club&quot; stuff all over the room, and have extensive tie ins with the movie, you should be fine.

Are these computer's going to be preloaded with games? MAKE SURE you use policy editor and give them extreme restricted access. Disable the Run command, internet explorer (because it can access every file on the PC due to MS's intergration with file manager), and MyComputer. Just put the icons for the games on the desktop. Put Mozilla on them if they need to browse the net. An improperly secured pc in a lan gaming room is a great place to score a free CD key for popular games for a decent price (in your case, all the CD Keys they can take in an hour). People WILL try it, it happens at LAN parties all the time

 

[dieselstation]

LOL mwilding