ummm , i don't know who you are
Submitted by realcrunchbi on Fri, 12/03/2004 - 05:39
Tags:
but my name is crunchbird, my band was called crunchbird for almost twenty years and you might be in copy write violation. we need to talk dude. i've opened for nirvana, soundgarden , TAD, the gits and i am here to say you might want to email me to avoid trouble. needless to say i'm kinda irked youre trying to steal my good name.
try a google search under my name. look at vagrant records web (the one in seattle) i can be reached at soniktrooth@hotmail.com.
Hmmm, first of all, copyright applies to intellectual property, not names. A name, in fact, cannot be copyrighted. You would be referring to trademark and if the name Crunchbird has not been trademarked by you, you have no case, even if this individual goes on to record albums and perform under the name. Legacy means nothing; filing paperwork is everything. (Incidentally, I did a trademark search at uspto.gov and found no registration for the name, only a dead registration for Crunch Bird Promotions.)
That said, what gives you the impression that this person is using the name as anything other than a handle here? I'm not really seeing any profit potential for users of this site (jim, comments?). It's just a username for pete's sake. Could you imagine if Bono went around and harassed everyone who chose Bono as a username? I mean, come on!
Or is it just that you're upset that listology's PageRank places this user's lists higher than your Vagrant Records stuff in Google? Wouldn't it be possible that this individual is actually paying tribute to you, for whatever crazy reason?
As for being irked, it is safe to say that I am very irked that, instead of an unemotional, well-considered inquiry, you have essentially threatened someone you don't know on entirely baseless grounds in a public forum. If you are so protective of the name Crunchbird, then the onus is on you to trademark it, pure and simple. Then you have a case. Beyond that, you come off as highly egomaniacal (namedropping bands that peaked more than a decade ago is a perfect example).
Really, do you plan on threatening the guy who posted the Crunchbird joke? Have you already?