Kevin Spacey Threatens Musician For Offering Album Called 'Kevinspacey'
from the new-name-is-better-anyway dept
Apparently Kevin Spacey had his lawyers send musician Jason Drake (Cassettes Won't Listen) a cease & desist letter for putting out an album called "Kevinspacey." Apparently, his lawyers say that since Spacey's name is trademarked for use in both music and film, this was trademark infringement. I have to admit, I like how Drake responded. He's retitled the album as "Evinspacey." That may be worth buying just for the name change...Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: cassettes won't listen, evinspacey, jason drake, kevin spacey, kevinspacey
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Evinspacey, Kevinspacier and Ekevinspaciest.
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Hmm
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Although, I have no idea what the rule of law would be if you first legally changed your name to Kevin Spacey.
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Unless of course your name is "Shell" and some oil company decides it wants your .de domain.
http://archiv.jura.uni-saarland.de/lawweb/pressreleases/shelldomainname.html
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That happens all the time. There are many actors who use a screen name because their actual name is already in use by another actor. For example David Tennant (per wikipedia) "adopted the professional name "Tennant" – inspired by Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys, after reading a copy of Smash Hits magazine[11] – because there was another David McDonald already on the books of the Equity union."
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As for musicians, I don't think the same thing applies.
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If the word Kevinspacey wasn't on the cover I would never have guessed that it is him...if it even is. All you can see is hair, glasses, and a shirt collar...could be anybody.
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Kevin Spacey is importing a rule from a domain (acting) where it applies - to one (music titles) where it doesn't.
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Name change
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a better idea
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This how good.
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"There would have been someone out there that would have thought Kevin Spacey was involved with the album and purchased it. That is why we have trademarks. "
Boy, the Beatles are in big trouble for Sergeant Peppers then...
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It's a publicity stunt ...
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Only permitted if you affect a Welsh accent while saying it.
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Kay Vin Spacey
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But I Thought ...
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Kevin's spacey
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