I know this thread has gone quiet for a while but but a couple of people have asked me how come my band (Elevation Canada) has the same name as our Chicago-based colleagues and I think it would be a good idea to answer that question on a public forum that has asked that question too... the answer is that, when my bandmates (and their first bass player) were selecting a suitable name for their brand new U2 tribute project around the end of 2001, there was no indication whatsoever that any other act with that name existed in North America. Elevation USA may have selected the name before we did, Danno may have been handing out business cards with that name on to all and sundry and so on, but unfortunately they had no web presence at the time, or at least one that we could find, which is pretty much the same thing when it comes down to it, so we had no way of knowing that they had selected the name first, or that they even existed at all. If we had known, we'd almost certainly have selected something else, the last thing we would have wanted is to share a name with a more-or-less nearby competitor. There is also an Elevation in Quebec and one in the UK by the way, and probably a few others that I don't know about... And of course, as Gabe points out, none of us "own" the name, whether or not we use it on a regular basis: Elevation is the (copyrighted?) name of U2's tour of 2001. Neither of us therefore have an absolute right to use it no matter who printed the first card, played the first gig etc. Not, I have to add here, that I think it actually matters very much; neither band plays in what might be considered the "territory" of the other on anything but the most infrequent of occasions (in fact, I don't think it's happened at all to date, though of course this will change when we play in Cleveland at the Hard Rock Cafe on Saturday 14 June 2003, not it must be said that any band has a God-given right to a particular gig, wherever the gig and the band are located. The world is a big place and there are enough gigs to go round). I would personally say that there are other, more pressing issues for me (and presumably everyone else involved in each band as well) to consider than whether a tribute act in a different country, located a day's drive away, shares the same name (which is itself borrowed from someone else) is something that I need to worry about.
Regards
Mick
)
I think you have to copywrite or register your name. So in this case... it doesn't matter who started first, it's who gets the legalities done first.
not to change the subject or anything....but thanks for the link, ron!
...(this is laura, btw...if'n you didn't know...)...you'll have to post those pictures as soon as possible! all 3 of us forgot our cameras, otherwise we would have taken some...
