i've bought a new bar in france and am trying to find a name for this bar. I don't want to have a theme bar but i am toying with the name 'Starfish and Coffee' My bar is 100 metres from the beach so it sort of makes sense. Also my other half's name is Cynthia.

a)If i call my bar this, what are the legal issues if any?

b)What do you guys think?

sorry if its the wrong forum

tcho

Bad idea. Not worth the risk.

There are other ventures out there with the name Starfish and/& Coffee (Photography, Restaurant etc). I really don't think anyone can touch you legally, plus you may like a variation like Starfish N' Coffee. there are a zillion restaurants out there named after songs - Alice's Restaurant, Ruby Tuesday, Louie Louie etc. etc. What about ESTERIE et CAFE?

I don't believe titles are copyright; for example, in Hollywood there can be several different films that have nothing in common but share the same title and of course there are many, many songs that simply share the same title.

[Edited 12/7/10 19:02pm]

you should be fine, unless he had it trademarked. Unless prince had a restaurant/bar with that name, in that state, he would not be able to do anything. And it is not an iconic song.

Red said:

There are other ventures out there with the name Starfish and/& Coffee (Photography, Restaurant etc). I really don't think anyone can touch you legally, plus you may like a variation like Starfish N' Coffee. there are a zillion restaurants out there named after songs - Alice's Restaurant, Ruby Tuesday, Louie Louie etc. etc. What about ESTERIE et CAFE?

^^^This is a good one...plus the change would protect you against any legal repurcussions...

Keep it French and he won't touch you, how about

"Le Starfish a la Cafe"

But paint your banners purple and put a rose and an iverted Prince sign and we all know where to come to. Play Prince on your hi fi and you can't go wrong.

Bad idea. Someone made a "cheeseburger in paradise" restaurant and was sued. Someone else started a Margaritaville and was sued. Yet another entity had cheeburgercheeburger (like the old SNL skit) and was sued. ((Yes, there are currently restaurants called c.i.p. and margaritaville, but Jimmy Buffet is involved.)

Not to mention the fact that it's a stupid name.

If you are 100 meters from the beach, your customers will be singing "sand in my coffee."

deepabove said:

Bad idea. Someone made a "cheeseburger in paradise" restaurant and was sued. Someone else started a Margaritaville and was sued. Yet another entity had cheeburgercheeburger (like the old SNL skit) and was sued. ((Yes, there are currently restaurants called c.i.p. and margaritaville, but Jimmy Buffet is involved.)

the "cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburge, no coke Pepsi" skit was based on a real place.

TchoFessio said:

i've bought a new bar in france and am trying to find a name for this bar. I don't want to have a theme bar but i am toying with the name 'Starfish and Coffee' My bar is 100 metres from the beach so it sort of makes sense. Also my other half's name is Cynthia.

a)If i call my bar this, what are the legal issues if any?

b)What do you guys think?

sorry if its the wrong forum

tcho

i heard SEVEN and i say yes , but ALL TOGETHER

gyc

i can move only in frame of my ability

therefor works, rl,tL

mdf

I don't know about the legality, but I like the name.

If I was in France and saw it, I would totally check it out!

(Uh - I think I just increased my fammy-ness)

You should have just gone ahead and named it that - he'd never have known.

LORILA said:

TchoFessio said:

i've bought a new bar in france and am trying to find a name for this bar. I don't want to have a theme bar but i am toying with the name 'Starfish and Coffee' My bar is 100 metres from the beach so it sort of makes sense. Also my other half's name is Cynthia.

a)If i call my bar this, what are the legal issues if any?

b)What do you guys think?

sorry if its the wrong forum

tcho

i heard SEVEN and i say yes , but ALL TOGETHER

gyc

i can move only in frame of my ability

therefor works, rl,tL

mdf

WTF

I asked my sister this (she's a paralegal) and she said as long as this name isn't trademarked (which I seriously doubt it is, who tradesmarks a song as insignificant as this one was?) then you're cool. The only way you could possibly get sued is if you made it come across as a Prince establisment...like you put "Prince's Starfish and Coffee" or if you had a bunch of pics of his hanging up, and only his music was played. But just using Starfish and coffee as a name is totally fine and legal, those are just words...

DaphneLovesPR1NCE said:

I asked my sister this (she's a paralegal) and she said as long as this name isn't trademarked (which I seriously doubt it is, who tradesmarks a song as insignificant as this one was?) then you're cool. The only way you could possibly get sued is if you made it come across as a Prince establisment...like you put "Prince's Starfish and Coffee" or if you had a bunch of pics of his hanging up, and only his music was played. But just using Starfish and coffee as a name is totally fine and legal, those are just words...

Girl, you need to take your vitamins cuz you are losing your mind. What do you mean "insignificant"? "Starfish and Coffee" is one of his most popular songs amongst fans on one of his most popular and critically acclaimed albums. We'll not even bring up the artistic merit of the work on this composition. And furthermore, for all you or anyone else knows, Starfish and Coffee is Prince's motherfuckin jam and he bumps it constantly. We already know he favors the track greatly as he's re-recorded it in the studio a few times.

As far as the original post, it ain't a copyright if it isn't copyrighted. You can look up all of Prince's copyrights and trademarks on web services which provide this information, so have at it! My personal opinion? Ditch the idea as it's corny as all hell. Cynthia (both your partner and the retarded girl) will thank you. (Not in this lifetime, but..)

Spinlight said:

DaphneLovesPR1NCE said:

I asked my sister this (she's a paralegal) and she said as long as this name isn't trademarked (which I seriously doubt it is, who tradesmarks a song as insignificant as this one was?) then you're cool. The only way you could possibly get sued is if you made it come across as a Prince establisment...like you put "Prince's Starfish and Coffee" or if you had a bunch of pics of his hanging up, and only his music was played. But just using Starfish and coffee as a name is totally fine and legal, those are just words...

Girl, you need to take your vitamins cuz you are losing your mind. What do you mean "insignificant"? "Starfish and Coffee" is one of his most popular songs amongst fans on one of his most popular and critically acclaimed albums. We'll not even bring up the artistic merit of the work on this composition. And furthermore, for all you or anyone else knows, Starfish and Coffee is Prince's motherfuckin jam and he bumps it constantly. We already know he favors the track greatly as he's re-recorded it in the studio a few times.

As far as the original post, it ain't a copyright if it isn't copyrighted. You can look up all of Prince's copyrights and trademarks on web services which provide this information, so have at it! My personal opinion? Ditch the idea as it's corny as all hell. Cynthia (both your partner and the retarded girl) will thank you. (Not in this lifetime, but..)

u mad bro?

It's true that you can't copyright a title of a movie... and probably not a song either judging from how many songs have the same title...

Jimmy Buffet was trademarking his establishements, so that's why that was easily contested.

look at this:

http://www.accesshollywood.com/glam-slam

or this

http://www.alphabetstreet.com.au/index.html

or this:

http://books.google.com/books?id=9sK0lAlB4XkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=sign+o+the+times&source=bl&ots=w8lMBXE6vK&sig=1D0u62vwAu5WN7n5Kt-TABt6kNI&hl=en&ei=H6EBTeVcwvnwBsCIkPcC&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=11&ved=0CHcQ6AEwCg#v=onepage&q&f=false

but I'm no lawyer!

if it gets the Kellogs seal of approval it's a winner

Cx

There is a cafe near where I live called "Dweezil, the Other Zappa"

I am not giving you any legal advice but I wouldn't worry about it, altho' you mentioning it on the org is kinda asking for trouble knowing prince's reputation to happily send cease and desist letters around... lol

DaphneLovesPR1NCE said:

I asked my sister this (she's a paralegal) and she said as long as this name isn't trademarked (which I seriously doubt it is, who tradesmarks a song as insignificant as this one was?) then you're cool. The only way you could possibly get sued is if you made it come across as a Prince establisment...like you put "Prince's Starfish and Coffee" or if you had a bunch of pics of his hanging up, and only his music was played. But just using Starfish and coffee as a name is totally fine and legal, those are just words...

thankyou!

Spinlight said:

DaphneLovesPR1NCE said:

I asked my sister this (she's a paralegal) and she said as long as this name isn't trademarked (which I seriously doubt it is, who tradesmarks a song as insignificant as this one was?) then you're cool. The only way you could possibly get sued is if you made it come across as a Prince establisment...like you put "Prince's Starfish and Coffee" or if you had a bunch of pics of his hanging up, and only his music was played. But just using Starfish and coffee as a name is totally fine and legal, those are just words...

Girl, you need to take your vitamins cuz you are losing your mind. What do you mean "insignificant"? "Starfish and Coffee" is one of his most popular songs amongst fans on one of his most popular and critically acclaimed albums. We'll not even bring up the artistic merit of the work on this composition. And furthermore, for all you or anyone else knows, Starfish and Coffee is Prince's motherfuckin jam and he bumps it constantly. We already know he favors the track greatly as he's re-recorded it in the studio a few times.

As far as the original post, it ain't a copyright if it isn't copyrighted. You can look up all of Prince's copyrights and trademarks on web services which provide this information, so have at it! My personal opinion? Ditch the idea as it's corny as all hell. Cynthia (both your partner and the retarded girl) will thank you. (Not in this lifetime, but..)

Enough said there....a song loved by diehard fans, not the general public, off of a poor saleing album. My original thoughts still stand...the song in both Princeland (as I recall it didn't make the top 20, and probably wouldn't crack the top 50 on most fans lists) and the real world is insignificant! I personally love the track, but it wouldn't make it in my top 20 either.

Spinlight said:

Cynthia (both your partner and the retarded girl) will thank you. (Not in this lifetime, but..)

You can make a strong point / have an edge / whatever, without having to be insulting to a disabled child. It actually reduces the affect of your post.