Question about branding. Yeah. Any lawyers on here?

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
1

Question about branding. Yeah. Any lawyers on here?

Ok so my DJ name that i’ve been using is “The Last Rocketeer”. The word itself isnt really copywrited persay, but there is a quite famous comic book/movie that uses the same name.

I use the rocketeer helmet in our EDM group logo which can be seen here

SHAMELESS PLUG

question is, if i start using the helmet, or even the rocket pack from the movie on stickers or flyers and such, or even the name Last Rocketeer , am i in the path of lawsuit?

Google provides me with The Rocketeer and the likeness used with the name would get be sued. But being the LAST Rocketeer and only using the helmet seems to be okay, but only barely. Tips?

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just an educated guess but i think you could probably get away with it to a point. i could see it potentially becoming a problem if you use it for selling merch especially…

i see a lot of brand-jacking in the dance music scene (ie Toxic Avenger etc.), but i’m not sure if they get permission from the copyright holders or what.

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i doubt tshirt selling is something i would ever want to do. maybe donations and you get a free shirt. heh. or as pbs likes to call it “GIVING LEVEL”. WHO WANTS A PTCM TOTE BAG?

thanks man, also like our group on FB if you can, please? cheers

4

tell me about it, my aka is Paddy. at least im the only dj paddy on beatport :stuck_out_tongue:

5

I knew Dave Stevens, the artist who created Rocketeer. He sold all the rights to Disney when the movie was made. Disney is so litigious about trademarks and intellectual properties that they have sued nursery schools that painted their characters on the walls.

So there ya go.

6

Yeah you’re pretty boned because it’s a Disney property, they have enough money and lawyers to fight this and bury you in so much paper you’ll stop seeing straight.

I would reconsider your choice of logo, and name :disappointed:

7

I’m with steveboyett on this one. You should be really careful. Asking for a permit to use it from Disney seems impossible, so you’re probably better off changing the helmet to something which differs quite a lot from the original one.

On the other hand I don’t know how people like DJ Sega got away with it.

8

There’s nothing to stop you from calling yourself DJ Rocket Ear, or Rawkiteer, or something like that, and using the helmet from the old Republic serial “Zombies of the Stratosphere,” which is where Dave got the design to begin with.

I’m just saying. :slight_smile:

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i wonder if anyone’s had the grapes (or brain damage) to call themselves DJ Walt Disney… i would appreciate that.

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Here’s a pic, btw:

11

oh good lord… the poor man or woman would be hit/ hurt in a not very child appropriate manner

i said ‘hit’ and ‘child’ in the same sentence while talking about disney. im going to hell.

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don’t worry pal. i think the current internet fashion is to just change your profile pic to a childrens cartoon to make such atrocities disappear from the world.

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oh yeah.

i didnt do that, but by coincidence the mix im doing this week (if i get the chance) is going to be called ‘loony choons’

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what about comander keen? you could rock the stage with a yellow & green gridiron helmet, a pink shirt and a pogo stick… A POGO STICK!!!

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Basically do it until someone says otherwise. You will almost always get hit with a cease and desist letter before anything more formal unless they know they can squeeze money out of you. But the chances are at some point you will get one. Then you have to make a choice of switching your branding/moniker or fighting it under fair use clause which would be difficult with disney. Best option change the name/branding just enough so it resembles the original but not enough to come out of left field.

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Generally how others have avoided trouble with this kind of thing is make their personal brand NOTHING like the trademarked image.

If you want to be called Rocketeer, forget about having any imagery or symbolism in your personal branding referencing Disney’s Rocketeer. Your branding will work out a lot better if you distance yourself from their property anyway. It shows originality, instead of showing how you hijacked someone else’s image.

Take a look at the successful examples mentioned in this thread and see how many times you can see them (Toxic Avenger, et al) directly referencing their namesake image. Chances are it’s between very few and none. They share nothing but the name, two entirely different brands and images.

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a friend of mine makes music under the name “The Squatters”, now they started a label and called it “hug me im homeless” and they got all sorts of letters from david guetta’s lawyers saying it sounded to much like his “Fuck me im famous” brand name and therefore had to change it and write a letter of apology to him lol..there was an article in mixmag about it some time ago haha

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I would not have changed anything. I would have happily written him a nice letter detailing his many douche bag moments. He is exactly what’s wrong with this scene.

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i know he is so far up his own arse its untrue..

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To play devil’s advocate here they would not have had so many problems if their logo didn’t look a hell of a lot like the fuck me I’m famous logo. The problem was not with the text, but with the formatting.

That’s the hug me I’m homeless logo (or was rather), I hate to defend Guetta because I think he’s a tosser but they were asking for it honestly…