For the past couple of
years an ex band member has continued to illegally perform as The UK Legends and Animals III without the right to perform using any either of those registered band names. He has also spread misinformation about the
ownership of the names.
To clarify the legal situation sometimes documentary evidence of the actual truth is all you need,
so here is the evidence:
UK LEGENDS (Including 'The UK Legends')
ANIMALS III (Including 'The Animals III')
ANIMALS 3 (Including 'The Animals 3')
UK ROCK LEGENDS (Including 'The UK Rock Legends')
SONGS OF SMOKIE (Including 'The Songs Of Smokie')
VOICE OF SMOKIE (Including 'The Voice of Smokie')
THE ANIMALS GREATEST HITS SHOW
ANIMAL TRACKS
ROCK LEGENDS (incl 'The Rock Legends')
ROCK LEGENDS (incl 'The Rock Legends')
SENSATIONAL ROCK LEGENDS (Including 'The Sensational Rock Legends')
The following legally binding historic Certificates of Registration are held by Steve Hutchinson (Stevie Hutch) for all of the above band names.
They have all been historically registered worldwide with the UK BASED name registration company Log Networks t/a Bandname.com
Each certificate gives clear official documentation of the dates of the name registration and ownership
Registered 13/1/2007
Registered 7/6/2012
Registered 13/9/2014
Registered 14/9/2014
Registered 2/2/2016
Registered 25/4/2017
Registered 25/8/2021
Registered 4/2/2022
Registered 15/9/2021
Registered 7/10/2021
Therefore, other than Steve Hutchinson and his current band members, no other person has any legal right to use any of the above registered band names.
Footnote
Clarification of Band v Bandname
Use of the term 'band' is of no importance in Intellectual Property Law. A band is simply a collection of musicians who have come together to perform under a designated 'name'. The musicians who perform in that 'band' (or orchestra) are also irrelevent in IP Law and performing in the 'band' does not give any rights to ownership of the performance 'name' in particular where that performance name has been previously registered by another person for the purposes of providing a show, unless the performance 'name' had been jointly registered or agreed in writing by all of the band members.
The band's 'name', whether used for live performances, recordings, or in media, will always belong to the person who holds the earliest historic record of name registration or earliest proof of use of the exact name (provided that person can also prove continuity of use in the name since registration and also its 'use' within the past five years). That person retains the perpetual legal right to re-use that name as so wished even for an entirely different 'band' (or orchestra) of musicians, and that person also holds all legal rights to stop any other party from using that same registered name for similar purposes.
There is no law or court ruling that can grant any other person the rights to use another person's registered name without the consent of the registered holder of the name.
If a person becomes disassociated with the owner of the name they automatically lose the rights to continue performing using that name unless the registered name holder allows it.
In brief: A band is simply a collection of musicians who came together to perform. This does not give the musicians in the 'band' any ownership rights to the 'name' that they perform under, regardless of how long those musicians may have been using that name, and in particular where the 'name' of the performance has been previously registered by another person.
We hope that all of the above information clarifies and clears up the misinformation that has been spread about the ownership of the band names over the past few years.
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