Shop names

dandevans

dandevans

So in my script there's a vegan healthfood shop called "Natural Selection". Turns out there's one or two actual healthfood shops called this in real life, according to Google. Is it legally OK to use that name for the shop in my short or do I need to change it? I imagine its quite difficult to come up with a name that has never been used by anyone else ever in the world.

I'm targeting festivals / internet distribution by the way. Thanks for any advice!
 
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Are you sure the real store is not "Natural Selections" note the s?

whose gonna care?

Your not using an existing logo right?

You could come up with another, less BORING AND UN-CREATIVE name, I mean how hard is it to globally replace a string of characters in your script?
 
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wheatgrinder said:
You could come up with another, less BORING AND UN-CREATIVE name, I mean how hard is it to globally replace a string of characters in your script?
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Wow, that's a little harsh. I thought it was quite a good name. :(

I like it because it hints at survival of the fittest / competition for a mate in evolution. As the story is about a love triangle its kind of fitting.

Probably no-one will care of course but I was more just curious as to what the legal position is. I guess the old "any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental" maybe covers this kind of thing too.
 
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I wouldn't even leave the door slightly open for even a frivolous lawsuit.
Natural Foods Store of [town name]
Healthy Foods Market of [town name]
Bill Johnson's Health Food Store
Natural Groceries Market

You're probably OK if it's just a couple of stores way off in some other states than the city that your movie is identified as being set in.
 
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dandevans said:
Probably no-one will care of course but I was more just curious as to what the legal position is. I guess the old "any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental" maybe covers this kind of thing too.
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It doesn't protect you from Natural Selections wanting to sue you anyway. The moral is to not give anybody an opportunity to even consider suing you.

How about Darwin's Recipes?

Good luck.
 
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Even though you may every right to use the name, some little ticky tack think like this might jack up the cost errors and omissions insurance if you were ever so lucky as to get some major distribution (although unlikely these days).

We don't live in a free country any more. You should read some books like Clearance & Copyright by Donaldson.
 
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You most certainly CAN use that name. There can be NUMEROUS companies with the same name if they are registered in different states.

For example:

Natural Selection - store in Montana
Natural Selection - store in Minnesota

That's okay.

I wouldn't worry about it at all ESPECIALLY if you do not use their logo.
 
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dandevans said:
Wow, that's a little harsh. I thought it was quite a good name. :(

I like it because it hints at survival of the fittest / competition for a mate in evolution. As the story is about a love triangle its kind of fitting.

Probably no-one will care of course but I was more just curious as to what the legal position is. I guess the old "any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental" maybe covers this kind of thing too.
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Sorry bro, that was very uncool of me... It is a creative name, I retract my mean statements! Dang, I should have used more smilies.. :) :) :) :) hope that makes up for it!
 
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No worries wheatgrinder - I know it's not like the best name ever, but there was some thought put into it :)

I'll try and come up with something better anyway, but having read up on it a bit it seems that trademarks are only infringed if the one in the film could reasonably be mistaken for the actual one(s). Seeing as it'll be in the UK and I can't find any shops called that over here and I'll be using different logos etc I think it will probably be ok. Like De Jager said, there are already a few unrelated shops with the same name selling the same kind of stuff in different states (and more than one has a registered trademark too) - so if thats ok I can't imagine mine won't be.
 
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Personally, I wouldn't worry about it.

As ever, I'm not an entertainment lawyer but I think the chance of a lawsuit is negligible and even if there is one, as DeJager says, I don't think they could win. You're not infringing on copyright or trademark by calling a shop 'Natural Selection'. Just don't use their logo or literature.

But I don't think this is something you should really be worrying about at the scriptwriting stage.
 
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The script's written, bar some inevitable further revisions because I can never leave anything alone :)

I'm in pre-production at the moment, its cast and we have most of the (motley) crew. Hope to shoot Spring/early Summer and have it out by the end of the year, preferably for our local horror film festival on Halloween though that might be pushing it as there will be a reasonable amount of post work to be done. It's also not really a horror film, but they're usually pretty broad about what classifies so worth a spin!
 
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