A judge has rejected a bid by Californian nu-metal band Linkin Park to trademark its name for use on posters, leaving shopkeepers free to sell unofficial posters of music and show business personalities.
In a landmark judgement which means the band cannot sue suppliers of unauthorised posters, Judge Richard Arnold said on Tuesday that unlike merchandise such as CDs and books, a famous name appearing on a poster was purely descriptive
This is just plain wrong… surely a bands name is it’s trademark, and the trademark laws are there to stop people exploiting and passing off your mark. If this allows anyone to sell unauthorised material about Linkin Park to which they do not recieve royalties from then that must be wrong! The problem is that if a photograph is the property of the cameraman regardless of subject, then mixing photos and band name gives out a false impression. Many people will buy those goods thinking there are legitimate Linkin Park merchandise!