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But given the state of their mark, and assuming you take the steps outlined above, we believe it would be a manageable risk for SM to call his album “LA Guns.” (We assume that if SM were ever deposed, he would say that he did not choose “LA Guns” as a reference to the group.
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In the end, we cannot guarantee you that neither of the two L.A. Guns” and an album called “LA Guns” that prominently bears the name of an artist with a completely different name. Guns,” they certainly can distinguish between one or more groups called “L.A. Thus, if one of the groups were to send you a demand letter, the first point you would make would be that if consumers are distinguishing between two groups called “L.A. (Also, on 11/24/08, one of the factions of the group tried to cancel the above registration, but then gave up by 8/23/10.) Normally, in order to have trademark rights, there must be a single source for products or services marketed under the mark. Guns,” both including former members of the group from its heyday. We also note the helpful fact that, according to Wikipedia, because of personnel changes and disputes, there are now two groups using the name “L.A.
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(The latter incarnation is playing Bowery Electric on January 29.) As the lawyer (who cited Wikipedia?!) noted during the email chain regarding the possible name-borrowing: Part of the reason for the album not being named such was the fact that right now there are actually two incarnations of the band touring the country: the one releasing the split single, which contains original guitarist (and band namesake) Guns, and the one with “classic lineup” frontman Phil Lewis and drummer Steve Riley. This seems have stemmed in part from a flareup earlier this year where Malkmus wanted to call his album L.A. The hard-rock outfit, led by the guitarist Tracii Guns, will take on Malkmus’s “Gorgeous George” (from this year’s Mirror Traffic) while Malkmus will return the favor by covering “Wheels Of Fire,” off L.A. Guns (more on that in a minute) will be releasing a split 7-inch on Matador where they cover each others’ songs. Today, Matador announced that it would be launching a new singles club and the inaugural release would be Stephen Malkmus and one of the bands currently calling itself L.A.