The members of Linkin Park have failed in a bid to trademark the band’s name for use on posters. As a result, the field has been left open for bootleggers and market traders to continue selling unofficial pictures of the California-based nu-metal act.
In a decision just made publicly available, British trademark judge Richard Arnold QC refused to register the band’s name for exploitation on posters, saying third parties were entitled to take photographs of celebrities and use their names in order to sell them.
“In my view it would be for difficult if not impossible for a trader to market such posters without using the mark. How else, for example, would he describe the posters to wholesalers and retailers,” Arnold said. “Third parties are, of course, entitled to take and exploit pictures of celebrities — the copyright in a picture of Linkin Park belongs to the creator of it and not necessarily to the group itself,” he ruled.
Linkin Park earlier succeeded in registering the name in respect of a wide variety of goods, including CDs and DVDs, keyrings, jewellery, clocks and watches, books and clothing.
