Trademarked Names Matter More Today Than Ever

In today's online world everything matters more than it did even 10 or 15 years ago. This is especially true when it comes to names, because names are how things get "tagged" in the online world. 

Say for example you are on Twitter and you are tweeting about a particular product or store you are happy about. All you do is type # and the name of whatever it is you're tweeting about. The same applies across almost all social media platforms. The # has become the most powerful character in online platforms. It has the power to make or break a service, store, person's reputation. You name it, the # can either elevate something to a place of reverence, or lower it six feet under. 

When a company or organization goes to the expense—yes, it costs money—to trademark their name, they own that name, and have a piece of paper from whatever department of the government in their country issues trademarks, which states that they have the exclusive rights to the use of that name.

Here in Canada, the government department that issues trademarks is the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO). The CIPO's areas of activity include trademarks, patents, industrial designs and copyright. In short, the CIPO deals with administering and processing Canadian intellectual property. 

The Moonliters are a registered charity, and our official name is: The Valley Society for the Advancement and Preservation of the Music of the Big Bands. However, the names we go by, The Moonliters or The Moonliters Big Band, are protected by a registered trademark. Yup, the spelling of Moonliters is a registered trademark belonging to The Valley Society for the Advancement and Preservation of the Music of the Big Bands. 

Any person or organization using the spelling Moonliters in their name, in any way, is violating intellectual property laws, and infringing on our trademark. By law no one is legally allowed to do this, and if they do, are leaving themselves open to legal action. 

Getting back to the point about tagging: As mentioned previously, any organization using our spelling of "Moonliters" in its name is violating intellectual property laws. However, it doesn't end there since it also interferes with our social media presence—with the wrong group getting tagged—and even prevents us from signing up for accounts with our rightful name.

Until we get this matter straightened out, if you are tagging this Moonliters Big Band—the one based out of Abbotsford—please note that not all our social media accounts are simply named "The Moonliters" or "The Moonliters Big Band". We are having to get a bit creative with our naming at times simply because another group in Canada is currently still using our name, despite repeated asks by us to stop doing so.

Hopefully once this matter is straightened out the transition on all social media platforms will be seamless. If not, we'll post more info here as well as on our social media accounts.