Copyright Aid

In 2006 I organised a mini-festival in my home town.

I did it again the following year, and I organised the third one in 2008 but we lost our venue so I was forced to cancel it.

I have since started it up again for 2014 and I've started advertising.

I've now been told there's another festival with the same name and they've copyrighted the name.

I had a myspace account registered in 2006 which is still up and running however I have lost the password, I should be able to get the account live again.

I also have digital flyers for the fest's that I organised back in 2006/07.

Where do I stand with this?

Thanks in advance!

Hi Dungle,
No-one can 'copyright' something; a literary work, a piece of music, some art, a film, a sound recording or some music will usually be eligible for automatic copyright at its creation, assuming it is original. But simple names and facts are not eligible for copyright protection simply because there is insufficient or nil creativity involved in putting together two or three words. Even something as unusual and inventive as the Burning Man Festival in the USA would not be protected by copyright.
It is possible that the other group have registered the name as a Trade Mark, as Michael Eavis's company has done with the Glastonbury Festival. You can find out if this has happened in your case by going to the IPO website and doing a word search here. If you find the name has been registered as a trade mark, you may be able to oppose that registration on the grounds that you were using the name for substantially the same activities, before their application for registration was accepted. However that might be a costly process, which might be unnecessary if you and the other group can find a way of co-existing.

Thanks for the reply. That's pretty much what I was hoping for, so thanks a lot!

I don't really want to oppose them using the name, we both do different types of music. It's also not the most creative of names (home county and then fest)

They had the name trademarked but withdrew it in 2013.....hey ho

Thanks a lot for the help!