once upon a time there was a giant corporation who decided that they didn't want to share.
seriously, though. we understand that many of our fans are frieghtened, bewildered and scared because of the events brought in front of them. so were we. basically, it turns out that dick blick is also the name of an art supplies company. they said that if we didn't drop our name, they'd get a lawyer on us. here are the letters which we (dick blick the band, and dick blick, the art supply company) exchanged about the use of the name 'dick blick.'
february 25, 2003
ryan flynn and reggie mead
dick blick
100 mullan, rm 308
bozeman, montana 59715
dear ryan and reggie:
dick blick art materials has been using the trademark “dick blick” since 1911. it is a registered trademark with very strong trademark protection. by forming a band with that name, and soliciting business as a band by playing shows, you are violating that trademark. i could go into the legal ramifications of this, and the potential sanctions we could take against you for violating our trade name, but i’d like to put a more positive spin on why you guys should find and use a different name. i recognize that you are two high school students who probably had no idea of what a trademark is. as the caption on your website under the dude with bright orange hair says, “we all go through phases.” why don’t you find a new name before you go too far with this one. if your band becomes better known, and seeks to play outside bozeman, if you get to a position where you might be offered a recording contract, or a chance to make it in a bigger city, you would be unable to go further with the name. all the efforts that you might put into developing a name and reputation for your band would be for naught. no record label would invest in you when you have created a reputation for yourselves using a name that cannot be used to sell and promote music. obviously, we have to tell you that you can’t use this name anymore. please choose a new one immediately. capitalism may be evil, but we’re not. good luck to you guys, and come back to us when you need some art supplies. sincerely,
howard metzenberg
internet strategist
dick blick art co. also sent this letter to us and steve, who used to host our site.
dear stephen:
dick blick art materials is the registered owner of the trademark dick blick. i am writing to inform you that you may no longer run a forum by that name on your website, or carry promotional materials for a band called dick blick. i recognize that you and your friends are high school students who probably had no awareness of trademark issues. it seemed more appropriate to write you a note personally than to call our attorney and start running up a legal bill. i'm frankly impressed with the site you have put together. it has a quality of design that i would never expect from high school students, and i'm guessing you guys will all go somewhere in the music and web design world. that's why you and your friends really need to find a trademark of your own, rather than infringing on ours. if you would like to maintain referrer pages under "dick blick" that refer browsers to a new page, and give the band's new name, you are welcome to, provided that you place some disclaimer notice that states that dick blick art materials owns the trademark "dick blick." please provide a link back to dick blick art materials at www.dickblick.com, so that none of our customers are confused. sincerely,
howard metzenberg
internet strategist
dick blick art materials
we weren't about to go down without a fight. here's the letter we sent back.
dear sirs
we are in receipt of your e-mail regarding the use of your/our name. we were not trying to harm your company in any way. we do think that your company and our band are so dissimilar that no reasonable person could confuse your company and our band. if we were in some way creating a product or providing a similar service, we could see a bigger reason for concern on your part. as a matter of personal curiosity, i am wondering if your company has been damaged in any way by our use of a name closely resembling your company's name. we are not totally unaware of the need for registered trademarks but my understanding is that a registered trade mark is mostly to prevent a comparable company or service from infringing on an exisitng companies product or reputation or attempting to defraud a consumer. such and example would be 2 bands...the beatles and the beetles... we are a small town band with no illusions of being future grammy award winners ...i'm not sure that even if we were to be big rock stars some day that our fame would in any way cause you material harm. we are anxious to hear any additional thoughts you have on this matter.
and then they sent us some free t-shirts, but still wouldn't let us keep the name.
february 27, 2003
ryan flynn and reggie mead
dick blick
100 mullan, rm 308
bozeman, montana 59715
dear ryan and reggie:
thank you for your quick response to my letter about trademark infringement. i’m sure you have no intention of harming our company in any way, and you are obviously not trying to sell art supplies. i’m sure the use of the e-mail address dickblicksucks@hotmail.com was a good-natured jab at your own band, rather than a comment on us. this is not the place for me to write a dissertation on trademark law. if you would like to find a great summary of trademark law online, there is one at http://www.ggmark.com entitled “all about trademarks.” i think if you read through that web page, and some of its attached links, you’ll appreciate what it means for a business such as ours to own and register a trademark, and why a trademark owner must vigorously maintain its trademark and prevent its use by others. but if you’re going to go on using the name “dick blick,” you’ll have to hire your own lawyer. trademarks are established through civil and business law, and enforced through the courts. it is up to a trademark owner to enforce a trademark. dick blick will not allow its trademark to be used for any other purpose. any other use would dilute or weaken the trademark. because dick blick is a unique name, with no generic meaning, having nothing to do with art supplies, dick blick is the strongest kind of trademark and has the broadest application. it is a trademark comparable to such classic trade names as kodak or coca cola. if you tried to open a business in a completely unrelated field and call it the kodak diner or the coca cola web hosting company, you would hear from kodak or coca cola very quickly. obviously, the same thing would happen if you formed a band called kodak or coca cola. the same is true of dick blick as a trademark. it has never been used for any other purpose other than to represent our company in the sale of art supplies, and it is one of the oldest trademarks in america, having been used continuously since 1911. i agree with you that your band’s use of this mark is unlikely to confuse customers, but we must prevent any other commercial use of our trade name. you are right that one purpose of a trademark is to prevent others from damaging a reputation or defrauding the consumer, and i am sure you have no intention of doing so. but another reason for trademark legislation is to prevent a third party from profiting from the name and reputation that a business has established. dick blick is a well-known business in the art field, with thousands of customers in montana alone. every month there are thousands of searches on the internet for “dick blick” and closely related terms. this is because of the reputation and good will that dick blick has established over nearly a century in business. we cannot allow others to use our name in business and commerce. our trademark is sometimes embarrassing and problematic for us. we are named for our first founder, whose name was dick and not richard, long before the name had its current meaning in american slang. we occasionally hear from schoolteachers that our name is being filtered out by profanity filters. but the uniqueness of our name is also an asset. it is memorable, and has been associated with our company for many years. i realize that you meant us no harm. you knew the name as a fun and cute name. it was probably on many of your school pencils or rulers when you were growing up. please choose another name for your band, and by all means have fun changing your band’s name. i’m sending you a box with some dick blick art materials t-shirts. my apologies for all the outrageously bad 1980s colors, but musicians can wear anything they want. wear them when you play under some other name, and think of us when you need art materials.
sincerely,
howard metzenberg
internet strategist
we are poor college kids, (not high school kids, as howard was so quick to assume and belittle our intellecutal capacity for.) and could ill afford a legal battle with a company that has been accumlating cash since 1911. we cashed our chips in and chose a new band name, but not before we wrote them a really sappy letter...
howard,
thank you very much for the shirts! we'd also like to thank you for the courteous tone in which you've addressed us, and for noting that our email address was, in fact, not a "jab" towards the dick blick art supply company. we will pick another band name, and continue our musical pursuits. we do ask that you give us some time for all the changes to take place. we're considering holding a contest of some sort to find a band name as great as "dick blick." any suggestions? again, thank you for your time and consideration in the manner. even though we're disappointed that we can no longer harbor our sweet melodies under "dick blick," we're very grateful that we did not have to run up a legal bill we couldn't begin to afford. we hope that you, too, are glad that we did not have to get into a legal battle. we might have lost a name, but we gained a friend.
ryan and reggie
the end...