Intellectual Property Law

Lawsuit Alleges Joint Trademark Ownership Indicates Band's Partnership

By Michael Atkins

Ex-Sugarland founder Kristen Hall has sued her former band mates Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush.

Her complaint, filed July 29 in the Northern District of Georgia, alleges claims for breach of an unwritten partnership agreement in which each member agreed to share equally in the country group’s profits and losses.

As evidence of Ms. Hall’s ownership, her complaint alleges that she contributed the band’s “trade name, trademark and service mark” by allowing Ms. Nettles and Mr. Bush to obtain “co-ownership in the trademark and service mark, ‘Sugarland,’” as reflected in the parties’ federal registration for that mark.

Now out of the band, Ms. Hall wants the profits the band has made following her departure.

Word to the wise: musicians out there, if you don’t want to be treated as equal members — meaning equally responsible for the band’s profits and losses — you need a written contract saying so.

And see how registering a trademark in everyone’s names works in litigation? A good thing if you’re the ex-member looking for a cut of your former band’s success. But a lousy thing if you’re the one in the band having to write the check.

As usual, the moral of the story is think about these things on the front end — before you make it big — so you won’t have an unwelcome surprise after you do.

Thanks to Tamera Bennett for bringing this to my attention. Her post in Current Trends in Copyright, Trademark & Entertainment Law here; additional coverage via Law.com here.

Full post as published by Seattle Trademark Lawyer on August 13, 2008 (boomark / email).