In a moment of creative genius, or the culmination of many late-night talks, you have finally come up with a name for your band. Prior to raising that celebratory glass, however, more work needs to be done to make the band name your own.

Protecting your band name is critical to maximizing commercial success and avoiding costly legal battles, and can be accomplished in several steps. First, do a search on the Internet to see if the name you have chosen is already being used by another band or artist, or is very similar to a name already in use. Browsing Google, MySpace, or You Tube, and eventually the website of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (www.uspto.gov) could be enough, unfortunately, to send you back to the drawing board. If you are still in luck, however, your search should not end there. A well-spent $300-$600 to a trademark search company will ensure that an extensive search is performed, and give you the peace-of-mind to proceed to the next step, which, surprisingly, may not be registering your band name.

When a band registers its name with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, it establishes what is called a "service mark," which is like a trademark, except that it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service, rather than a product. Since the basis for registering a band name as a service mark is for use in commerce, an applicant must demonstrate that the name to be protected has been used or displayed in the sale or advertising of the band's services in more than one state. This is why at some point after conducting your searches you should release a CD, advertise your shows, and create merchandise, if you have not already done so.

Once you have products and advertisements in the stream of interstate commerce, you are set to register your band name with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. You can do this yourself on its website through an online application, or you can hire an attorney to handle it for you. Keep in mind that you will be required to produce "specimens" of the band name showing its use in commerce.

Is all of this necessary? Although being the first to use an unregistered band name on a commercial basis does confer some rights in the name, federal registration is a far superior form of legal protection. Not only does federal registration provide evidence of ownership of the band name, it puts all others on notice not to use it. Federal registration also invokes federal jurisdiction if any dispute were to arise regarding your band name, and is the stepping stone for registration in foreign countries.

If your band is serious about making a name for itself, protect that name through federal trademark law.