GET DOWN TO BUSINESS – PROTECT YOUR PERFORMER NAME! As a performer, your “stage name” is a major component of your brand. It’s how clients search for you, recognize you (outside of your amazing looks!), and keeping coming back to find your content. If another performer starts to use a similar name to yours, they may steal away valuable traffic, which, as you know, over time will add up to dollars being taken right out of your pocket. Registering your performer name as a trademark can help you battle situations like those, and protect yourself from copycats.

In the porn/camming context, a performer name can be trademarked in relation to services (webcam entertainment services, online video clips, etc.) or goods (DVDs, merch, etc.).  Registration with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) will give you the right to exclusive use of the mark throughout the entire United States. Note that federal trademark registration is different from a domain name registration or company name registration. Domain name registrations and company name registrations serve important purposes but are not a replacement for trademark registration.

Trademark registrations, with some exceptions, are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. So, it is important to file as soon as possible for your name. This is especially true because if you’ve been using a name, and someone files for it before you, it can be a long, difficult, and expensive process to set the record straight.

This is an excellent time for performers to be thinking about protecting their names. For decades, trademarks including sexually-explicit language or imagery were denied registration at the USPTO.  Repeatedly, trademarks of companies in the adult industry were rejected as banned for being “scandalous” or “immoral.”  However, that all changed this year when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the ban as unconstitutional.  This is a massive win for the industry, but for performers to take advantage, they need to get up to speed on the basics of trademark selection, registration, and use.  I know the subject sounds dry, but hey, we can’t be wet all the time!

When developing your performer brand, a good starting point is a trademark search.  You will not be able to register a trademark that is confusingly similar in appearance or sound to trademarks previously registered by another performer or company for goods or services like yours.  A search will reveal any such issues, and you can make decisions on how to move forward based on the results. Though it is not required, it’s helpful to have an attorney so that they can help you with the search process, results analysis, and application. trademark is valid.  So, go get down to business – Protect the reputation you’re building in your name and get it registered!

About: Maxine Lynn is an intellectual property (IP) attorney with the law firm of Keohane & D’Alessandro, PLLC, having offices in Albany, New York, USA. She focuses her

practice on prosecution of patents for technology, trademarks for business brands, and copyrights for creative materials. Through her company, Unzipped Media, Inc., she publishes the Unzipped: Sex, Tech & the Law® blog at www.SexTechLaw.com and the Unzipped: The Business of Sex® podcast at www.BusinessOf.Sex.

Disclaimer: The content of this article constitutes general information, and is not legal advice. If you would like legal advice from Maxine Lynn, an attorney-client relationship must be formed by signing a letter of engagement with her law firm. To inquire, visit www.Sextech.Lawyer.