Accepted Answer

You are treading in an area where you would be open to litigation, but the standard used under the Landham Act is the "likelihood of confusion." Thus, your XXXXXXXXXXXX Studios or XXXXXXXXXXXX Designs would be a name that would not likely be found to infringe upon the name of the toy since it is unlikley that there would be any confusion over the toy itself and your company. If the toy is no longer in production, that is even a further argument in your favor in obtaining the mark. As far as the band, you may end up having some disageement with them over the first in use of the name and the website and to try to get control of the website from them, since this could create a likelihood of confusion that sends people to their site instead of your business.

You will need to hire a trademark attorney to register your mark with the USPTO and all of these would be in your trademark search that you submit with your registration.

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Expert:	PaulMJD
Pos. Feedback:	99.2 %
Accepts:
Answered:	5/14/2009

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