Please let me know if you have any thoughts as to potential legal issues on the following. I am strongly considering writing an electronic song 'about' an aroma chemical that is a registered trademark, basing my work on the molecular structure and use of the chemical. There might be a bit of whispered lyric commenting on the subtlety, ubiquitousness and slightly mood-altering effects of the chemical. If I title the song after the chemical and put a circled R after it, could I be sued for this? The 'forum' in which this will be presented to the world is extremely obscure, no-budget, 100 cds burned teeny tiny don't care to bust out sort of scene. If there were going to be liner notes I'd title the piece differently and write about it in the liner notes. I could in devise a title in which the first letter of every word spells out the name of the chemical and also presents some of my ideas, to disguise the trademarked name. But do I have to disguise or delete the trademarked name? An artist called Ray Stanley did a song called Over a Coke. Any advice would be most helpful. I don't want to get people with no money or myself with little in trouble.

This was the closest thing I could think of:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbie_Girl

It would seem to hinge on whether (a) the trademark owner hears about the song (if it will wind up discussed by name on a webboard, they'll know) and ( whether they consider the lyrical content to be harmful to their product's reputation. In the US, you may have some protection as a parody, which is protected under free speech. I'm not sure if you're in the US, if the trademark owner is in the US, and I am not a lawyer.

There's nothing to stop any person or company from instigating legal action against you, whether it's deserved or not; however, lawsuits are generally instigated by trademark owners only if they believe your product/artistic-endeavor causes them damage, if you're somehow a direct competitor using their name against them, or if they feel that you are using their good name for your own personal financial benefit without paying them any licensing fees.

It doesn't sound like you're going to even blip their radar with what you're considering, but just have a backup plan in place should they send you a cease and desist letter. Highly unlikely they would do so, but there's always that tiny, fractional possibility, so it's best to be prepared.

Thank you kindly, dewey eyed and NathanB! I suspect as well that it won't even make a blip on their radar, but as you say, it's important to have a back-up plan just in case. There is an element of critical comment, and the issue of using the name or a play on it, although it's a no-profit, no competition, utterly minimal visibility sort of work. I will ask for legal advice before proceeding and let the board know what I find out. Using the molecular formula as opposed to the trademarked name might be safe. That way people can search and find out what it's about. Thank you again!

Paul Simon definitely had to square things over with EASTMAN-KODAK after he produced "Kodachrome" in 1973...

I used to own the sheet music.. and the page itself contained a little TM next to the title.