New bands take heed, think about trademarks when coming up with your band name

The Seattle Trademark Lawyer has an excellent post on the lessons many bands learn the hard way, that is having to change their band's name after they receive a cease and desist letter from another band (or their attorney):

Up-and-coming bands seem to re-live this story again and again. Blink 182 was Blink before another group named Blink threatened to sue. Dinosaur Jr added the suffix after the San Francisco band The Dinosaurs protested. Looking no further than Seattle, rockers Kill Sybil say they changed their name from Sybil because of an R&B singer with the same name; ECU reportedly changed its name from ICU because New York-based Intensive Care Unit threatened to sue; and Nirvana (Seattle)
settled a case brought by Nirvana (UK) so it could keep its legendary name.

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