So, I’m a few days late on this, but I feel like it’s important enough to note.
Versailles (that wondeful band that Hizaki and Kamijo are in), is beng threatened with a lawsuit from an American girl (whose band is named Versailles as well). Upon discovering that that there was another band with the same name, she decided to quickly trademark the word in the U.S. thereby destroying her opposition’s chance of making it in the U.S. using her name.
According to this girl, the Japanese Versailles steals her searches on the internet (so does the city and castle, oh and the historical significance of the word being connected to Louis 14th “the sun king”). But the problem with that is, Versailles (Japan) gets searches because they’re a visual kei band and because Kamijo and Hizaki are in Versailles (Japan), and frankly, those who are interested in Versailles (Japan) aren’t likely to be interested in her music because they are interested in visual kei, Kamijo, Lareine, Hizaki, Sulfuric Acid, or other bands that relate to the above mentioned people/bands. So, stealing her searches on the internet is a mote point (especially since no one can own the rights to a word searched on the internet). I don’t have any real clue what she was thinking when it comes to this lawsuit stuff, other than she thought they were stealing her searches. Or something.
The real hurt I see (for both bands) being a problem is if people were unable to distinguish between them. Which is clearly not the case, since one band has four Japanese males in it, and the other a female vocal/guitar/keyboard player (and maybe some other members at some point). And Versailles (Japan) does have their own logo as well (which is different than hers). I also believe that they usually write their name in all caps while she does not. There is some obviously different costuming as well. But this is also a mote point now that Versailles (JP) is adding a word to their name.
Versailles (US): “I have been using this name for 6 years and they knew my band existed and they decided to use the name anyway. Obviously I have the myspace.com/versailles name. I don’t think any answer I give you will make you happy but that was seriously unfair and wrong of them to take the name. As a musician you work really hard at creating music, logos, artwork, and it is a very large investment. I have spent years working on this and it is a business like anything else. Creative yes but business it is. This is not a matter of maturity it is just simply protecting an investment.”
I hope she’s proud of herself because all she’s really done is give a lot of people very bad opinions of her (and she has hurt her own career by doing so). I do pay attention to the way the musicians I like act and behave. Frankly, I have a hard time listening to any band that does drugs (it’s a personal thing). I don’t like the way she handled it and I also don’t like her attitude. It was not a personal attack on her despite her treating it as such; they didn’t know she existed until the lawsuit threat came about.
This is the kind of crap that happens on Myspace (which is why Myspace is the hellhole of the world). Fully 85% of my problem with this is the way at which she went about it, it was childish and insulting. They certainly meant her no harm and its doubtful that they could have known of such a small American band to begin with (especially one that DOES NOT have a label nor does the band tour far outside of L.A.). .
I think it’s crazy to expect that myspace.com = band knowledge of you. A small Japanese band is not going to know of a small American band, especially if they aren’t even the same music style (point 1). You cannot expect a band from another country will speak the same language as you (point 2). Versailles JP does not appear to run their own myspace account just like many American bands (point 3). Myspace hadn’t been used in Japan until about a year or two ago when myspace started supporting Japanese language (point 4). myspace.com/versailles could have been a private myspace account. When you sign up, it just tells you that the name is already in use (point 5). It is not illegal for bands to have the same name (point 6). The name was not trademarked when VersaillesJP made their account (point 7). VersaillesJP did not use myspace until about a year after the band was created (point 8). Myspace is used world-wide and just because a band has a myspace does not mean that they intend to come to the U.S. (point 9).
I still can’t get over this idea that myspace = automatic knowledge of everything in the world.
The VersaillesJP fans have also been out of line. And I don’t want to go into what they’ve had to say about, other than some of it is quite shameful. There is way too much shameful stuff to mention.
And let’s be real here, she didn’t own the trademark unitl after she found out about them. The Japanese Versailles certainly did not go out of their way to steal her name, that’s just well, ridiculous. Kamijo is well known for liking French things — look at Lareine! And naming a band after the castle that Louis XIV built is something he would do. At least they are handling it well — the Versailles in Japan I mean of course.
[EDIT]: Yes she can sue them for using the name in the U.S., that is why they aren’t going to use ‘Versailles’ in the U.S.
Miki
P.S. Please note that I have distinguished between the uses of the word Versailles in my post when referring to the different bands/places.
Sources: okuru hanataba, Shattered Tranquility, Rock Japan Elec-tric, Versailles LJ Com