John Legend Understands Trademark Protection

Imagine my delight when sitting outside on a beautiful evening at a John Legend concert, he starts telling a story about how he became John Legend. You see, it turns out he was born John R. Stevens, and originally was performing under that name. Over time, before he became famous, his colleagues and friends started referring to him as “John Legend” as a nickname at first, because he had such an old soul voice singing classics. Then it caught on more, and as he was about to sign his first big record deal, he wanted to record under the name John Legend.

The record studio said, wait a second. There’s a trademark problem with your name. It turns out that there was an adult film producer, who also dabbled in music, that went by the name Johnny Legend, and the record studio was worried that there might be a conflict if they were to release and promote an album from John Legend. The story has a good ending, because the record studio and John Legend’s lawyers reached out to Johnny Legend and they were able to come to an agreement. They each agreed to stay in their lanes.

The real message of the story is that they worked it out, and that is how the great majority of trademark disputes get resolved: they get worked out. They don’t even go to court, or if they do, the vast majority don’t go to a trial or a final decision. The great ending here is that he gets to release the album under John Legend; he has an agreement with Johnny Legend; he gets a trademark registration; and he builds this brand over the next 20 years of incredible success. He even has a vineyard and wine, among other things, under his brand.

The investment to protect your brand and work it out upfront is well worth it. It was the solid foundation here on which his brand could grow. Had they released the album without an agreement, who knows what could have happened. He could have had to change the name, or he could have had to spend a lot of money to fight it or to pay off the other side after the fact, so it is worth it to do the homework upfront and protect and resolve any trademark issues if possible.