0

Neither Wikipedia nor Google knew why the police (public order type) did not (or did they?) object to The Police (music band) calling themselves that.

If I wrote a book under the pseudonym of 'The Police', is this fine? Or, if there is an objection, why wasn't there an objection for 'The Police' using the already taken name 'The Police'?

Improve this question
4
  • 3
    I'm not sure I follow this logic of this nor understand the point behind it. It's just the name of the band. Would you think the city of Boston had a say in whether or not the band Boston had that name? Likewise, did every band have to comment on the Band's name? Did Nirvana have to reach Nirvana before they could be called that? – Dom♦ Aug 9 '18 at 12:36
  • If I understand correctly, anyone could start a band called 'Disney' and Disney would not be able to do anything about it, nor would any of the other bands who also did the same thing. Though they might send assassins dressed as Mickey and doing that annoying chortle. – xxjjnn Aug 10 '18 at 9:36
  • 1
    There's a rock band named "LSD on CIA". As long as you do not violate trademarks (therefore Disney might be a challenge) you might use governmental institutional names or incorporate them – Stephen Reindl Aug 10 '18 at 12:29
  • There's a band called 'Norton Disney' which avoids copyright issues because you cannot trademark a place name [it's in Lincolnshire, UK]. Walt Disney's family originated from there. Originally d'Isney ['of Isney', French] But, as far as I know, there's no actual organisation in the UK or anywhere else actually called "The Police" except for the band. – Tetsujin Jul 17 '19 at 13:00
3

I'm not a legal expert, but there is not, to my knowledge, any law in the UK or the US against naming a band after a governmental agency, assuming no intent to deceive people. It seems clear that no reasonable person would go to see The Police (the band) in the expectation of seeing actual law enforcement officers on stage (Hot Pursuit notwithstanding).

There was actually even at one time a reasonably popular US band called "The Presidents of the USA."

Using "The Police" as a writing pseudonym might be a different matter, just because you could make an argument that people might actually think it was written by an official representative of the police force.

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.