In business you're all about your name. Keep a good name and business flows to your door. Get a bad name and you're looking for a new career. Get a really REALLY good name and from my own personal experience, some people will try and use your name for their own gain.
Now if you're reading this blog, then you're already aware of the Creative COW forums and the really REALLY good thing we have going here. During a recent thread in the Apple Color forum, a user pointed out that a production facility in Los Angeles changed their name to Blue Cow Creative.
Ok, so perhaps they didn't know about the Creative COW forums and it's an honest coincidence. I mean just because something like 10 million+ media people per month read these forums, that doesn't mean everyone in the industry will know about the COW. Well, except as a leader in the Creative COW Apple Color forum, I have seen at least one of the key personnel in Blue Cow Creative participate in the forum...before the name change. So at least by all appearances they must have been aware that a company called "Creative COW" that focuses on the production industry existed.
So the right thing to do would have been to NOT use the words Creative and Cow in your company name. Especially since it's obvious you've been using the Creative COW website and know about the site's forums and one can logically assume other resources, as well.
Cow? Sure. Creative? Sure. But not the two words together in the company name. How obvious is that? Now this is just me looking in from the outside, but Creative COW is clearly an industry leader, and in my opinion it seems the new blue variety figures it can gain some instant name recognition by putting Creative and Cow together in a new company name. I could be wrong here, but that's what it looks like to me.
Especially a company in Los Angeles. How many cows do you see in L.A.? Maybe if the company was in farm country somewhere, you might almost be able to make some sort of argument that they are playing off the Cows in the area. But even there, the Creative COW has used the trademark for over six years that I know of and has earned a tremendous name in the production industry. I also suspect that the COW will have to mount a legal battle to protect their name
At this point, you might be wondering why do I care? Why am I making a fuss about this? Because I have worked very VERY hard during my 17 year career to build a good name for myself and my company. I have had at least two instances of someone trying to ruin my name and trying to use my company name for their own personal gain. With so much hard work and time put into getting myself to get where I am, the worst feeling in the world is someone coming along and trying to step in and take it all away.
In the first instance the person tried to use very negative statements about me and my work to stop clients from working with me. That took some time to work through but eventually I regained the trust of all but a few clients. In the second instance, my name and abilities were used to sell a project and then the project was taken elsewhere. Not just a small project, a network series. You have to wonder how well the concept would have been received without multi Emmy, Telly, Aurora, Peabody award winning production team associated with it.
Those two instances could have been devasting for me and my entire company.
A name is not to be taken lightly. In fact, it should not be taken at all.
