When the team started up there was a naming contest. The top vote-getter was the Joliet Jakes. Sadly, it was rejected probably due to fears of copyright infringement.
Yeah, there’s no possibility of copyright infringement. Copyright law doesn’t protect single words, names, short phrases, slogans, or titles.
It could theoretically be a kind of trademark infringement, specifically a false association claim. It wouldn’t be the easiest case, because someone is going o have to establish that the name Joliet Jake Blues is being used as an indicator for the source or origin of goods or services. Considering I didn’t even recognize the reference to Joliet Jake that seems a difficult argument to make.
It might be an unimportant point, but by offering that link, you’re arguing the point.
Yes, a character might be protected by copyright law. That doesn’t mean a character’s name, by itself, is protectable. To the extent that a character can be covered under copyright law, the creator would have to prove that the character as a whole is a creative and original work of expression. There’s almost no way to argue that a name by itself is a creative and original work of expression.
If they used the name and also used other aspects of the character from the movie, that might be a different issue, but they’d have to do more than use a name.
The Phillies’ “official” name is the Philadelphia National Baseball League Team, so long before the Washington Nationals existed, the Phillies were also occasionally called the Nats.
