Well, it's the new year, and you know what that means. Your favorite band from Bellingham Washington has to change their name again. Unfortunately, Leonard Peikoff and the executors of the Ayn Rand estate felt that our using of the name Atlas Shrugged constituted a direct and devious misleading of the public. So with the help of a few friendly lawyers, Leonard Peikoff and Co. sent us a nasty letter demanding that we immediately change our name. The lawyers stated that we had been in direct violation of Section 43A of the Langham Act. After consulting our own lawyers, we discovered that we were not in fact violating any laws, and if we chose, could fight this threat. But we of formerly Atlas Shrugged did not wish to be drug into a big mess of lawyers and burned out wannabe Ayn Rand lovers, so we decided to honor Leonard Peikoff and his lawyers by choosing our now official name, Section 43. If anyone out there happens to know of any government agency that would find this name to be misleading anyone, or any other government agency or lawyer has this law name trademarked, please let us know immediately.
Unfortunately, this is typical behavior for Leonard Peikoff. He's more than happy to get his way by threatening to sue someone, even if he knows he doesn't have a legal leg to stand on. For those of you who are unfamiliar with trademark law, there's nothing at all illegal with having the same name as an existing company or product, provided that your company or product is so dissimilar that there's no danger of confusing the two in the minds of the public. For example, if I wanted to manufacture and sell "Federal Express Water Heaters," I could do it, since there's no chance of a buyer confusing my product with the Federal Express overnight package delivery service. In other words, I wouldn't be infringing on the Federal Express trademark.
Needless to say, there's no danger of anyone confusing Atlas Shrugged, the novel, with Atlas Shrugged, the rock band. Therefore, the band had every right to call themselves Atlas Shrugged. I asked one of the band members how they happened to pick the name Atlas Shrugged:
"We chose the name originally from a rock climbing run in Canada - our singer is a big rock climber and we were going through route names and we came across Atlas Shrugged. At the time we had no idea that there was a book of the same name."Did Leonard Peikoff recognize the right of a rock band to call themselves Atlas Shrugged? No, of course not. Leonard Peikoff is Ayn Rand's "intellectual heir," and he's not going to let ANYONE muscle in on his territory. So Peikoff, who has the bucks, threatens to sue a struggling rock band. The band, who can't afford to play legal games, finds it cheaper and easier just to change their name.
But what does this tell us about the character of Leonard Peikoff? What does this tell us about a man who ignores the rights of others, and uses the power of a corrupt legal system to intimidate others? Is this the spirit of a John Galt or Howard Roark?
I don't think so. Sadly, it appears that Ayn Rand picked a real second-hander to be her "intellectual heir."