intellectual-property
Can you name your company after a fictional character from a book?
<p>I would like to name my S-corp after a character from a book. This is not the real name I want to use, but it would be analogous to "Harry Potter Magic Shop".</p>

<p>I found one <a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/5004/can-i-name-a-real-company-after-a-fictional-company-found-in-a-book">tangentially related question</a> and the highest voted answer seems to imply that this is okay, but it wasn't entirely clear, there was no accepted answer and this situation might be different because I don't want to use the book's title but rather just a character's name in the book.</p>

<p>A name cannot enjoy copyright protection. The <a href="http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ34.pdf" rel="nofollow">US Copyright Office says so</a> in their circular <em>Copyright Protection Not Available for Names, Titles, or Short Phrases</em>, specifically</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Even if a name, title, or short phrase is novel or distinctive or
  lends itself to a play on words, it cannot be protected by copyright.
  The U.S. Copyright Office cannot register claims to exclusive rights
  in brief combinations of words such as...</p>
</blockquote>

<p>followed by various forms of names. A name can enjoy trademark protection. The easier case is to look up the name to see if it is registered. The US Patent and Trademark Office has a <a href="http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks-application-process/search-trademark-database" rel="nofollow">search page</a> allowing you to look stuff up. More challenging is the common law trademark, which need not be registered. But as far as I can tell, a common law trademark is about a business brand name, and wouldn't arise from using a name from a novel.</p>

<p>To take a concrete example, the fictitious name "Galt" figures in quite a number of registered trademarks (none having been registered by the author).</p>
