Writing.Com General Discussion

Generally speaking, names are not unique protectable intellectual property. For example, just because John Doe is an author doesn't mean that no other author can ever publish a book under the name John Doe. Depending on how well known the name is, you might have a trademark issue if you're using the same name as a famous author who can make the argument that you're trying to create market confusion to drive sales of your book... but in most normal situations there's no issue publishing under the same name as another published author.

Also, the fact that you've previously published it under the same name should give you precedent for using the name... and if you previously published something using a particular name and someone else came along and published their work using the same name, there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to do the exact same thing!

If you're considering taking legal action against this other author or are worried about this author taking legal action against you, you should definitely talk to a copyright/trademark attorney about how to protect your rights. But in most circumstances, I don't think you have too much to worry about, especially if you can point to a differentiating characteristic like the fact that one of you uses periods between the initials and the other doesn't.


Jeff


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