Cease and Desist
“You’re probably wondering why I’ve gathered you all here today,” Rainbow Dash said as she paced back and forth before her friends as they gathered in Canterlot High’s music room.
“You didn’t gather us, Rainbow Dash,” Sunset said. “We had this room scheduled for our own practice this week. Like, you know, we always do.”
“Well, I’ll tell you why!” Rainbow said, undeterred.
The other girls were seated nearby, and they all collectively rolled their eyes.
“I have some news that will shock you! Surprise you! Perhaps even… unsettle you!” Rainbow said, narrowing her eyes.
“Oh, Rainbow, you’re using that Word of the Day calendar I got you last Christmas!” Twilight exclaimed clasping her hands together eagerly.
“Not the point, but yes, I have, and I can vilify my previous statement!”
“Verify,” Twilight corrected.
“What I’m about to tell you will truly be…”
She held up her phone and hit a button on it, causing it to play a recording of Rarity shrieking “The! Worst! Possible! Thing!”
“Oh dear, is that what I really sound like?” Rarity asked, furrowing her brow. “It isn’t, is it? I’m not that annoying when I say that, am I? Am I?!”
They collectively looked away amid several coughs and grunts and Pinkie loudly eating a cupcake she’d pulled from nowhere.
“Uh, Rainbow,” Applejack said, raising a hand to get her attention, “not to be rude or nothin’, but maybe you should just quit beatin’ around the bush.”
Rainbow crossed her arms. “You weren’t complaining about that last night,” she said sulkily.
“No no, not, uh… not that,” she said, chuckling nervously as her cheeks reddened. “I, uh, I mean quit stallin’ and just tell us what’s botherin’ ya.”
“Right!” Rainbow said, clenching her fist. “Here’s the problem, everyone: we have to change the name of our band.”
A chorus of surprise and protest went up from the group as Rainbow raised her hands, waiting for them to calm down.
“I know, I know,” she said, heaving a sigh. “But there’s no other choice.”
“But darling, whatever for?” Rarity asked. “While I wasn’t so sure about the name ‘The Rainbooms’ initially, now I can’t think of it by any other name!”
“I know, I know, but it wasn’t my call,” Rainbow said. “Here’s the issue: the name’s copyrighted.”
“What?!” Pinkie Pie screamed.
“I know!” Rainbow exclaimed. “I had no idea!”
“Oh, actually,” Pinkie said, calming down for a moment, “I meant that I don’t know what that word means.”
“It means,” Twilight said, getting out her cell phone to do a search, “that some other band already had the name ‘The Rainbooms.’ If we don’t change our name, they could sue us, and we’d have to pay a huge amount of money!”
Fluttershy, who’d been silent the whole time, suddenly sat up straight as her eyes widened. “Uh oh,” she muttered.
They all turned to look at her.
“Fluttershy?” Rarity asked. “What is it, darling?”
“I, um,” Fluttershy began, smoothing her hair down as she looked away, “might have heard of them before.”
“What?!” Rainbow cried. “Where?! When?!”
“Ooh, if you just add ‘why’ and ‘how,’ you could be a reporter, Rainbow!” Pinkie exclaimed.
Fluttershy swallowed, trying hard to meet Rainbow’s eyes. “Well…”
“So, you say this belongs to your parents, right?”
Rainbow held up the strange, plastic object in her hands. It was rectangular, grayish, and about the size of her hand. On the front was a very faded image of some people with very long hair, baggy clothes, and floral print designs. She then held up the large object that Fluttershy’s parents had handed her.
“Um,” she began, looking at the larger object through squinted eyes, then looking to Twilight for help “do you have any idea what this thing does?”
“No, but it appears to be a musical device of some kind,” Twilight said, holding it aloft like a small child. “It says ‘Play’ here, ‘Stop’ here… this is definitely something, but I certainly have never seen it. It’s probably some relic lost to time and—”
“It’s an 8-track machine,” Fluttershy said flatly, taking the player from Twilight and the 8-track tape from Rainbow. “Here, I’ll play it for you.”
The music that emanated from the device was clear enough, though each of them had to admit that they were more than a bit puzzled by the songs and lyrics. It included titles such as ‘Hug Trees, Don’t Bug Phones,’ ‘Keep Off the Grass, Sassafras,’ ‘Vietnam, Man? Viet-Nah, Man!’ among others.
“When did this even come out?” Sunset asked, pressing the stop button on the machine.
“Aw, Sunset, I was enjoying that!” Fluttershy cried. “Oh, but, um… 1968.”
“Yeah, I was groovin’ to music, too, man!” Pinkie added. “It, like, totally expanded my miiiind.”
“Sounds like there was a whole lotta ‘mind expandin’ goin’ on with this band,” Applejack remarked, her eyebrow raised.
“Well, I did some digging,” Twilight said, consulting her cell phone again, “and it looks like this band only put out this one album. It’s out of print and it’s been over fifty years! Maybe it’s not even an issue.”
“I wish!” Rainbow groaned. “But I got a cease and desist letter! It’s hopeless!”
Sunset rubbed her chin. “Strange that this would come up now,” she said. “Uh, Rainbow, can I see that letter?”
Rainbow handed it over to her. Sunset read it at first with concern… then narrowed her gaze. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me…”
“So, like, pretty weird, right?” Tree Hugger asked as she sat meditating in her front yard. “Like, when I heard your band was the same as my parents’ old band, I totally thought I’d let you know.”
“Riiight,” Sunset said, giving Rainbow a sideways glance. “See, it was a little confusing, Tree Hugger.”
“What?” the green, dreadlocked girl asked, looking up at Sunset hazily. “Like… how?”
Fluttershy stepped forward. “Well, it did seem a little bit like you wanted us to stop using the name,” she said.
“Though I don’t see how Rainbow mistook it for a real cease and desist letter,” Sunset added.
“Hey, it says it right here!” Rainbow shouted, snatching the letter from Sunset’s hand. “It says, ‘Hey, it totally looks like you have the same name as that other band The Rainbooms from a while back. I hope you didn’t steal it or anything, because if you did, you should probably give it back in case someone else wants it.’
“See? What else could it have been?”
They all stared back at her in silence.
“Yer lucky that yer cute,” Applejack grumbled.
“Oh, like… am I detecting some bad vibes or something?” Tree Hugger asked, frowning as she stood up.
“Well, Treezie,” Fluttershy said, “we didn’t know about your parents’ band name. But we also really don’t want to change ours. Could we, um… maybe… keep it?”
“Oh, I dunno,” Tree Hugger said. “Lemme check.”
She turned back toward her house and, cupping her hand to her mouth, shouted “Hey, Mom, Dad? Can, like, my friends have your old band name?”
“Which one?” a man’s voice called back from inside the house. “Lover’s Delight? The Rainbooms? Or Imagine Dragons?”
“The Rainbooms, Dad.”
“Oh… yeah, that sounds cool. Is that cool, honey?”
“Tooootally cool,” a woman’s voice said back.
“I guess you can keep it,” Tree Hugger said.
“Okay, well, great! Thanks, Tree Hugger!” Sunset said, turning and grabbing Rainbow Dash by the ear. “Meantime, we have a band meeting where we talk about the importance of actual lawyers.”
Tree Hugger shrugged as she walked back into her house.
“Oh, by the way, Dad? Those Imagine Dragons guys actually did send us a letter. They’ll pay us 20 bucks if we let them have the name.”
“Really? I guess that’s cool. It's hard to believe there's all these bands that like our old names. That’s crazy!”
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Delightful stuff. I don't know what I love more, Dash overdramatizing, Rarity being distressed by her own
whiningcomplaining, or Fluttershy being wise in the ways of forgotten technology. Thank you for it.Seems like you saw a chance to cram in band-references and you took it. Kudos to you. 9/10. it was funny
Well, now I want to show my youngest siblings my old cassette player and see what they think.
10361308
When I show my niece and nephew old stuff, they're actually kind of fascinated, or at least amused.
1968? More like Tree Hugger's grandparents band...the 60s, alas, are long gone.
10361411
They were teenagers at the time and had her very late in life. I imagine Tree Hugger has a bunch of older siblings and she's the baby of the family.
Okay, yeah, I realized that the age was a problem, but the 60s references were too good not to include.
Thought for a second Tree Hugger would want a nude portrait to keep things quiet or something else.
Not sure what I just read, but I like it.
Everything was perfect and on point here. You left me a bit of a chuckling mess, and for that I’m grateful!
Copyright. The bane of all creativity.
Out of curiosity, was the Rainbooms an actual IRL band?
So, either Rainbow Dash overreacted, or Treehugger would make a good lawyer.
Kind of wished there was a Hasbro element in the story somewhere. But interesting nonetheless.
10361588
I enjoy CGP Grey's videos. I'm pretty sure he watches MLP.
...I think that's a character quirk I'd like to see be added to Fluttershy; knows outdated tech that the others don't.
10361620
I don't think Dash overreacted. Copyright is a very potent law. And there are people craven enough to exploit those laws for their own gain.
As an MLP fan, this is a funny little slice of life story.
As a fellow Quills N' Sofas speedwriter, bravo, well done, and congrats on the feature.
As an IRL lawyer, this s**t right here is why I despise copyright law with every fiber of my being and would rather gouge out my eyes with ice cream spoons rather than practice in the field.
Allow me to be "that guy" for a moment: you can't copyright a band name. This fic is actually The Rainbooms vs. Trademark Law ®, although it's not really "vs." since the prolonged period of disuse almost certainly means that Tree Hugger's parents have long since lost the trademark to the Rainbooms name (assuming they ever filed for one in the first place).
Having said all that, this was a fun little fic!
10361753
What is the difference between "copyright" and "trademark"?
And that's how Imagine Dragons spend 20 bucks and later made millions of dollars
10361786 There's a good article about that over here if you want to learn more, but the basic answer is that copyright protects an original work of authorship (e.g. a story, a song, a movie, a piece of software, etc.) and in the United States is something that you benefit from automatically once you create the work in question (though registering it helps to increase the protection). A trademark, on the other hand, protects a representation (e.g. a word, a phrase, a design, etc.) of a source of goods (e.g. a company), and is something you have to file to get.
10361636
Copyright has effectively created "creative cartels." Companies that effectively have control over large swaths of popular culture, block others from being able to engage in the creative process themselves.
I hope to God they don't extend it again.
10361802
So basically, if I start a publishing firm called Red Literature, the name of my company is a trademark.
But any books I publish require copyright protection.
10361819 That's basically right, but the trademark for the name "Red Literature" would need to be filed for (and subsequently defended), whereas the copyright for what you publish would need to be sold to you by the authors of the original works (since, as the ones who wrote them, copyright protection would go to them first unless you had some sort of work-for-hire contract with them).
But yeah, you have the gist of it.
10361819
I don't think it will be extended again. The public is more aware of the problem now than they were the last time an extension was legislated.
10361923
Yeah, but I feel it is too little, too late.
If the old copyrights had remained on the books, stuff in the 1920s could've entered public domain in the 1970s and 1980s.
Instead, 90+ years worth of literature or film that could've inspired a new generation of artists has been left to rot on the vine of societal oblivion.
Techmoan might be interested in that...
Believable scenario and great use of comedy with some of them not knowing what an 8-track is. I may be a devout Rarijack shipper, but the Appledash jokes were golden.
That’s amazing. Why haven’t I heard of anyone else doing this
Aye, I found it a fun little story. :)
Thanks!
10361932
Sorry to interrupt but this serious talk of copyright law made me think of a couple things.
A few years ago (i think before the Mummy 2017 came out) i had found out that the Creature of the Black Lagoon's copyright had been close to expiring and it was going to enter public domain, only for Universal to renew it while claiming that they where going to make a new Creature of the Black Lagoon movie. (which i don't think they ever did.) Though that said in 2017 the movie "The Shape of Water" came out, which was heavily influenced by the original movie and its monster Gil-man has some notable simulates. (Universal also claims ownership of the bolt in neck version of Frankenstein's monster)
I also noticed how at least in the past some video game companies had a habit of taking copyrighted monsters from Western sources and using them with minor changes, a example of this is the Mind Flayer from dnd which in the past has been used both in games made by Square Enix and Fromsoft, with the same name but some physical differences, though more recently with the WN/LN/Manga/Anime series called overlord, they have used the same monster but it has been remained to "brain eater" so maybe the loop hole that Japan used has closed.
(i also noticed how some series have started using a monster called a Gazer as a expay to dnd's copyrighted Beholder.)
Good job, this was pretty funny all of the way though and i really liked the use of Tree Hugger near the end.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXGkJmRtU0o
So a normal day, then?
The easysolutionwouldbe becomeablackmetalbandandcallthemselvesthersindooms
Groovy, man, groovy. I like enjoyed reading this again, Hat, and I look forward to doing a reading on it too, man. Peace.
Seriously, though - really enjoyed reading this. Really do look forward to doing the reading. Nice job.
If only Apple Corps vs Apple Computer went this smoothly. Personally, I just think they should just change their name to something that's definitely not intended to bypass copyright, like the Rainboons, or maybe even the Raimbooms
10397303
Actually "The Raimbooms" was taken by Sam Raimi's teenage rock band.
Greetings. Your reading has been completed and can be found here. I hope you enjoy.
Excellent! I love how spot-on everyone feels, and nice to see where Treehugger gets her vibe from. n_n