Kevin Bronson on December 17th, 2012

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A legal dust-up over the name Future Ghosts sparked fireworks last week between two bands sharing the moniker, and, in the process, temporarily torched the social media presence of the Los Angeles trio Future Ghost (pictured at Echo Park Rising), who are now looking for a new name.

The brouhaha began when Chicago musician Sean Whittaker, who had been making music as Future Ghosts (plural) since 2005 and had trademarked the name, sought to protect his identity from latecomers. In particular, there was a North Carolina alt-rock quartet named Future Ghosts, signed to Round Kid Records and ramping up to release their debut album on Feb. 12.

A representative of the Chicago band sent the North Carolina band a cease-and-desist letter, but before the second party could address the matter, that representative contacted social media outlets such as Facebook, Reverbnation and Bandcamp, citing infringement. The outlets responded by removing the pages belonging to N.C.’s Future Ghosts and L.A.’s Future Ghost, among others.

A press release issued by the Carolina band last Tuesday sparked outrage among its larger fanbase. “Not only did the other band make no attempt to work it out with us before asking us to cease and desist,” the band said, “they aggressively pursued the purging of our web presence at the same time.” The release also contained some disputed facts – that the Chicagoans had been inactive since 2006 and had only recently reformed.

Some fans of the N.C. band responded by peppering the Chicago band’s Facebook page with insults and expletives.

Whittaker responded with a statement of his own, pointing out that the Carolina band began doing business as Future Ghosts knowing that the name was already taken: “This was not only irritating, but it was damaging,” he said. “It became very difficult to promote my work and build my audience while there was another, newer Future Ghosts operating through all the same [social media] networks. ”¦ Had they been serious enough about the name, or really wanted it badly enough to justify them trampling on my progress, they should have reached out, or figured something out. They did not.”

The Chicago musician did express concerns about how the matter was handled, saying it got “gross, confusing, and ugly. Neither band on the other side of this really had much of a chance to get their shit together before our camp pulled the rug. Well, at least the L.A. band didn’t (the one thing in all of this for which I will admit to being truly regretful). … In spite of knowing I’m legally within my rights, I do regret that this whole thing couldn’t have been dealt with more diplomatically.”

So today’s developments are: L.A.’s Future Ghost is back on Facebook (and in the market for name suggestions, they tell Buzz Bands LA). And the North Carolina band announced this morning that they have changed their name to Unifier.

And bands with same or too-similar names have a little moral: Respect other artists’ intellectual property as you would want yours respected.