Now the Jeep Cherokee name is disrespectful to the Cherokee Nation and they want the name dropped. I’d have to assume the next protest will come from the Mojave! When and where is this silly bullshit going to end?

Now, I have a question. If I invent a product, name it “Barrybobsbigwhitejohnson”, then get my johnson patented and the name copyrighted, don’t I “own” that name? I’m sure Jeep has the Cherokee nameplate copyrighted, couldn’t they turn this around and send a cease and desist letter to the Cherokee Nation telling them to quit using Jeep’s name? How does that work?

As a side note and not exactly relevant, my dad and I were building custom Cadillacs in the mid-70’s and we named one of our models “Mirage”. Sometime in the late 70’s, Mitsubishi contacted us asking permission to use the Mirage name on a new car entry they were coming out with. We told them we had no problem with it and we had no copyright on the name anyway, so the Mitsubishi Mirage was born.

What I mean is, if the name is not copyrighted, nobody "owns" it, correct? Even if someone has been using the name (as my dad and I were with the Mirage), they don't own the rights unless it's copyrighted and anybody can come along at any time, copyright the name and use it. Then, anybody else using that name (no matter how long they've used it) could be sued for copyright infringement. Right? I wonder what the legal limitations are for something like that?