What’s in a Name? Maybe More in Rihanna Than Phyllis Schlafly

What does Rihanna’s father have in common with the brewer nephew of a late anti-feminist icon?

Both have been confronted by famous relatives over commercial rights to the family name.

But names aren’t the same when it comes to trademarks. The law blocks registration of a mark that is “primarily merely a surname”; the standard is whether a name acquires another established meaning before registration.

So while Rihanna’s Fenty brand may not be Ford, trademark lawyers say the pop singer probably has a stronger case than the late conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly, whose estate lost a trademark battle with a ...