The Beckham family filings before the European Union Intellectual Property Office are a case study in treating a personal name as a financial asset rather than a private matter.
Victoria Beckham holds registrations covering her children names. That sounds unusual until you consider what a name is worth once it can endorse products, license to third parties and anchor a clothing line. Whoever holds the registration controls those revenues.
A personal name is not automatically protected
Being called something gives you certain personality rights, but it does not give you a trademark. In Mexico, as in the European Union, protection over a name used commercially comes from registration in the relevant classes. Article 173 of the Federal Law for the Protection of Industrial Property does block the registration of a third party name without consent, but relying on that provision means litigating after the fact.
Who should be thinking about this
Not only celebrities. Consultants, chefs, designers, athletes and creators who trade under their own name are in the same position. If the name is on invoices, packaging or a storefront, it is functioning as a trademark whether or not it is registered.
Filing early is inexpensive. Recovering a name that someone else registered, or renaming a business that has already built recognition, is not.