Unbeknownst to most, Atlas Shrugged was also the name of an obscure rock band from Bellingham, WA. The band, which had never heard of Ayn Rand's so-titled novel before, chose the name Atlas Shrugged after a rock climbing pitch in Canada.

Unfortunately, Leonard Peikoff (Ayn Rand's intellectual heir) did not take so well to this and threatened to sue the group for trademark infringement under Section 43 of the Langham Act. The band soon came to believe that Peikoff was probably using legal intimidation - (according to the band's lawyer) his case would never stand up in court since the trademark infringement laws only affect products/things that are easily confusible with the trademarked product/thing in question. For example, if there were a rock band named Coca-Cola, it could not be legitimately sued on these terms, as Coca-Cola the corporation could not be concievably confused with Coca-Cola the band.

Despite the apparent crackpotness of Peikoff's threats, Atlas Shrugged elected to change their name nonetheless. As one member of the band said, "(we) did not wish to be drug into a big mess of lawyers and burned out wannabe Ayn Rand lovers."

The group is now named Section 43 (in honor of Section 43 of the aforementioned Langham Act).

So much for Objectivist philosophy concerning individual rights, eh?...Of course, I do realise that Peikoff's institution does not speak for the entirety of Objectivism (nor even one of its more creative elements).

But I will say that in the end, perhaps it is a good thing that Atlas Shrugged was forced to change their name. After all, without any additional context, one might expect a rock band called Atlas Shrugged to play long, tedious songs full of moralistic lyrics.

I've adapted the content of this node from an article I saw online at http://www.jeffcomp.com/faq/peikoff/band.html.