Great questions! We are dealing with this very thing right now.

We recently changed our name. It wasn't a huge change in how the name reads but it is in it's meaning. We went from EOS Sweden to eos sw/eden. There is a BP candidate who decided to use our other name.

Our CEO met with their team in Stockholm to figure out what was going on. They said it was a mistake and would change it right away. Later that afternoon they filed a trademark in Sweden for the name. Why hadn't we filed a TM? Well, because we knew we would rebrand. That being said, it is pretty strange to want the name of another BP - or a name that is even CLOSE to what another BP has. Because that will lead to voter confusion. We have continued to have discussions with them. Their response has been, "we aren't doing anything illegal." They then said no one will be confused because "We may not even be competing with them (for several months) as we are yet in pre-planning phase." In another response they said, "We are not ready yet and I assume SW/Eden is already ready and producing blocks in test networks."

So they are not in a position to produce blocks and yet, if they were somehow elected to a funded back-up position, they would be receiving an EOS payment by the community to do a service that they are at this time incapable of doing. If you sit in an exit row on a plane (to get that extra legroom), you are explained your responsibilities. You have a duty to preform in the unlikely event that the plain has to land in an "unconventional" manner. You get the extra legroom because you are willing AND capable of opening the window. If you can't mange to do that, you shouldn't be sitting there.

It is considered fraud to receive money for a job that you cannot actually do. If I take money to represent someone in court as a barrister or lawyer and I am not actually a lawyer, I could go to jail.

By their own admission, they are not ready to be a block producer and yet they could conceivably be on the ballot. AND because their name is very close to ours, they could also receive votes intended for us.I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they have no ill intention whatsoever.

A thought to consider; it would be possible to require anyone who wants to run for BP to prove that they can produce blocks. An idea that has been floated for sometime is a Performance Testnet that would be built post launch. This will be a place for standby producers and those would like to run for BP to validate and show that their hardware is “production ready”, so that the EOS Community is guaranteed that any new BP can handle the load required. This would keep out almost anyone who has fraudulent intentions or is not ready to produce blocks.

How does this answer the question of names. If you want to run for BP and can produce blocks in a testnet or the Performance Testnet, then you can get the BP suffix (or prefix) for your name.

This would also honor your own stance that boot block producers should not receive a special advantage by participating in the boot process. In addition it would mitigate some of the potential for fraud in the future.