MICHAEL JACKSON's father JOE will have to fight if he wants to name his newly-launched music label Ranch Records - a company already exists under that name.

Joe Jackson announced plans for his new business venture earlier this week (29Jun09) in a press conference held in the wake of the Thriller hitmaker's sudden death.

The Jackson family patriarch revealed he was developing the label with Chi-Lites star Marshall Thompson, telling reporters, "I established a record company... and the company is called Ranch Records."

But the news has come as a surprise to Dixon Shanks, owner of Ranch Record Label in Texas - because he registered the firm in 2001.

Shanks was only alerted to the name clash on Wednesday (01Jul09) - two days after Jackson's announcement - and he's been inundated with calls from members of the media, mistaking his company for Jackson's.

He says, "The last few days, we've been getting calls from all over the country: Rolling Stone Magazine, Toronto Press, (and) Kansas City... to see what's going on with Ranch Records, I guess."

Shanks claims he's not been contacted by Jackson about the copyright issue - but he is vowing to keep hold of his label name.

He adds, "As far as Ranch Records goes, they must not have done their research. ...We were here first."