Besides the fact that the good names are being used, to make things more difficult, some characters change their names from time to time. This almost creates an even bigger shortage of names unless the one they're abandoning is good and applicable to your superhuman powers.
There has been times when completely unrelated characters use the same name. In most cases, heroes have secret identities. That means they have no way to register or copyright the name they use. What can a hero do if someone comes along and tries using their name? == TEASER ==
It was during Secret Wars where we first saw Julia Carpenter. As a mutant, she too had spider-based powers. We assume she became active before being whisked away by the Beyonder. Why wouldn't she use the name Spider-Woman? Jessica Drew wasn't active. Then came Mattie Franklin. At first she wore a padded suit and dressed as Spider-Man. Then when she got her powers, she started calling herself Spider-Woman. Julia Carpenter changed her name to Arachne. And Jessica Drew quickly put her foot down that she was the only Spider-Woman. Jessica Drew probably could have used her connections to Nick Fury and SHIELD to make a legal claim over her name. But what if Julia or Mattie insisted they could use the name as well.
Sometimes good guys will take a villain's name. Phil Urich came across some of the Green Goblin's gear and became a hero under the same name. You could say this wasn't so bad as he wasn't necessarily using the name with a new identity. He was dressed as the Green Goblin. He just wasn't doing evil things in the identity.
When Supermandied in his first battle against Doomsday, we saw four new Supermen. Steel never really claimed to be Superman but Superboy, Cyborg Superman and Eradicator all pretty much did (or at least insinuated as much). Superboy hooked up with Rex Leech who did copyright the name. When Kal-El returned, he allowed Superboy to use the S-emblem and Rex could sell Superman merchandise as long as half the proceeds went to charity.
What should characters like Superman, Spider-Man and Batman do when their names and identities create franchises? We know Batman Incorporated exists. With Bruce Wayne and Wayne Enterprises an official backer of Batman, the name can now be owned and Batman can legally enforce who uses "Bat" in their name. The last thing a hero needs or wants is a villain trying to use their name to create a false sense of security among the unsuspecting civilians.
That leads us to Norman Osborn and his Dark Avengers. As the hero of the world after firing the final shot in the Skrulls' Secret Invasion, Norman was put in charge of the Avengers. He gathered villains he could control and gave them new identities. Moonstone became Ms. Marvel, Venom became Spider-Man, Daken became Wolverine and Bullseye became Hawkeye. It's not clear whether Norman had the insight and nerve to have those names copyrighted. The fact that he had his team of villains using the names was a slap in the face of the heroes that bore the names and there wasn't anything they could do about it.
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