are there people already using any of the following names for their busineses:
1. silver crane productions
2. snow crane productions
3. moon crane productions
4. emerald crane productions

Dear guibbory,

I searched the following trademark databases to find out whether one
or more of the names are already registered as trademarks:

- USA
- Canada
- Great Britain
- Germany
- European Union

The results are:

- "snow crane productions" and "snow crane" are not registered
trademarks in any of the countries.

- "moon crane productions" and "moon crane" are not registered
trademarks in any of the countries.

- "emerald crane productions" and "emerald crane" are not registered
trademarks in any of the countries.

- "silver crane productions" as a whole is not a protected trademark
in any of the countries

- "silver crane", however, is part of the registered US trademark "The
Silver Crane Company", and of the registered British company name "The
Silver Crane Company". So using "silver crane" might result in legal
trouble. The owner is:

The Silver Crane Company
34a Black Moor Road
Ebblake Industrial Estate
Verwood
Dorset
BH31 6BB
UK 
Phone: +44(0)1202-825155
Fax: +44(0)1202-823300
E-Mail: sales@silvercrane.co.uk
Website: http://www.silvercrane.co.uk/

Additional extensive Web search did also not lead to more companies
using one of the above names.

Though three of the four names are obviously currently not registered
trademarks in those countries, these results alone can not be regarded
total legal protection in case of copyright or trademark infringement.
For definitive legal coverage, I strongly recommend consulting an
attorney specialized in trademark and copyright issues who knows the
pitfalls of law.

Sources:

United States Patent and Trademark Office: Online Database
http://www.uspto.gov/main/trademarks.htm

UK Patent Office: Online Trademark Database
http://www.patent.gov.uk/tm/dbase/index.htm

Uompanies House: UK Company Information
http://ws2.companieshouse.gov.uk/frame.cgi?OPT=free

Canadian Intellectual Property Office: Online Trademark Database
http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/cipo/trademarks/search/tmSearch.do

German Patent and Trademark Authority: Online Database
https://dpinfo.dpma.de/index.html

European Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market: Online
Trademark Database
http://oami.eu.int/search/trademark/la/en_tm_search.cfm

Search terms used:
"silver crane productions"
://www.google.de/search?q=%22silver+crane+productions%22&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=de&btnG=Google-Suche&meta=
"silver crane"
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=%22silver+crane%22&meta=
"snow crane productions"
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=%22snow+crane+productions%22&meta=
"snow crane"
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=%22snow+crane%22&meta=
"moon crane productions"
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=%22moon+crane+productions%22&meta=
"moon crane"
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=%22moon+crane%22&meta=
"emerald crane productions"
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=%22emerald+crane+productions%22&meta=
"emerald crane"
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=%22emerald+crane%22&meta=

Hope this helps!
Best regards,
Scriptor

perfect reply, thank you - sorry for the delay in replying!
sg