aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Super Hero madness

I’ve known forever that Happy Birthday is copyrighted. How did I miss that “Super Hero” is a Marvel & DC Comics trademark? From All Things Considered last night:

ULABAY: The word superhero was trademarked by Marvel and DC Comics in the 1960’s says Michael Lovitz. He’s a lawyer who focuses on intellectual property like comic books.

MICHEAL LOVITZ (Lawyer): Marvel and DC created this category of adventurers, of costumed adventurers.

ULABAY: But Marvel and DC Comics super lawyers will leave you alone if you use the word superhero casually. You can even use it in a comic as long as that word stays off the cover.

Mr. LOVITZ: The law basically says that no one has the right to exclusively appropriate a word.

ULABAY: Neither DC Comics nor Marvel agreed to comment for this story. Ronald Coalman is a lawyer who blogs about intellectual property issues. He says both companies are so powerful that they constitute an industry duopoly. He finds preposterous any claims that their brands might be comprised by unauthorized use of the word superhero.

Mr. RONALD COALMAN (Lawyer): People in the comic book area know very well who are Marvel’s superhero’s, who are DC’s superheroes, and who are indie comic book superheroes. There’s zero chance of actual confusion.

ULABAY: For Marvel and DC to protect the word superhero as a trademark, he says, it takes…

Mr. COALMAN: A little bit of audacity and a lot of lawyers on retainer with a generous mixture of judicial indifference.

Ronald Coleman’s a super hero if you ask me. Check out his post, Super Hero® my foot, at Likelihood of Confusion for much, much more.

RELATED: Just for the fun of it Which Super Hero are you?