The law firm of Reichman Jorgensen Lehman & Feldberg (RJLF) has announced a landmark victory in its trademark case against comics publishers Marvel and DC Comics. They have obtained an order from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office cancelling Marvel and DC Comics’ joint trademark for the word “Super Hero” and thus allowing everyone to freely use the term.
This was granted after Marvel and DC failed to respond to court requests. RJLF represents their clients, S.J. Richold and Superbabies Limited, in the case.
The villainous IP comic excerpts are cute but in common usage its been a genericized term forever.
The fact they both shared the trademark offers an argument that it was a genericized trademark from day one. After all if one thought they would win the argument that it applied only to their products they would have taken it exclusively for the competitive advantage.
Yeah, I thought that the whole point of trademarks to help consumers distinguish businesses in a given industry. Doesn’t a “shared trademark” defeat the whole purpose?