Because people figure out ways for crazy intellectual property law suits about them.
Hasbro, I have no doubt that “Bumblebee” is a very popular Transformer. I also have no doubt that you expect a Bumblebee solo movie to make oodles of money. Go have at it.
But none of that affects DC’s character, Bumblebee, one of (if not the) first African-American heroes the company created, back in the 1970s for the Teen Titans, several years before the Transformers were even created. She’s been around in the comics on and off since then, and showed up in the excellent Teen Titans cartoon.
And even if you, somehow, managed to trademark the name “Bumblebee” (yeesh), I seriously doubt anyone is going to confuse a black woman who can shrink with a giant robot that can turn into a car. Any more than people who are looking for Transformers swag will inadvertently buy cans of Bumblebee Tuna.
Yeesh.
(I wasn’t able to find the actual trademark application involved, though this mid-2000s one was abandoned by Hasbro. It was for “toy action figures, toy vehicles and toy robots convertible into other visual toy forms.” Another one Hasbro successfully put in for “Bee Vision” covers “Toy masks; role-play toys; toy action figures, toy vehicles and toy robots convertible into other visual toy forms”)
Hasbro Files Suit Against DC Comics Over ‘Bumblebee’ Trademark
Two superhero franchises are about to square off in federal court over the right to market “Bumblebee” toys. Hasbro, owner of the Transformers brand, filed a lawsuit on Monday accusing …
It goes along with the McDonalds with palm trees suing Smashburger for trademark infringement over something that isn't on their menu.
Dc has tons of African American heroes, Cyborg, Green Lantern, vixen etc
+Joshua Bryk But Bumblebee was one of the first (and, from references I saw, the first female African American).
Cyborg comes later (in the New Teen Titans); Vixen I think postdates that. John Stewart had showed up in the early 70s (as one of the intended "backups" for Hal Jordan), but didn't really take on the role until the mid-80s.
The winners will be the lawyers.
I always picture media company executives as they are portrayed on The Simpsons. There’s a scene where FOX execs are killed in a boardroom, and they reform like a silver Terminator T-1000 and just go right back to their evil machinations.
Hasbro executives should take time out to watch some My Little Pony FIM. At very least they could learn about sharing, and in 7 seasons there may even be an episode about intellectual property. (They did one where a proletarian designer got caught up in a soul-crushing capitalist mass-production scheme for example)