{"id":8903,"date":"2006-03-27T13:30:19","date_gmt":"2006-03-27T20:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2006\/03\/27\/super.html"},"modified":"2015-05-08T13:42:29","modified_gmt":"2015-05-08T19:42:29","slug":"super","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/03\/27\/super.html","title":{"rendered":"Super!"},"content":{"rendered":"

The LA Times is (rightly) annoyed by continuing efforts by Marvel and DC to lock down the term “super hero” with a trademark<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tickets to the California Science Center’s latest exhibit, “Marvel Super Heroes Science Exhibition,” sell for $6.75 and up. But there’s one lesson the exhibition offers free of charge to anyone who wanders by the museum, and it’s not about science.<\/p>\n

The lesson is in the giant sign looming over the center’s entrance archway: “Marvel \u00ae Super Heroes(TM) Science Exhibition.” The “TM” stands for trademark, signifying that Marvel is claiming exclusive rights to use the term “super hero” as a marketing term for, well, superheroes. The company and its largest competitor, DC Comics, jointly obtained the trademark from the federal Patent and Trademark Office in 1981.<\/p>\n

The government’s action means that any company wishing to market a comic book, graphic novel or related item with any variation of “super hero” in the name or title must get permission from Marvel and DC. Dan Taylor, the Costa Mesa-based creator of the “Super Hero Happy Hour” comic, learned about this absurdity two years ago when he was contacted by lawyers for Marvel and DC, prompting him to rename his series to the more pedestrian “Hero Happy Hour.”<\/p>\n

The notion of superheroes goes back at least to 1938, when Superman made his debut in Action Comics. The term’s first commercial use, the trademark holders say, was in 1966. Still, it’s hard to think of “super hero” as anything more than a description of the entire category of characters, not a particular brand. As a familiar DC series so aptly puts it, there is an entire legion of superheroes, and their ranks extend far beyond the rosters created by those two companies.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s a really stupid trademark claim, and I seriously doubt it would hold up to a serious (deep pockets) legal challenge (which may come about via Sega). But what makes it particularly idiotic is that it’s so unnecessary. People who think of Marvel and DC as the only purveyor of “super heroes” only think that because those are the leading publishers of same. Anyone who sees the term doesn’t think of Marvel and DC per se, but of the metahuman characters they know — for most of the public, that means Spider-Man and Captain America and Superman and Batman and maybe Wonder Woman. They de facto <\/em>own the reference due to the success of their franchises, which is how it ought to be. But to de jure <\/em>demand such kow-towing is not only unnecessary, but unseemly. Folks who are familiar with the super heroes from other publishers are going to continue to lump them into the same category, and Marvel and DC just making a legal stink about it will make them seem increasingly petty.<\/p>\n

Which won’t make them (or their characters) appear all that heroic at all.<\/p>\n

(via BoingBoing<\/a>)<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The LA Times is (rightly) annoyed by continuing efforts by Marvel and DC to lock down the term “super hero” with a trademark. Tickets to the California Science Center’s latest…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11,79,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media-comics","category-media-intellectual-property","category-media-moguls"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":155237,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2021\/09\/04\/marvellous.html","url_meta":{"origin":8903,"position":0},"title":"Marvellous","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 4-Sep-21 11:31pm","format":"aside","excerpt":"Some vocal bros sure seem to be constantly threatened by strong female heroes.","rel":"","context":"In "~Tweets"","block_context":{"text":"~Tweets","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/tweets"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ms Marvel and Captain Marvel uniforms","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Ms-Marvel-and-Captain-Marvel-uniforms.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Ms-Marvel-and-Captain-Marvel-uniforms.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Ms-Marvel-and-Captain-Marvel-uniforms.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Ms-Marvel-and-Captain-Marvel-uniforms.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Ms-Marvel-and-Captain-Marvel-uniforms.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11577,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/07\/29\/bt07_microreviews.html","url_meta":{"origin":8903,"position":1},"title":"BT07 – Microreviews","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 29-Jul-07 6:42am","format":false,"excerpt":"Ultimate Power #6 of 9 (Marvel) Straczynski \/ Land Wolverine #54 (Marvel) Loeb \/ Bianchi Wonder Woman #11 (DC) Torres\/Diaz New Warriors #2 (Marvel) Grevioux\/Medina New Excalibur #21 (Marvel) Claremont\/Haun...","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/stars4.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13351,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/01\/14\/who_wants_to_be_a_super_h.html","url_meta":{"origin":8903,"position":2},"title":"Who wants to be a super-hero?","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 14-Jan-09 11:19pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Behold the mighty Three-Star! Courtesy of Marvel.com, your own super-hero designer. Way too many of the body-parts are, um, Marvel hero-specific, and the options are fairly limited (esp. as...","rel":"","context":"In "Comics & Comic Books"","block_context":{"text":"Comics & Comic Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/three-star.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7816,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/08\/07\/bt05_top_25_com.html","url_meta":{"origin":8903,"position":3},"title":"BT05 – Top 25 Comics I’m Buying Today","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 7-Aug-05 3:53am","format":false,"excerpt":"Including this post, I have seven posts left to do. Wow. 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