Copyright in characters is not a new concept but it can take interesting twists. We saw this recently when litigation over the Netflix movie Enola Holmes raised the question just how far the term of copyright in Sherlock...more
Fan boys and fan girls may soon see changes to the names of their favorite pop culture events given a federal jury’s recent ruling that the term “Comic-Con” is not generic, but instead a valid, federally-registered trademark...more
In relation to a long-fought and contentious trademark dispute involving the COMIC CON mark, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a brief but definitive opinion, finding that certain district-court-ordered...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed a protective order in the dispute over the “Comic-Con” trademark, finding that a prohibition on the defendants from discussing the case on social media was...more
Before the social media era really kicked into gear, I was representing a defendant in a defamation case who was being sued by a very wealthy plaintiff. Because of his charitable generosity, the plaintiff’s name was on...more
In a non-precedential decision in DC Comics v Deanna Rivetti (Opposition 91219851, August 17 2017), the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) sustained an opposition to the registration of Application Number 86240703 for...more
Thursday, July 20th will mark the start of the 47th annual San Diego Comic-Con International, more commonly known as San Diego Comic-Con or “SDCC”. The convention is a four-day event held every July at the San Diego...more
The challenges of being a child with special needs, or the parent of one, are fairly well known and documented. Less talked about and often ignored is the experience of being the sibling of someone with special needs. The...more
Get ready, nerds! This summer’s Comic-Con season is almost upon us and your costume is not going to make itself. But before you squeeze into your tights and cape, do you need to worry about copyright infringement? This blog...more
The Court of Appeal has upheld a High Court ruling of 2014 that Twentieth Century Fox’s (“Fox”) “glee” television series infringed Comic Enterprises Ltd’s (“Comic”) trade mark for “the glee CLUB”. A parallel claim in the High...more
A recent Ninth Circuit decision has endorsed copyright protection for Batman’s four-wheeled sidekick, confirming that copyright protection can extend to “sufficiently distinctive” elements of an original work, like comic-book...more
In the spring of 2013, this author reported on the then-recent decision, DC Comics v. Towle, 989 F. Supp. 2d 948 (C.D. Cal. Feb. 7, 2013), where Judge Ronald Lew determined that the Batmobile is a comic book character...more
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the Batmobile is a copyrightable character. The Ninth Circuit’s opinion explaining its ruling begins with the sentence “Holy copyright law, Batman!,” and goes on to quote Adam West...more
It's not every day a Ninth Circuit court opinion includes, "Holy copyright law, Batman!," or “To the Batmobile!” But in affirming a district court’s ruling in a copyright infringement case by DC Comics against the maker of...more
In the 1977 Yale Law School Holiday Pageant there was a skit about the Supreme Court, with a song sung to the tune of Cole Porter's "Another Opening, Another Show" from the musical Kiss Me Kate... ...That parody...more
Close on the heels of the settlement between Marvel Comics and Jack Kirby’s heirs, which ended their dispute over copyright in a number of iconic comic book characters, the heirs to one of Superman’s co-creators, artist...more
In Kenney v. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., No. 13-11068, 2013 WL 6212593 (D. Mass. Nov. 29, 2013), Judge Richard G. Stearns dismissed an action for copyright infringement brought by Michael P. Kenney against the film...more