"Superhero" Trademarks Get Axed

I know it sounds silly but DC and Marvel have jointly held a set of trademarks on the words "super hero" and "super heroes" since 1980! I only know this today – but the good news is, that these trademarks are no longer in force.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office, in response to a petition from London, UK-based SJ Richold’s Superbabies Limited, have axed, on September 26, 2024, the said trademarks. Anyone can now produce works using "superhero" without fear of a lawsuit from either of the entertainment behemoths.

Superbabies filed a petition in May to invalidate the trademarks after DC opposed their application to trademark "superbabies". In their petition, the former's arguments include:

• We live in a world of super heroes. For the better part of a century, super heroes and the superhero genre have ruled the imagination and inspired millions to achieve greatness. 
• Super heroes are ubiquitous. They are on products of all shapes and sizes, appear in countless stories, and have a presence in every major storytelling medium. 
• This case is about two companies – DC and Marvel – who claim the exclusive right to use the term SUPER HERO. 
• Marvel and DC did not invent the concept of super heroes, superheroes, or the superhero genre. The term in its varied spellings has origins dating back to at least 1909 – decades before DC or Marvel even existed. The first comic book characters to receive the super hero label were not affiliated with DC or Marvel. 
• In 1980 – decades after the birth of super heroes – DC and Marvel jointly registered SUPER HEROES as a trademark. 
• DC and Marvel claim that no one can use the term SUPER HERO (or superhero, super-hero, or any other version of the term) without their permission. DC and Marvel are wrong. Trademark law does not permit companies to claim ownership over an entire genre. SUPER HERO is a generic term that should not be protected as a trademark.
• Trademark law also does not allow competitors to claim joint ownership over a single mark. The purpose of a trademark is to identify a single source of goods and services.
• Over the years, DC and Marvel have used their SUPER HERO registrations not to prevent confusion, but to stifle competition and exclude others from the marketplace.
• DC and Marvel’s strategy is ripped straight from their own supervillains’ playbook. In Fantastic Four #7 (2023), Dr. Doom defeats the Fantastic Four by stealing key words from their vocabulary – including SUPER HERO:

• In Ultimate Spider-Man #109 (2007), villain Wilson Fisk (Kingpin) used a more direct approach: he registered Spider-Man as a trademark, and used threats of litigation and financial ruin to pressure Spider-Man into letting Kingpin operate without SUPER HERO:
  

• Virtually every comic, book, toy, or t-shirt relating to super heroes refers to itself as a super hero product, sometimes even including the term in the product name:

Petitioner Superbabies Limited create super hero stories featuring a team of super-powered super hero babies called THE SUPER BABIES:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marvel and DC failed to answer the petition, resulting in a default judgment for Superbabies. Congratulations to the real heroes!

 

Based on their online presence, Superbabies are not a very big organization. I applaud their audacity in taking on DC and Marvel in the first place, let alone in such a magnificent fashion.