Comments on: Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #9!

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 19:39:54 +0000

I don’t see any record of such a comic at any of the various comic book databases – just books by DC and/or Marvel.

By: Fremgen

Fremgen — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 19:30:54 +0000

I’ve been told there was a comic book called Super Heroes, that DC and Marvel didn’t publish (nor did DC or Marvel attack it). So if anyone wanted to challenge their copy right to the word, they could probably win.

By: danjack

danjack — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:18:30 +0000

never liked Nocenti’s run on DD. loved the art tho’ [JRJR don'tcha kno]
DFTBA

By: Sandra

Sandra — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:01:52 +0000

I much prefer Nocenti’s beautiful run on Daredevil. It’s one of my favorite runs as a Marvel reader.

By: Lothor

Lothor — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 08:11:56 +0000

AIR Ando sarcastically said Hiro was “Super Hiro.”

By: Kevin

Kevin — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 12:58:58 +0000

Seeing as how Marvel and DC own the rights to the phrase “super hero”, did the creative staff of the show “Heroes” have to get permission from them to use it in their show when Ando said he was a “super hero”?

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 22:17:51 +0000

Fortunately, Mystek has apparently returned from the dead and joined the Avengers. Ronin, eh?

By: Xanthophobiac

Xanthophobiac — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 14:50:56 +0000

I also own a Captain America T-Shirt with copyright DC Comics. I thought mine was special.. I guess not.. >.

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 23:36:33 +0000

I think, rather than generic, the term you're thinking of is "descriptive trademark." Facial tissue is not a generic term, it's a descriptive one. And normally, descriptive trademarks are, as you suggest, not open to trademark. There IS an exception, though, and one I think Marvel and DC have met. Here is a link to a FAQ on the topic!

By: Robert Ortega

Robert Ortega — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 21:13:52 +0000

It’s been suggested that Alan Moore’s use of the term “Science Hero” in his ABC books is due to Marvel/DC’s apparent legal lock on the “Superhero” term.

But that lock is actually less secure than one might think; legally one cannot trademark a generic term. For example, you can trademark the word “Kleenex”, but not the term “Facial tissue”, the word “Band-aid” but not the term “adhesive bandage” — and the phrase “Super Hero/Superhero” had a long history of use by multiple publishers long before the trademark was established. In fact, Dell Comics had a comic simply entitled “Super Heroes” in the 1960′s. (It starred the infamous “Fab Four”, and lasted less than a handful of issues–but it existed!)

It’s been suggested that the term “Super Hero” was trademarked by the late, great Mego toy company back in the 1970′s, and that that trademark was later sold to Marvel/DC for $1.00, which gives them the rights to it. The trouble is, if Mego ever actually had legal claim to the term, they had it only so far as it appied to toys/action figures, not for general usage.

From a technical point of view, Marvel has the trademark on the phrase “Marvel Super Hero/es”, and DC on the phrase “DC Super Hero/es”, and the two have agreed to a collusion to claim the generic term between them based on this. And since both have large banks of well-paid attorneys on their side, no one has challenged them on it so far.

But if someone with a sufficient war chest came along to fight them on this, I think it likely we’d find that the emperor had no spandex long underwear…

By: Thommy Tsunami

Thommy Tsunami — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 18:40:23 +0000

It was such an awful demise for the world’s first crossdressing Asian-American supervillian-turned-hero.

As a writer and as a personality, Priest is one of a kind.

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 09:03:43 +0000

Good point. What the deal was was that, for a time, Priest was writing the books basically like the Superman books with the triangles, in that stories from the Ray would mix and match with Justice League Task Force regularly, so yeah, Mystek probably DID make her first appearance in The Ray, but it was always with the intent on her becoming a member of JLTF.

But good call about where her first appearance was!

By: pc thunderbolt

pc thunderbolt — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 07:41:10 +0000

Didn’t Mystek first appear in the Priest written book The Ray before showing up in JLTF?