Hasbro sues DC Comics over Bumblebee trademark

Well this seems messy. Hasbro has decided to sue DC over their use of the name Bumblebee for one of their characters. The DC character Bumblebee dates back to 1977 and as we know Transformers Bumblebee is from 1984, however they seem to be fighting over a 2015 trademark filing.

I don't pretend to understand the American legal system but this seems like shaky ground for Hasbro to stand on since DC's character predates Transformers Bee.

https://www.seibertron.com/transform...ee-name/39371/

http://news.tfw2005.com/2017/08/29/h...ademark-347586

I'm pretty sure you can lose the rights to the character if you don't defend them, hasbro might argue since they've been able to use the character name since 1984 with no repercussions they should be able to use that copyright for their character. Sort of a 'you lose it if you don't use it' scenario.

Given that this is second only to a DC/Mattel partnership resurrecting a character with the name "Optimus Prime" or "Megatron", I can't really blame Hasbro in the slightest here.

another mickey mouse fight.

One part I do know is that you need to be using the trademark to maintain it. It does expire after a time without use, also there are certain parameters for the likeness, name etc, so if its a certain amount of steps removed two parties can use the same name.
F-Knows how harmony gold keeps suing people for Robotech likenesses. :rolleyes:

One thing to keep in mind is that "copyright" does not equal "trademark".

The other thing is that this is only relating to the usage of the name "Bumblebee" on toy products, not in comics or cartoons or other consumer categories. DC can use their Bumblebee in cartoons and comics, as long as it doesn't look remotely like Hasbro's Bumblebee. But when it comes to saleable products, there can only be one distinctly trademarked product in each category - so that it doesn't cause confusion by name, not by appearance. (similar appearances of products or characters would then come under copyright or patent protection, but not trademark law)

A trademark is something that needs to be constantly in use, or protected if it isn't currently being used. So it doesn't matter who was first to use it, the key factor is who currently has the trademark in that particular category (toys - specifically construction blocks on this occasion, but toys in general). As such, even though DC created their Bumblebee back in 1977, they didn't appear to trademark it or produce any products that needed it to be trademarked. It's possible that the first toy of DC's Bumblebee was the ones they released in 2015 for their new all-girl hero series, which would be after Hasbro had their trademark for Bumblebee (there are TM's on the 2007 Movie Bumblebee toys).
So even though DC's Bumblebee existed as a character 7 years before Hasbro's Bumblebee was created, Hasbro was first with Bumblebee toys, both in 1984 and 2007... and since they have constantly released Bumblebee toys since then under their trademark, it reinforces their claim to having exclusive usage of the name "Bumblebee" as a toy. (DC would just have to package theirs with a prefix, like Hasbro does with names it can't register)

It may be obvious to tell the difference between a robot Bumblebee toy and a teen girl Bumblebee toy, but if Trademarks aren't kept black and white, other companies can slowly erode their exclusive used of them... just look at what Hasbro has been trying to do with Jetfire and HarmonyGold - Hasbro won't give us fans a toy that looks like the classic comic/cartoon Jetfire/Skyfire, because it is more fun to create toys that resemble the original (Robotech) Jetfire toy (SDCC and Generations Jetfire), so that inch by inch, Hasbro are one day able to produce toys that look like HG's toys, but have the precedence of being able to get away with it.

As such, this may seem like a pointless lawsuit, but long-term it is in Hasbro's interest, especially with the Bumblebee movie next year... so I think this should end up going in their favour.

^ Thanks for the clarification Griff, I always get the whole trademark and copyright thing mixed up. It's confusing as hell.

The other thing people appear to be forgetting is that this isn't so much Hasbro vs DC but Hasbro vs Mattel. One of Mattel's biggest "girls toys" lines right now is the "DC Super Hero Girls" line. The real sting in the tail here (pun intended) is that predictable, Mattel have released a few figures of the character in a high profile toyline. My guess is that they'll go after DC first, then hit Mattel.