Transformers questions by newbies, and not-so-newbies

[Sky Shadow]

Isn't it a trademark infringement?

Yes.



(Interestingly, Matt Moylan, who drew this and was an editor at Dreamwave stated that the Red Cross slapped them with a cease-and-desist and threatened to sue if they kept drawing Ratchet with red crosses.)

The Red Cross was a variant on G1 Ironhide, that's all tfwiki says. I assume there was a stage at production where they thought the cross wasn't necessary so they scrapped it.

I think you mean Ratchet, SW, and tfwiki also says:

"Unbeknownst to most people, the "red cross on white backdrop" logo often associated with medical services that was used on a variant of the Generation 1 Ratchet toy as well as in the cartoon and various Generation 1-based comics is in fact a trademark owned by the International Committee of the Red Cross, who enforce the use of their marks heavily these days, even with regards to toys and within the context of fictional works (such as comic books or video games), where the symbol is not used as part of advertising for the product itself. Using the logo on a Transformers toy would definitely be a no-go these days, as it could be considered an abuse of the symbol's meaning. (The red cross symbol was in fact incorrectly used on Generation 1 Ratchet to begin with, since the symbol represents a humanitarian organization that normally doesn't operate regular urban ambulances.) As a consequence, Hasbro typically use "electrocardiogram" graphics as a substitute these days, which is usually also reflected in fiction. The occasional flub still slips through, though."