Disney Withdraws Trademark App On Seal Team 6

from the seal-team-7? dept

Disney's attempt to trademark "Seal Team 6," two days after SEAL Team 6 got bin Laden, made the national news as an example of trademark law gone insane. It took a of couple weeks, but Disney came to its senses, realized that it was only going to dig itself in a deeper and deeper hole pursuing this, and has now withdrawn the application. Maybe next time, Disney lawyers will think twice before trying to trademark something so well known.

Filed Under: seal team six, trademark
Companies: disney

Disney Trademarks Seal Team 6 Two Days After SEAL Team 6 Kills Bin Laden

from the you-have-to-be-kidding-me dept

Disney has a reputation of taking material from elsewhere and making it its own, but this is quite bizarre. Apparently two days after the Navy SEALs Team 6 was responsible for killing Osama bin Laden, Disney applied for a trademark on Seal Team 6 to cover clothing, toys, games, video games, and entertainment and education services, among a few other areas as well. Now, it is true that Disney has been working on a movie about seals, but the timing still seems pretty suspicious. I wonder if the Navy SEALs themselves will file a protest. I would imagine that you generally don't want to be on the other side of a dispute with Navy SEALs. But isn't trademark law great? It lets you claim "ownership" over a term closely related to big national events despite having nothing to do with them whatsoever. Still, Disney's move here isn't even quite as bad as gun maker Beretta, who not only patted itself on the back for the killing of bin Laden, it apparently missed out on the fact that the SEALs apparently use Sig Sauers instead of Berettas.

Filed Under: seal team six, trademark
Companies: disney