... except that someone beat me 2 it. ;=[ Oh well, I got the uncoveted #101 slot. ;=]

If you think about it, someone, or at least some abstract entity, has been being condemned in each of these posts in some way. Therefore you got the coveted "101 Damnations" spot. Obviously not trademarked/copyrighted but Disney.

Hey Destro75, that was a hell of a report. Thanks. Yup, Image Comics were the "bad boys" the "Brat Pack" of the comics industry. All nay sayer's said they wouldn't last a year. They are still around over 10 years later and still with good practices but alas so many of the founders have sold out or formed their own companies or have gone over to DC like Jim Lee and other late comers like Michael Turner so there you go. Money VS Ethics. Money still wins I guess. Not in my book but it WOULD be nice to have some more of that to compliment my ethics!! Richard ;-)~

If this is a legit complaint and not a gag, I really think they will be laughed out of court! How can you copyright a public-domain expression, for any reason? I think there have been similar lawsuits that got tossed, tho specifics escaspe me at the moment. I guess I'll go Googling to research a bit.

If I remember correctly when the character "Shazam!" first came out DC took the company that distribute that chatacter to court to have them stop making that comic because it was simular to Superman and later DC brought all rights to Shazam...So I guess battles over TM and Comic copy cats have been going on a long time.

I seem to recall in the late 80's, TSR (the makers of Dungeons & Dragons) were selling their Indiana Jones role playing game. In the back of one of the books, they claimed the word "Nazi" was copyright TSR... Steve

Well, not very important. Marvel and DC have superheroes. We could draw... ...SUPERCALIFRAGILISTIC-EXPIALIDOCIUS-HEROES !!! ... or SUP-EX-HEROES Casette running to register the trademark

Sorry about that my good doctor. Hey, at least it was a huge post! ;-)

RamWolff, yes, that was the Image way. So many people doubted they could hold water with the big boys firmly in command of the market. What Marvel/DC/naysayers failed to realize is that comic fans are fans of the artwork. It isn't even so much about the storyline. If someone wants an A+ story, they'll read a book. The artists are the attraction. McFarlane's Spawn was one of the best drawn comics EVER. (It didn't hurt that his Spidey fans flocked to Spawn simply because it was "McFarlane" either.)

And yes, alas, in the end, even Image succumbed to profit taking. But that is business, you don't run a company just out of the goodness of your heart. But they still do some good business. I remember when McFarlane hung up his Spawn pen. He took the time to introduce his replacement (Angel something-or-other IIRC.) I thought that was a nice touch, smoothing the fans into the transition.

Artistheat, yeah, I think I remember reading a story about that once. (DC had a good point though, Shazaam was clear knock-off of Superman. Hell, they even had the same hair!)

Gryshnak, that sounds vaguely familiar, but I don't remember any specifics of it. TSR was a great company when it was alive and well, but toward the mid-late 80's, when profits started falling due to mismanagement, the company took a real nosedive on their policies. I know I have read numerous stories of attempted lawsuits, and corporate in-fighting going on pre-Wizard's takeover.

"Am I the only one who smells a rat here? Momodot is having you on, folks."

You're not the only one. My first impression was that it was being used as an attempt to "prove" something. (certain wording indicated it but it was never made clear)

I'll give ya'll a hint... "momo" is the Japanese word for "peach." I"m sure you can figure out the rest.

Eric Larson trademarked "Hiter" and "Jesus" in the same comicbook. (Savage Dragon) Marvel Comics does NOT own DC Comics. Warner Bros owns DC. Doug

::gawks:: He did? Quick, somebody warn all the Christians! Better warn the nazis too -- wait! what am I saying?! Seriously, the law's not just an ass at times, it's ...hoo boy, gonna get TOSed if I finish that one. ;-)

"I recommend you do a thorough search of your storage media to delete any offending material but you should make sure to dump the search term from your file management software as soon as your done. I know that using the term in a search is a grey area here but probably the lesser evil is excusable in attempting to rectify the greater evil. Do not forget to look for any "hidden" offences such as morph targets and textures that use or contain the protected phrase "Super Hero"(tm). Since "deleting" or "emptying" from the Recycle Bin(tm) doesn't actually destroy data it might be advised to use a "shredder" application or to apply 32-bit encryption prior to deleting offending material." "I just hope that people using Poser know when a modification of a figure even for their own use is permitted by the EULA and when it is not. That people realize that a figure they have purchased from DAZ can not be used in a different location from where it was first installed, say if you move to a new town or something for instance." These statements alone should tell you that this continuing silliness is here just to bait people. Who in their right mind would do, or adhere to, any of the above? What fun.

Attached Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=aj2AwZBnRA28&refer=europe

It's happening everywhere. Be afraid, be very afraid. Flaunt your paranoia, they're lurking everywhere and out to get you when you least expect it, "like a theif in the night". Hah ha ! Bet that phrase is covered too !

Message edited on: 03/28/2006 18:48

"Marvel Comics does NOT own DC Comics. Warner Bros owns DC." Ahh, gotcha. I had a feeling I misunderstood that one. Thanks for clearing that up Doug!

According to the FAQ linked above, this only applies to the use of the word "superhero" as the name of a product. Thus you can publish a comic in which a character describes themself, e.g. in dialog, as a superhero, without infringing the TM. The one thing you can't do is entitle the comic "Fred the Superhero" and trade on that phrase as a brand. So all this talk about renaming morphs is ridiculous. Honestly, have we become so craven that we want to surrender our freedoms before we are even asked?

This whole thread is just plain ridiculous. USPTO searches reveal that "Super Hero" or "Superhero" is part of 29 live trademarks. So what? DC owns the trademark to use the phrase "Super Hero" on masquerade costumes and whatnots and Marvel has registered "Super Hero" as well applying to different products. There are also Superhero baseball caps and Superhero sun lotion. So what? It has no bearing on Poser products anywhere. There is no reason why I couldn't create a "Superhero Pose Pack" and market it in the States since it does not fall into any specified area that actually IS trademarked. The talk here is centered around United States anyway. Superhero isn't trademarked in Europe and I strongly believe without checking that it isn't registered anywhere else either barring US. About EULAS: I don't know what kind of case laws you have in States about EULAs, but I can tell you that where I live, if I buy a Daz product, I do not have to abide by the "rules" dictated by the EULA - the only laws I need to follow are those set by my country. It's already tried in the Supreme Court here and they simply don't hold water as any one-sided contract that tries to supercede the laws of the land are not worth the bytes they occupy.

DC Comics is owned by Warner Bros aka Time Warner aka AOL/ Time Warner Communications. This is why it's such a big deal for Warner Bros to get a superhero (tm)(r)(c) movie franchise off the ground. Marvel Comics is its own entity has ties with 20th Century Fox for movies (X-Men) and Universal Studios (Marvel SuperHero Island at Unversal's Islands of Adventure theme park). And it's interesting to note that neither the DC Comics site nor the Marvel Comics site mentions this "new" copyright claim. Both sites mention the latest comics and movie projects, but neither of them talk about how fans can't use the word "super-hero". Marvel Comics talks about the X3 and Wolverine movie. DC Comics talks about yet another "universe changing" comic series that seems to occur every ten years. --John

On the matter of who owns what: You will be happy to hear that agribusiness is in the process of "patenting" genomes of various vegetables, such as "corn." What does that mean? That it will be illegal to grow "corn" unless you have Ralston-Purina's permission. Cool, huh? Talk about good ole American business savvy. In teh early days of corporate plunder, it was determined that although you owned your back pasture, you did not own the ore under your back pasture, and if some enterprising corporation wanted to mine it, then you were destined to live on a swiss cheese. Towns collapsed, but the plutopigs who owned the mines didn't live there, so who cares? Corporations have already figured out that if you own the water, you can do what you please with it. Like bottle it and sell it to the East Indians who work in the plant and, coincidentally, now have dry wells. Cooler! If only some budding Ken Lay could figure out how to own air. Own air! Talk coolest!!!! PS: Regarding "shazam": As a former Captain Marvel/Billy Batson fan, I have to point out that Shazam was the magic word that made the latter into the former, not the name of the super... er. And the idea that Captain Marvel was a rip-off of Superman is about as ludicrous as the idea that Angelwhosit Jolie is a lip-off of Kim Bassinger. M

"momo" is the Japanese word for "peach." In Israel, 'Momo" is a nickname for Sholomo (Salomon), the wise King who saw all things hidden. But on a serious note, either a thing is public domain, or it's not; Or either a thing is copywrited and/or tredsmarked, or it's not; but it can't be both at the same time! Food for thought while you're all biting your nails and wondering, "What if..." David P. Hoadley

"...is about as ludicrous as the idea that Angelwhosit Jolie is a lip-off of Kim Bassinger." You mean they've been cloning people even BEFORE poser... May G-d Forbid! DPH

Image or Dark Horse should try to trademark the word "Comic Book", then call DC and Marvel and offer to negotiate...

"I wish I could just be swift and make a modest proposal!" "Neither wink at the blind nor whisper to the deaf." - old Slavic proverb. I got dibs on NITWAS