Harbinger On Newsarama

[greg]

As long as this is the good ol' technicality thread, I was wondering why some of the titles down at the bottom of the add have the "TM" next to it, and some have the "(R)".

What is the difference?

From the USPTO.gov website:
"The use of TM simply means that the user is holding out the matter as a trademark. It has no legal significance and is not regulated by an entity at any level of government. The R in the circle may be used only when a mark is registered at the USPTO and carries legal presumption that are valuable in protecting one's trademark."

[Dr. Solar]

As long as this is the good ol' technicality thread, I was wondering why some of the titles down at the bottom of the add have the "TM" next to it, and some have the "(R)".

What is the difference?

From the USPTO.gov website:
"The use of TM simply means that the user is holding out the matter as a trademark. It has no legal significance and is not regulated by an entity at any level of government. The R in the circle may be used only when a mark is registered at the USPTO and carries legal presumption that are valuable in protecting one's trademark."

Thanks!

~Dr. Solar (TM)

[ManofTheAtom]

First of all, VIP does have "Dr. Mirage" under a Notice of Allowance (that was issued over 6 months ago), what they don't have is "Doctor Mirage". These things are in quotes for a reason.

Second of all, just because VEI lists those TMs doesn't mean they have them (doesn't mean they don't either). They may be claiming ownership, but that doesn't necessarily mean it'll stand up in court yet (in other words, listing them here is probably part of their plan to try to establish ownership).

Oh, please. Those are semantics.

You can't have a "Dr. Mirage" TM and a "Doctor Mirage" TM.

It be like DC getting a "Cap Marvel" TM to get around Marvel's "Captain Marvel" TM.

Or like if you got a "Dr. Strange, phd" TM to get around Marvel's "Doctor Strange" TM.

If in order to protect a trademark for a character whose name began with a salutation like Doctor, Lieutenant, General, or President it was necessary to also TM the abbreviation of the salutation, then the person getting the trademark would be aware of that and get both of them, not just one or the other

Doctor is the same as Dr, one is just a shorter version of the other.

VIP's claim is an attempt to steal from VALIANT, pure and simple.

They also tried to get a Bloodshot TM and failed.

VIP's

http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f= ... kv0p10.4.3

VALIANT's

http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f= ... v0p10.4.10

You'll notice that VALIANT's was transfered from Voyager to VE, while VIP's is a new request for a TM on the name.

[Chiclo]

There is enough of a difference between the words Dr. and Doctor that if Brian Thomer - who I understand is a lawyer with at least a passing interest in trademark law and law as it pertains to comic books - says there is a nuanced difference, I'd be inclined to believe him.

Then again, you always get your money's worth for free legal advice.

[BrianT]

First of all, VIP does have "Dr. Mirage" under a Notice of Allowance (that was issued over 6 months ago), what they don't have is "Doctor Mirage". These things are in quotes for a reason.

Second of all, just because VEI lists those TMs doesn't mean they have them (doesn't mean they don't either). They may be claiming ownership, but that doesn't necessarily mean it'll stand up in court yet (in other words, listing them here is probably part of their plan to try to establish ownership).

Oh, please. Those are semantics.

You can't have a "Dr. Mirage" TM and a "Doctor Mirage" TM.

It be like DC getting a "Cap Marvel" TM to get around Marvel's "Captain Marvel" TM.

Or like if you got a "Dr. Strange, phd" TM to get around Marvel's "Doctor Strange" TM.

If in order to protect a trademark for a character whose name began with a salutation like Doctor, Lieutenant, General, or President it was necessary to also TM the abbreviation of the salutation, then the person getting the trademark would be aware of that and get both of them, not just one or the other

Doctor is the same as Dr, one is just a shorter version of the other.

VIP's claim is an attempt to steal from VALIANT, pure and simple.

They also tried to get a Bloodshot TM and failed.

VIP's

http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f= ... kv0p10.4.3

VALIANT's

http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f= ... v0p10.4.10

You'll notice that VALIANT's was transfered from Voyager to VE, while VIP's is a new request for a TM on the name.

Assuming that "Dr. Mirage" and "Doctor Mirage" are the same trademark, take a look on the USPTO and tell me which of those marks is closer to being registered by one of the companies. (And, for what is probably the 5th time that I'm telling you specifically, you can't just "get" a TM and sit on it, you have to use it. So in order for a company to have both "Dr." and "Doctor" they'd have to use both.)

And I'm 99% sure that when VIP applied for a Bloodshot mark the Voyager one was dead on the PTO's website. It was later revived on the site (either through the USPTO's investigation or VEI's inventory of the auction assets or some other reason) which caused the analysis of the VIP application to be suspended. VIP then filed for a cancellation proceeding on the Voyager/VEI mark (claiming the Voyager mark was renewed by Acclaim fraudulently), which is going on now. So, yes, VEI does have that mark registered at this point in time, but, unfortunately for us, that dispute is not yet over either.

Oh and your links expired, so I dunno what you were trying to point out there, but I have a feeling it isn't anything I haven't already looked up.

[jedimarley]

Does anyone recognize this guy?

BTE and CC???

[myron]

Does anyone recognize this guy?

BTE and CC???