Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, DC Comics | Tagged: blue beetle, trademark, Volkswagen

DC Comics Trademark For Blue Beetle Challenged By Volkswagen

DC Comics' attempts to extend their trademark for Blue Beetle may have hit a snag with Volkswagen, the manufacturer of the VW Beetle car.

DC Comics' attempts to extend their trademark for Blue Beetle may have hit a snag with Volkswagen, the manufacturer of the VW Beetle car.

Dan Garrett, the Golden Age Blue Beetle, created by Charles Wojtkoski (maybe) may have made his debut in 1939's Mystery Men Comics #1 from Fox Comics, followed the next year with his own solo headline series, Blue Beetle #1, before a series of buyouts from successive publishers including Charlton, as well as reboots of the characters, would see him land on DC Comics' publishing line. Publication in the eighties would see the Ted Kord version Blue Beetle join the Justice League, and recently see the new legacy version of the character, Jaime Reyes, get his own movie.

But one year earlier than his first publication, the Volkswagen Beetle – initially the Volkswagen Type 1, was manufactured in Germany, iconic for its distinctive shape, after a demand from Adolf Hitler for a "people's car" for Germany's new road network, the Reichsautobahn. The German engineer Ferdinand Porsche and his design team began developing and designing the car in the early 1930s but the design concept was by Béla Barényi from 1925. Production was delayed until the war had ended, nicknamed the Beetle, until in 1968 that became its official name.

But it is only now, in the light of the recent movie, that DC Comics/Warner Bros has tried to extend the trademark, registering it for "toys and sporting goods, including games and playthings, namely, action figures and accessories therefor; Accessories for action figures, namely, playsets for action figures; toy furniture; Plush toys; Balloons; Bathtub toys; Ride-on toys; Playing cards and card games; Toy vehicles; Dolls; Flying discs; Hand-held units for playing electronic games; Game equipment sold as a unit for playing a board game, a card game, a manipulative game, a parlor game, and an action type target game; Stand alone video output game machines; Slot machines; Gaming equipment, namely, slot machines with or without video output; Gaming machines, namely, devices which accept a wager; Reconfigurable casino and lottery gaming equipment, namely, gaming machines and recorded operational computer games software therefor sold as a unit; Jigsaw and manipulative puzzles; Paper face masks being playthings; Skateboards; Ice skates; Water squirting toys; Balls, namely, playground balls, soccer balls, baseballs, basketballs; Baseball gloves; Swimming floats for recreational use; Kickboard flotation devices for recreational use; Surfboards; Swim boards for recreational use; Swim fins; Toy bakeware and toy cookware; building block play sets; action figure toy sets; Toy snow globes; paper party hats; Christmas tree ornaments; Computer gaming consoles for recreational game playing; Paper party favors; Halloween masks".

And that, it seems, was too much for Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft of Washington, DC, who have issued two requests, both granted by US Trademark bodies, that the time period to register opposition to the trademark be granted, often a precursor to using a formal objection once the lawyers have done their work.

Both originally created in the thirties, but trademarked decades later, who will win? At Bleeding Cool, we will keep an eye on the paperwork. Maybe if DC just removed the phrase "toy vehicles" that might do it?

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