According to Reuters, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the US Patent and Trademark Office has cancelled a set of trademarks on the words “super hero,” which were jointly owned by Marvel Comics and DC Comics.
The request for cancellation was filed by London-based SJ Richold’s Superbabies Ltd, which argued in a petition filed in May that Marvel and DC should not be able to claim ownership over an entire genre, and that two competitors are not able to jointly own a trademark, as they are allowing a competitor to use it. They asked for cancellation of four trademarks owned by the two companies on the terms “super hero” and “super heroes” for various goods.
Neither Marvel nor DC responded to the petition to cancel the marks, according to the ruling, or to the petition for default judgment, so the Board granted the default judgement and ruled that the trademarks should be canceled.
Over the years, Marvel and DC have used their trademarks to assert ownership of the terms in various contexts, including in objections filed to superhero-related trademarks requested by other companies.
