Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Comic-Con v. Comic Con Update

A while back I opined that there was a potential settlement between the parties in the lawsuit between the San Diego Comic-Con and the Salt Lake Comic Con.  Well, apparently, the two sides were not able to resolve their dispute and went to trial in San Diego.  As I mentioned in my earlier blog post, Salt Lake Comic Con ("Salt Lake") argued that the term "Comic Con" was a generic term for a comic convention.  In case you need a refresher, in general terms when a trademark no longer represents the source of the good or service and becomes the name of the good or service, it loses its value as a trademark.  For example, Escalator once was a brand of moving staircase, but has since become the name of the thing itself.  Salt Lake's argument was a little different than most genericide arguments.  Usually, the genericide argument is that the mark transforms into the item (a la "escalator").  However, in this instance, Salt Lake argued that the term "Comic Con" was never able to be a trademark because it identified the type of convention being held (i.e. a comic convention or "comic con").

Unfortunately for Salt Lake, the jury in San Diego did not buy this argument and found in favor of San Diego Comic-Con ("San Diego").  Notably, the jury only awarded a somewhat minimal amount of damages (I read somewhere that the award was $ 20,000).  This award amount indicates that the jury may not have been thoroughly impressed with the strength of the mark "Comic-Con."  Keep in mind that there are several of these "Comic Cons" around the nation.

Needless to say, it appears as if this matter is headed for appeal.  Stay tuned.