The Law Offices of H.W. Pfabé

I was going to take a break from the “MARVEL at the Law!” series of blog posts, but Marvel is in the news again, providing a great lesson (and dispelling a common misconception) about Trademarks.

Oh, and no, as usual, this is NOT about politics.

On May 12, Marvel applied for three new Trademarks, all to the phrase “Hail Hydra” (as originally reported by Comicbook.com at http://comicbook.com/marvel/2017/05/21/marvel-just-trademarked-the-phrase-hail-hydra/). So, why is this significant?

First, let’s start with a little history (stay awake, I’ll keep it short).

“HAIL HYDRA”?

“Hail Hydra” is a phrase which first appeared in Strange Tales #135 (published in August of 1965), which was also the first...