The two largest publishers of comic books and the owners of such valuable characters such as Batman, Spider-Man, Superman, and Wolverine, have apparently decided to trademark the word “super-hero”. From a recent post at Boing Boing:

Marvel Comics is continuing in its bid to steal the word “super-hero” from the public domain and put it in a lock-box to which it will control the key. Marvel and DC comics jointly filed a trademark on the word “super-hero.” They use this mark to legally harass indie comic companies that make competing comic books.

A trademark’s enforceability hinges on whether the public is likely to associate a word or mark with a given company — in other words, when you hear the word “super-hero,” if you think “Marvel and DC,” then Marvel will be able to go on censoring and eliminating its competition.

One way of accomplishing this dirty bit of mind-control is by adding a ™ symbol after the word “Super-Hero.” That TM lets the world know that you claim ownership over the word it accompanies. If you can get other people to do it, too, eventually you may in fact get the world to believe that the word is your property — and then, it becomes your property.

“Super-hero” isn’t Marvel’s property. They didn’t invent the term. They aren’t the only users of the term. It’s a public-domain word that belongs to all of us. Adding a ™ to super-hero is a naked bid to steal “super-hero” from us and claim it for their own.

Over the years, I have paid DC far more money than I like to think about at times for various comic book titles. Before I moved to France, I had started to read some Marvel titles as well.

I am fully aware of the need to protect the products of creative work, sometimes referred to as “intellectual property” or IP, especially given that a large part of my job is the generation of IP for my company. However, in this case protection of the phrase/word “super-hero” is a step too far, especially given that the word has been a part of our language for decades, and the use of the trademark to stop others from competing with the two largest companies in an industry that is remarkably lacking in creativity at times despite the fantastic nature of characters and situations of their main publications is troubling and disappointing. I had hoped better from them, yet I should remember they are only about profits, as are all companies.

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