Ever eager to capitalize on a popular fad, Disney has staked their marketing territory by trademarking the name of the Navy Seals unit that killed the infamous terrorist, Osama Bin Laden; and they did it within two days of his reported death. While movies like Jawbreaker and Kill Bin Laden are in production, Disney can now use “Seal Team 6” to identify anything with that moniker as their product.
What types of things you ask? I’m no patent attorney, but I would assume that a feature film falls under the “entertainment and education services” of their trademark registration. And unless, as Alex Weprin of Fishbowl NY remarks, “Disney has been working on an animated feature about a team of anthropomorphic seals in search of adventure,” the timing of this acquisition seems like more than a coincidence. Hit the jump to see what else Disney can trademark with “Seal Team 6.”
From an archive search of their three separate applications at the US Trademark Electronic Search System, Disney can use “Seal Team 6” on:
“Entertainment and education services, Toys, games and playthings; gymnastic and sporting articles (except clothing); hand-held units for playing electronic games other than those adapted for use with an external display screen or monitor; Christmas stockings; Christmas tree ornaments and decorations; snow globes, Clothing, footwear and headwear”
A previous trademark for “Seal Team 6” was registered to military-themed video game maker, NovaLogic, Inc., but it expired back in 2006. Personally, I’d love to see what Disney tries to do with this. Snow globes? Christmas stockings? Christmas hasn’t been this gung-ho since Bruce Willis got trapped in Nakatomi Tower. Unfortunately for Disney, they missed out on the “Rambama” trademark; it would make the perfect stocking stuffer.
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Can’t wait to see THAT animated treasure trove of childhood fantasy.
Haha I’m sure Walt Disney would have loved this.
Also I doubt Seal Team 6 can be copyrighted by anyone without the governments permission. It’s equivalent to copyrighting ‘marines’ or SOCOM.
I think it is pretty disgusting that disney would take a step to copy write, and control the name of the heros who raided the compound and brought justice to the person who caused so much pain for the US.
What about the decades of service to this country that Seal Team Six provided to this country, on missions we will never hear about. It’s a slap in the face to all those brave men.
It’s Carpet bagging 101′
I’m not quite sure how to interpret this, but I know it needs interpreting. The part of me that wants to be charitable doubts what this story implies – that Disney has bought the rights to the next FDNY hat in an effort to capitalize on and exploit suffering – as just too disgusting to possibly be real. Another part of me is too shocked to be disgusted. A third part of me sees this as affirming all the unsubstantiated horror stories I’ve heard about Disney from acquaintances who work in the film world. A fourth part of me sees the burden as falling on the American people for creating a system that tolerates and even encourages this kind of (entirely predictable and inevitable) corporate behavior in the first place. Finally, a last part of me perceives this as all of the major problems with modern America rolled into one event: a Singularity of Suck
read more: http://www.theinductive.com/blog/disneys-rent-seeking-a-singularity-of-suck.html
Could also be that Disney just wanted to call their film “Seal Team” and have trademarked “Seal Team 6″ to prevent an opportunistic made-for-TV showing up in the listings and causing confusion? I’m not a Disney apologist by any stretch, but I just thought I’d offer an alternative to the knee-jerk reactions here.