Posts Tagged: "disney"

Today, we’re picking the best inventions for which corporations from the Companies We Follow series have actually earned patent rights from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Alternative energies, drones, robots, seawater desalination and the Internet of Things all make an appearance in today’s profile of the best inventions from the past year.

In a battle for the superheroes, an federal complaint alleging copyright infringement was filed on October 9, 2012 in the United States Federal District Court for the District of Colorado by a company called Stan Lee Media. The company was started by Stan Lee with his friend Peter Paul, who is now serving time in prison for fraudulent activities regarding this company. Lee wisely pulled out of the company over a decade ago when it failed. According to the complaint, Lee signed over the rights to his famed superheroes to the company Stan Lee Media. Of course, it is more complicated than it looks at first glance.

Currently, the term for copyright protection is life of the author plus 70 years. To put this into perspective for you, Steamboat Willie initially aired in 1928. The copyright is ruled by the 1909 Act and has a shorter term of protection that the current scheme. Steamboat Willie is due to go into the public domain in 2023 unless Congress extends the copyright term again. I’m not sure if nearly one hundred years is a limited term (almost everybody alive during the initial air date will be dead before they can use it), but I guess Congress and Disney think so.

The Navy filed two applications for trademarks on May 13th. The first is application serial number 85320305 for “Seal Team”. The identified class is “membership in an organization in the Department of the Navy”. By the way, there are 8 Navy SEAL teams that we are aware of, which may be one explanation for the application for just “Seal Team”, as opposed “Seal Team 6”. The other is serial number 85320473 for “Navy Seals” to be used on posters and clothing. Both applications are section 1(a), meaning the Navy is currently using the marks in commerce, and has been for quite some time. The Navy also owns the trademark registration “Seal” (registration no. 3285473), which indicates “membership in an organization of applicant that develops and executes military missions involving special operations strategy, doctrine, and tactics.”

It is hardly news to anyone in the United States that fireworks are associated with a proper celebration of July 4th. But why exactly do we use fireworks to celebrate the 4th of July? The reality is that we do it because fireworks are known to be festive in nature and appropriate to celebrate any special occasion, which back in 1777, the first celebration of our Independence, was very special. The young nation didn’t know for several years whether its independence would actually be won, so the fact that it had been a year and the Nation still endured, separated from the British Empire, was worth celebrating for sure.