CHAMPIONS, CHAMPIONS, WHO OWNS THE CHAMPIONS?

[MattBrady]

So – Marvel’s coming out with a new Champions series in July, written by Matt Fraction, with art by Barry Kitson, right?

Kinda.

As Heroic Publishing President Dennis Mallonee has been quietly pointing out, Marvel doesn’t own the trademark to a comic book that can be called “Champions.” Heroic Publishing, Inc. in fact, does.

How’s that again?

Yes – Marvel did publish The Champions from 1975-1978, featuring an LA-based team of heroes that included Hercules, Iceman, Angel, Black Widow and Ghost Rider. Think second-string Defenders.

Hey – don’t get mad at us – even the characters themselves have mentioned that the team was an embarrassment.

The new series, set in the post-Civil War Marvel Universe, features a team of 11 heroes in California, part of the “50 state initiative” that will see a team of super-heroes acting in every state, with government training and approval.

So what’s the Heroic claim about, and didn’t Marvel have it at one time?

First off, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office, Heroic Publishing filed for the mark for “Champions” in May of 2006, and it was registered as such March 27th of this year.

Heroic’s Champions date back to the Champions role-playing game, first published in 1981 (a fifth edition came out in 2002), which featured a team of heroes called “The Champions.” The game was relatively popular, and characters from the game were pulled into their own comic series published by Eclipse between 1986-1987. From there, the property moved to Heroic Publishing in 1987, where it launched with a new #1, ran for 12 issues, and then restarted as The League of Champions, which ran for an additional 12 issues, and ended in 1993. Champions Classics then ran from 1993-1994 for fifteen issues.

Since then characters from the original Champions series have been appearing in various issues from Heroic, most prominently, Flare. Most recently, Heroic launched Tales of the Champions in 2005, featuring spotlights on individual characters. The series has seen four issues to date, with the final two being notated as #36 and #37 (6 Eclipse + 12 volume 1 + 15 Classics + 2 Tales of). The publisher has been working on plans to bring the characters back in print over the past months.

So – why doesn’t Marvel hold the trademark for a comic book called Champions?

“Marvel did seek and was granted registration of the trademark it was using for that title,” Mallonee told Newsarama. “That registration, however, was not granted until several months after the title had ceased publication. In the mid-80s, on the basis of that registration, Marvel contested registration of the mark Hero Games was using at that time for its Champions role-playing game. The trademark board took notice of Marvel's abandonment of their earlier mark, and cancelled that registration. In the mid-90's, although Marvel had never resumed publication of their Champions comic book, Marvel tried again to register their mark. Once again, their mark was declared abandoned.

“Heroic Publishing, on the other hand, has since mid-1987 been using Champions as a trademark in connection with Heroic's small line of superhero comic books, and fully intends to continue to use it,” Mallonee continued. “Having resumed publication of their Champions comic book in 2005, Heroic Publishing filed for registration in May of 2006. The patent and trademark office agreed that Heroic's claim to that mark was both legitimate and eligible for registration. The mark was published for opposition. No opposition was received. Accordingly, Heroic's Champions trademark has been registered.”

According to Mallonee, the “elephant and the ant” claim doesn’t work. That is, Heroic isn’t so small as to not be noticed by Marvel.

“Marvel is not unaware of the existence of Heroic Publishing's Champions trademark,” Mallonee said. “Late last year, when Marvel published a trade paperback collection of stories from their Champions series from the mid-70's, Heroic sent Marvel's legal office a letter advising them that their use of the term Champions as a trademark for a comic-book-related product constituted an infringement on Heroic Publishing's existing trademark, and asking them to cease that infringement.

“With Marvel's announcement of their own new Champions series, this now becomes a most curious thing. Marvel could have chosen to offer opposition to the registration of Heroic Publishing's trademark. Marvel chose not to offer opposition. Instead, Marvel has announced publication of a comic book title that in light of the advisory sent to them last year may well constitute a willful and deliberate infringement on Heroic Publishing's registered trademark.

“Heroic Publishing's hope is that Marvel will begin acting in good faith, reconsider what they're doing, and come to some amicable agreement that will resolve this matter to the benefit of both parties.”

Mallonee said that Heroic plans to resume its Champions series with issue #38 in May, #39 in August, and hopefully, according to Malonee, monthly thereafter.

Are the solutions for Marvel? Sure – but the majority of them revolve around changing the name of their July-lunching series, according to legal experts contacted by Newsarama. As Heroic is looking to continue using the name, licensing is probably out of the picture, as that would put two books on the shelves with the same name. Though, all of this is not to say that Marvel can’t use the name “Champions” for the team – both Marvel and DC have a “Captain Marvel” after all. But to get around that, anything from DC that features the character has the name “Shazam” on the cover, as DC does not hold the trademark for “Captain Marvel,” but it does for “Shazam.”

To dodge the bullet, the book’s title would have to change to something that’s not Champions, such as Avengers: Initiative: That California Team of Heroes or something that rolls off the tongue better.

Marvel declined to comment on this story.

[sweetmisery]

Hmmm... Cant they call it the ULTRA REAL CHAMPIONS?

[Dragavon]

I think Marvel should do what JMS did in Rising Stars; acknowlege in-story that some other company owns the right to Champions and rename the team:

"Speaking of Jason Miller, this issue[Rising Stars #3] reveals that he must give up the name "Flagg" because a guy named Chaykin has the rights to it. Straczynski worked this piece of reality into the fiction after learning that Howard Chaykin has the rights to the name "Flagg". Here's what Straczynski had to say about the issue:

After the PR for Rising Stars got going, Howard Chaykin noticed the Flagg name, and he did (and does) have the rights to Flagg. I'd thought it was only American Flagg! that he had the rights to, and it wouldn't be an issue, but apparently it's otherwise." from worldsofjms.com

[Nate-Earth 2]

Man thats crazy. I always wondering about the Captain Marvel thing though. Because, the name Captain Marvel is used in both series. I guess they just unofficially agree to use it, and not worry about any infringments?

[ziza9]

That takes me back. I used to play Champions with my cousins and friends every other weekend. I loved those campaigns.

[astronato]

Wow

[Fletcher]

Most of this is old news to long time comic readers.
When Newsarama mentioned a while back that a Champions title was coming out I thought it sounded a little fishy. I might have even posted something to that affect.
Anyhoo.....I will be interested in seeing the outcome of this. Has Marvel knowingly disreagarded the law? More than likely. But what is sad is some lawyer in the legal department told someone at Marvel that it would be alright to use the name.
anyhoo.....this is why Marvel and other comic companies will not "kill off characters." They are not willing to take a chance on losing the trademark.

This thread will also be intersting to read when all the legal eagles on Newsaramam weigh in on this.

[Speedball93]

This is kinda funny. Marvel will have to bow down to somebody else and either pay for the rights to use the name Champions, which doesn't look like it will work or change the name of th book and lose the recognition factor which was most of the reason for calling them the Champions to begin with. Avengers West Coast anyone??

[Marc_Spector]

I'm so tired of crud like this, it's ridiculous. There should be no trademarking of the english language.

[Fletcher]

Originally Posted by Speedball93

This is kinda funny. Marvel will have to bow down to somebody else and either pay for the rights to use the name Champions, which doesn't look like it will work or change the name of th book and lose the recognition factor which was most of the reason for calling them the Champions to begin with. Avengers West Coast anyone??

Name recgonition? It's the Champions. I am willing to bet that there are not enough comic readers today that remember the Champions from way back when. Or at least noy enough to make it a successful title. If that is what Marvel was relying on.

[AbacusComics]

Can you even trademark a common word like 'Champions'?

I know there have been like 3 different 'Super Patriots' through the years. No fuss made about them...

HAH! I just noticed that the Champions cover has 'the HUNTSMAN' down in the corner...

Didn't Chris Clairmont create a character called 'the Huntsman' for a book at Wildstorm a decade ago or so?

[ziza9]

Originally Posted by Speedball93

This is kinda funny. Marvel will have to bow down to somebody else and either pay for the rights to use the name Champions, which doesn't look like it will work or change the name of th book and lose the recognition factor which was most of the reason for calling them the Champions to begin with. Avengers West Coast anyone??

Maybe they'll just go with Defenders. But your Avengers West Coast idea might be the more likely solution. Recognizable name with selling power. If, after all, the Avengers are the current administration's X-men, what's one more "Avengers" book on the stands.

[Dragavon]

Originally Posted by Nate-Earth 2

Man thats crazy. I always wondering about the Captain Marvel thing though. Because, the name Captain Marvel is used in both series. I guess they just unofficially agree to use it, and not worry about any infringments?

No, Marvel owns the right to Captain Marvel. Anybody can create a character called Captain Marvel (as long as it's separate and distinct from any other Captain Marvel) and publish a book about it. You can't use "Captain Marvel" to market it, which is why DC never has it on their cover; instead they always uses "Shazam"

[Not From Around]

Heroic Publishing is kind of an obscure company, but they're not THAT obscure. Somebody at Marvel has to have known about them. Smart move on Dennis Mallonee's part to establish his claim on the name. Had he not done so, he would surely have been forced by Marvel's lawyers to make the change himself.

[Tusko]

How about "Chimp-pions?" and the characters could all be Chimpanzees?

[MadBandit]

"I am the champion! I AM THE CHAMPION!!!"

[ReaperFett]

Can they rename it to "The Champions"?

[LikeaPhoenix]

Whatta mess! Marvel should rename this series, The Marvelous Champions.

[rwe1138]

How about "New Champions"? Everything else is "New" lately.

[Big Bad Icon]

"We're all Champions?"

"That's right Eagle Eye. We're all Champions."

[Kolimar]

Ouch. That's gonna leave a mark. Damn, I was really looking forward to have a new Marvel series called "The Champions".

[SuperStories]

After all the lawers and etc at Marvel go after City of Heros, and other places, I don't feel that much sympathy for Marvel when the shoe is on the other foot.

[Tusko]

Could "Post-Civil War Champions" be reduced to War-Champs? Is that in bad taste?

[Kolimar]

Originally Posted by Nate-Earth 2

Man thats crazy. I always wondering about the Captain Marvel thing though. Because, the name Captain Marvel is used in both series. I guess they just unofficially agree to use it, and not worry about any infringments?

Uh... Did you read the article?

Originally Posted by MattBrady

Though, all of this is not to say that Marvel can’t use the name “Champions” for the team – both Marvel and DC have a “Captain Marvel” after all. But to get around that, anything from DC that features the character has the name “Shazam” on the cover, as DC does not hold the trademark for “Captain Marvel,” but it does for “Shazam.”

[blackwolf278]

Astonishing Champions
Uncanny Champions
New Champions
Mighty Champions
Irredeemable Champions
West Coast Champions
Heroes formerly known as Champions
Ultimate Champions
Earth's Mightiest Champions

Attach to Roulette wheel and spin.