Comic Con Trademark Officially Belongs to San Diego

Three years ago, the organization behind the San Diego Comic-Con sued the Salt Lake Comic Con for violating their trademark on “comic-con”. The folks behind Salt Lake tried to cause customer confusion between the shows and made hay out of “being bullied” by the better known show.

Typical of legal activities, there was some delay, but the case has finally been decided. The verdict “found SDCC’s trademark is valid, and that Salt Lake Comic Con used it without permission.” However, since the infringement was not found to be willful, instead of the $12 million sought, San Diego was awarded $20,000.

This may not be the end of it, as the Salt Lake organizers are “currently considering whether or not to appeal. Additionally, Salt Lake Comic Con has proceedings underway with the US trademark office to officially cancel San Diego Comic-Con’s trademark.”

However, until then, any comic con had better talk to San Diego about licensing the phrase or consider changing their name.