The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) decided to cancel the trademarks “SUPER HERO” and “SUPER HEROES”, jointly registered by Marvel and DC Comics, following a cancellation action initiated by the British company Superbabies Limited, which took this action after having received a complaint from DC, accusing it of infringing industrial property rights with its trademark application for “SUPER BABIES”.
Thus, Superbabies requested the cancellation of the trademarks arguing that Marvel and DC could not claim exclusivity over a generic term that defines a genre of characters, and accused the companies of using the joint ownership of the trademarks “SUPER HERO” and “SUPER HEROES” to restrict competition. Marvel and DC Comics did not respond to the petition, so the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the USPTO decided to cancel the registrations. The conflict between these companies highlights the legal challenges that arise when a company attempts to claim exclusivity for terms that are generic.