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Disney Seeks Trademark On 'Seal Team 6'
The Grim Reefer2 writes "MediaBistro has learned that the Walt Disney Company has applied for a trademark on the phrase 'Seal Team 6,' the name of the special forces unit that killed the world's most wanted man. Disney now owns the exclusive rights to put Seal Team 6 on 'clothing, footwear, headwear, toys, games and entertainment and education services.' Disney made the move only two days after bin Laden's death was announced."
According to a report in the Orlando Sentinel, "this is not the first time a company has trademarked SEAL Team 6. Previous owner NovaLogic, Inc., abandoned two associated trademarks in 2006. Those trademarks focused on computer and video gaming."
Or made in Pakistan
Technically, there is no current unit called "SEAL Team 6". The unit formerly known by that name is now the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group, AKA DEVGRU. Further, as DEVGRU is a Tier One Special Operations Force (the other one being Delta Force), they may not officially exist, in that no official records of them are kept. Finally, some sources are saying that the unit has been yet again renamed, this time to something classified. Thus, Disney (and anyone else, probably) could register a trademark on the name, and DoD wouldn't object (as they seem surprisingly versed in the Streisand Effect).
actually, the Disney capability of running trademarks and copyrights forever, and purchasing laws to enable this is standard slashdot fare.
I cannot help but feel that inviting the possibility of retribution over a matter of intellectual property from a Navy SEALS unit, however remote, should be cause for caution.
I’m also somewhat surprised that a global firm with such an obsession for it’s public image as Disney would do something as unilaterally endorsing as promoting a single nation’s military. Surely some marketer in their ranks is concerned this will affect sales of Mickey Mouse in Saudi Arabia?!
"Place me in the company of those who seek Truth, but deliver me from those who believe to have found it."
What?
Are they planning some sort of characters involving a team of Aquatic Mammals?
The possibilities for creative mayhem with this are just delightful! I hope Charlie Sheen gets to voice Donald Duck in the animated movie! M...I....C.... "Wax you real soon" K... E....Y... "Why, because you're one dead Taliban!" M.....O....U.....S.....E.....!!!!! Got to go, off to think up radio call signs for Goofy, Minnie and Uncle Scrooge.
What would Richard Feynman do, if he were here right now? He'd do some math and he'd follow through!
This is clearly appropriate for Slashdot since it's an intellectual property thing. And why on Earth would you think military stories have a place on Slashdot? Yikes.
Switch back to Slashdot's D1 system.
This is actually a trademark thing, not a copyright one, but since this is the name of an actual organization, I would think they couldn't get strong protection here, if any.
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
This reminds me.
Like a toupee on a fading fame,
Final whistle in a losing game,
Thick lipstick on a five year old girl,
Makes you think that’s it’s a plastic world.
Plastic world were all plastic too,
Just a couple of different faces in a dead-mans queue
The world is turning Disney and there’s nothing you can do,
You’re trying to walk like giants but your wearing Pluto’sshoes.
And the answers fall easier from the barrel of a gun,
Than it does from the lips of the beautiful and the dumb.
The world won’t end in darkness it’ll end in family fun,
With Coca-Cola clouds behind a Big-Mac sun.
Howling scream in a church asleep,
Rusting bicycle in the ocean deep,
Like an earring on a newly born,
Strong perfume on a winters morn.
The world is perfumed and were perfumed as well,
Petals from a flower that blossomed in hell.
You can’t breathe the air through the thickness of the smell,
And you can’t see the hair through the grease or the gel.
And the answer falls easier from the barrel of a gun,
Than it does from the lips of the beautiful and the dumb.
The world won’t end in darkness it’ll end in family fun,
With Coca-Cola clouds behind a Big-Mac sun.
You guys do know that the Walt Disney Company encompasses far more than just things labeled Disney, and not all of those endeavors are G-rated, right?
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
I f you wanted rid of Osama bin Laden, then do it properly. "Accidentally killed"? "Buried at sea"? Yeah, right. You didn't think that maybe - just, *maybe* - it might have been a good idea to do it properly, have some proper justice, and close the book finally on the guy?
You fucked up, America, and no amount of shouting and chest-beating is going to fix it. You shouldn't be proud of it. Ask the Israelis why.
I'm curious as to what your idea of "do it properly" was?
The team should take that from Disney, this is just beyond insulting and disgraceful. Disney should be ashamed of themselves for profiting off of the actions of our elite special forces.
Disney copyright lawyers.
I eat only the real part of complex carbohydrates.
"You shouldn't be proud of it. Ask the Israelis why."
What the do the Israelis know about proper behavior ?
They deserve to be cut loose from US support, period.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Corrie
Mickey has grown into a very bad rat. I would recommend warfarin.
Trademarks are domain-specific. FPS character models aren't in the same domain as clothing, so that's irrelevant to this application.
Exactly. All the technicalities, renamings, and classification levels aside Disney is legal whoring for fame and market share on the backs of folks who put their lives at risk. While technically and legally this may be ok, morally it's travesty and one only hopes that the word gets out and Disney gets some immediate boycott action for this one due to their timing and desire to profit off of the heroism some and deaths of others. That said assuming it doesn't, if they're smart they'll wait until any immediate press dies down and release something under the trademark in a few years when they benefit from the collective memory of the event without the immediacy of their whoring being apparent. Did I mention they were effective whores?
Seal Team Six
We are no Micky Mouse operation!
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
actually, the Disney capability of running trademarks and copyrights forever, and purchasing laws to enable this is standard slashdot fare.
Indeed, Disney's well known from taking from the public domain only to permanently copyright the result so as to never give back.
Trademarking "Seal Team Six" is just more of the same, but easier for the hoi polloi to identify as dirty pool.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
It's not about pride, it's about cashing in, or preventing a rival from cashing in, or both. We saw that last week when Karl Rove went on the air criticizing Obama for taking credit for the work of the SEALs, then going on to brag that he had a "personal relationship" (yuck) with some members of SEAL Team Six. Disney is just as unseemly but predictable here.
In any case, I haven't heard anybody official claim Osama was "accidentally killed". Nor have I seen any explanation of the orders and rules of engagement the commando team was operating under. Nor have we any idea whether the man who shot Osama was following those orders. Not that orders excuse anything, but they can shed light on a thing. For example, if the orders were, "kill, even if he surrenders," then I think everyone involved would be guilty of murder. But we have no reason to believe that. I do think the orders with respect to killing Osama should be made public; the fact that they haven't make me think that either (a) they would cause diplomatic or political problems or (b) they weren't followed correctly but nobody wants to deal with that.
The SEAL who shot certainly showed presence of mind in wounding Osama's wife rather than killing her, but I wouldn't ask anyone to put his life at risk for Osama, no matter how small that risk was. Not unless he had put himself in our custody. So if the orders came down to "... if he doesn't surrender immediately, shoot him," I'd be completely OK with that.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
What I'd like to know is: How many comedians have already made references to "The US Navy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Disney, Inc." and other similar jokes?
I'll also be looking for the little "TM" superscripts in news stories about the Seals, complete with footnotes like the above.
Of course, it wouldn't be the first time that people made such jokes. Describing the US Congress as a subsidiary of Such-&-Such Corp goes back a long way ...
Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
Has Disney or its affiliates at any time in the last 25+ years made anything in reference to ST6.
Does Apple have an orchard? - Trademarking ST6 is more a matter of bad taste than bad law.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
Disney has not done something this unconscionable since they closed the "Gurgi's Treats and Eats" food pavilion in the Magic Kingdom in the 1990s.
The cauldron grows blacker.
There are no karma whores, only moderation johns
Quite so. Even if this unit doesn't exit, the SEALs in general are a part of the US Navy. Disney shouldn't be able to exert ownership rights over something like that. They should get slapped down by the relevant authorities with a big fat "You don't own that!" sort of response.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
Indeed, Disney's well known from taking from the public domain only to permanently copyright the result so as to never give back.
This is nonsense.
Search IMDB for a title like Snow White or Cinderella and you will typically find one hundred or so variations on a theme -
dating back to the nickelodeon days of 1903.
The Rodgers and Hammerstein Cinderella musical produced for television in 1957. The Jim Henson version from 1970. Cinderella
If you are any damn good at all you don't sit there whining that Disney got there first - he didn't - or that Disney did it better -
which is why you need his art, script, voices and music.
Bad ass septuagenarian mutherfucker
He'd still kick your ass.
Forget thrust, drag, lift and weight. Airplanes fly because of money.
I'm no trademark weenie, but how can they trade mark something they don't even own? Thats kinda like Disney trying to trademark United States Air Force... I just don't see how they could do that...
I love to slaughter the english language.
Applying for a trademark is the process of claiming ownership. Nobody has ever applied for a trademark on something they own, because until that trademark is granted, they don't own it. As for how they can apply for a trademark they don't currently use, that's pretty frequent. You generally establish those things before you pour millions of dollars into promoting something that could be ripped out of your hands.
None of which excuses Disney's behavior in this particular instance, but the general case is fairly reasonable.
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
Well known dirtbags, not to be trusted.
They feared that it could be used to suppress protest or support unpopular rule.
Fuck yeah, Slashdot's first raid! Let's the the old GNAA back together and troll the shit out of them. All the network admin who work for large companies that they refuse to name can launch DDoS's off of work computers and claim a virus monster attack. Our expert programmers that are so well informed that there expertise extends to things like educational policy and patent law can hack into their gibsons and destroy all their data. The very few that are left will have to be content with sit ins at Disney Land, spreading the word in a calm, unbiased manner, just like Slashdot headlines. We shall set the time of attack at 2000 hours, Slashdot time on 5/20/11 (that's 20/5/11 for you people who always feel the need to inform us that you are not American).
...the Walt Disney Company has applied for a trademark on the phrase 'Seal Team 6.... Disney now owns the exclusive rights...
Well, which is it?
Is that the same thing Disney would say if someone came out with a Mickey Mouse FPS character?
I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
Disney should be ashamed of themselves for profiting
Doesn't Jobs own Disney nowadays?
You'll have to move your indignant rage to a different issue. I have every confidence that you will find one promptly.