When DC loses Wonder Woman's rights.

[WonderLight789]

https://www.fanfiction.net/movie/Wonder-Woman/

No. I want official material that can be sold to a big audience, such as comics and animated shows. So DC can see somebody else making successful projects with WW. Showing them how miserably they have failed with the character for being sexist, homophobic and dumb.

[Primal Slayer]

Whatever it happened. It better happens to WW. We need fans outsise the sexist label known as DC, to be alble to use the name and create good material with her. And an animated TV show.

So you want DC to end the people like they did with the CM comic company, buy the character and integrate her back into DC comics.....k

[WonderLight789]

So you want DC to end the people like they did with the CM comic company, buy the character and integrate her back into DC comics.....k

They can't use the Captain Marvel name anymore can they? That is what needs to happen regarding Wonder Woman.

[numberthirty]

They can't use the Captain Marvel name anymore can they? That is what needs to happen regarding Wonder Woman.

Not really seeing the agreement with this take...

[numberthirty]

But DC and WB did not create the name WW. Why couldn't somebody else use it? So eventually one could make a show with different elements and characters from the marston era, like using cheetah with the name priscilla rich for example?

Here's the obvious problem...

What you are laying out looks a whole lot like an "On The Principle..." sort of a thing.

Meanwhile, out in the actual world where any company that might undertake this actually exists?

It is a recipe to not turn much of a profit. If not something that would be a loss that could even wind up putting money into DC's pocket anyway.

[MRP]

They can't use the Captain Marvel name anymore can they? That is what needs to happen regarding Wonder Woman.

that only happened because Fawcett went out of business and the copyright lapsed. Copyright laws and trademark laws are completely different animals. The Wonder Woman copyright will not lapse as long as it is renewed by its current owner and remains in use by them. I believe it's 10 years to show use and renew, so even if DC didn't use Wonder woman for 9 3/4 years, they would only need to put out one product with the Wonder Woman name to be eligible to renew it when the window was up. That's not going to change unless trademark laws change, and good luck with that.

So no, there is not really a viable way for someone other than DC to produce, distribute and sell a mass market product called Wonder Woman in comics, prose, animation, TV or film while the current trademark laws remain in existence even if the source material has its copyright lapsed. That's just the way trademark laws work in the U.S. and anyone attempting to use public domain material had better either learn the ins and outs of trademark laws or retain the services of a trademark attorney before doing so or they may very well find themselves in court and being judged against very quickly for trademark infringement. Trademarks never expire if they remain in use and are renewed.

-M

[Garrac]

I love that the title is not a "what if" but a "when"

[Digifiend]

that only happened because Fawcett went out of business and the copyright lapsed. Copyright laws and trademark laws are completely different animals. The Wonder Woman copyright will not lapse as long as it is renewed by its current owner and remains in use by them. I believe it's 10 years to show use and renew, so even if DC didn't use Wonder woman for 9 3/4 years, they would only need to put out one product with the Wonder Woman name to be eligible to renew it when the window was up. That's not going to change unless trademark laws change, and good luck with that.

So no, there is not really a viable way for someone other than DC to produce, distribute and sell a mass market product called Wonder Woman in comics, prose, animation, TV or film while the current trademark laws remain in existence even if the source material has its copyright lapsed. That's just the way trademark laws work in the U.S. and anyone attempting to use public domain material had better either learn the ins and outs of trademark laws or retain the services of a trademark attorney before doing so or they may very well find themselves in court and being judged against very quickly for trademark infringement. Trademarks never expire if they remain in use and are renewed.

-M

Fawcett didn't go out of business back then. They only stopped publishing comic books in 1953 (some titles were sold to Charlton, but they were also later bought by DC), hence why they didn't bother renewing the trademarks (note that the other Captain Marvels, both Mar-Vell and another publisher's limb splitting hero, debuted in the 60s, by which time the trademark had lapsed). They still existed, publishing magazines and novels. They licensed their dormant characters to DC in 1971, which led to the launch of the Shazam comic, and then in 1974, a TV show. In 1977, CBS, which aired the Shazam TV series, bought Fawcett, and then sold the characters to Warner Brothers in 1991.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fawcett_Publications
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captai...el_(DC_Comics)