Warner Bros. constructed their around the initial interest confusion doctrine which is a determinate tool for ascertaining infringement in the U.S. For the past three Halloweens, Scottsville has hosted a Harry Potter Festival. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. © Copyright 2020 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media, LLC. “Such improper use of the Accused Mark by Defendants and/or their licensees is likely to cause confusion, mistake and/or deception among the public as to the source of the Harry Potter is without doubt one of the biggest entertainment brands in the world. In October, Warner Brothers filed a trademark application for “The Great and Powerful Oz,” one week after Disney filed a registration of its own. According to Warner Bros, the clubs are using the reputation and goodwill of these brands to grow their customer base. Random Tuesday is the organization behind various virtual running clubs, including the “Potterhead Running Club” and the “Chilton Running Club,” with the latter being based on the Gilmore Girls series. Warner Brothers is standing its ground, maintaining that statements over its recent litigious activities are “akin to saying that anyone should be entitled to use the famous, widely licensed trademarks such as ‘Harry Potter’ or ‘Roadrunner’ merely because they were able to find those trademarks in a book.”, The current list of companies that Warner Brothers is suing for trademark infringement include Disney, over “Oz: The Great and Powerful,” Wicked ‘Wiches Wickedly Delicious Sandwiches, operated as a California restaurant, various Halloween costume-makers using the “Wizard of Oz” brand, wine brands including, “Dorothy of Kansas and Toto Wine,” “Ruby Slippers Wine,” “Broomstick Wine,” “The Lion’s Courage,” and “Flying Monkey Wine,” and a publisher of a neuroscience book titled, “If I Only Had a Brain.”. Harry Potter is without doubt one of the biggest entertainment brands in… Hasbro, owner of the Transformers brand, filed a lawsuit on Monday accusing Warner Bros. and DC Comics of trademark infringement. Over the past year, Warner Brothers has gone after a number of entities attempting to cash in on the timeless Oz characters. Disclaimer: The information on this website is for general information purposes only. The branding and products still use Harry Potter inspired names such as “Gryffinroar,” “Huffletuff,” “Slytherwin,” and “Ravenclawesome,” it notes. Hasbro has a lot riding on the “Bumblebee” character, set to star in the first Transformers spinoff, which is due in theaters at Christmas 2018. Bumblebee is one of the central heroes of the Transformers universe. Hasbro says that it began selling Bumblebee toys in 1983, and has been selling building-block toy sets with the Bumblebee brand since 2011. Just like Dorothy and Toto in the Wicked Witch’s evil castle, Warner Brothers is running out of time to protect its Oz-related intellectual property. The lawsuit shouldn’t come as a total surprise. In a lawsuit filed at a federal court in California, Warner Bros. accuses Random Tuesday Inc. and its alleged owner Dawn Biggs of copyright infringement and various other offenses. As one of the opposing party’s trademark attorneys pointed out, the intellectual property at issue is taken directly from the book which is in the public domain and no longer protected by copyright laws. “They organize virtual running races whereby they collect fees in exchange for providing medals and other merchandise displaying the HP [Harry Potter] Marks and GG [Gilmore Girls] Marks,” Warner Bros. writes. As a result, the various copyright holders, including Warner Bros., are very protective of their ‘asset.’. Learn More About the World of Magic and Trademarks. This time however, he is not making demands of Dorothy and her friends, but of major companies looking to cash in on its valuable trademarks protecting the 1939 classic, “The Wizard of Oz.” Currently, Warner Brothers is embroiled in a trademark infringement lawsuit with Disney over the studio’s upcoming film, “Oz: The Great and Powerful.”.