Disney Seeks Trademark On 'Seal Team 6' 254
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."
Not the real name (Score:2)
But Disney had better not piss off its founder and namer Richard "Demo Dick" Marcinko, that's one bad ass mutherfucker
Re:Not the real name (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:Not the real name (Score:5, Insightful)
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?
Re:Not the real name (Score:4, Funny)
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.
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Re:Not the real name (Score:5, Informative)
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.
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Another C*O proves to be ghoulish for profits. Ick Chaney and Halliburton put profits before patriotism. They are all sickMFs and the law says they can, just like companies sell the magic fat pills, important FEDERAL TAX INFORMATION .... Disney, Halliburton are global, not local/national, companies that (like many politicians) will sell, take, and FUBAR anything to make their A$$ PHAT.
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When corporations control the government, profits are patriotic.
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Re:Not the real name (Score:5, Funny)
Bad ass septuagenarian mutherfucker
He'd still kick your ass.
Cheaters (Score:3)
Well known dirtbags, not to be trusted.
Technicality (Score:5, Informative)
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And I can assure you that under trademark, under Disney, Mikey Moose == Mickey Mouse
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The Muppet Show did one episode with Mickey Moose and Ronald Duck. And I don't think they got in trouble for it.
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Like anyone's gonna mess with Animal.
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Iirc, Disney owns The Muppets now...
Also, i think that falls under the concept of parody.
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It's bad enough when people can't get complex technical terms right, but you screwed up the word "advice."
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But if this were PHP, "6" == 6.
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but "6" !== 6
Re:Technicality (Score:5, Funny)
it was SEAL Team Six, not 6, but it was also was called ST6.
The Undiscovered Country.
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Seal team six hasn't existed for quite some time (Score:2)
Excuse me but (Score:2)
The US Navy has the rights to the name. Did they sell the rights to Disney?
Re:Excuse me but (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Unusual in this age of Political Correctness (Score:2)
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?!
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I heard that Disney or parent company is invested in pornography. You give the parent company a different name who sells this stuff, and most people won't be any the wiser.
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Don't know about pornography, but Disney did buy Miramax to release such kid-friendly movies like Clerks, Pulp Fiction, Trainspotting, City of God, and many others.
Disney sold Miramax back to the Weinsteins (Score:2)
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Re:Unusual in this age of Political Correctness (Score:5, Informative)
"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."
Considering that Disney created propaganda films for the US Gov't during WWII and Walt was one of the most fervent supporters of Joseph McCarthy, this move is actually very much in line with Disney's track record.
Walt Disney? (Score:3)
What?
Are they planning some sort of characters involving a team of Aquatic Mammals?
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Re:Walt Disney? (Score:5, Funny)
It'll all be part of the new Abbottabad Pavilion at Epcot Center. Osama bin Laden will be executed twice Sunday-Thursday, 4 times Friday-Saturday. Following the assault reenactment, dead Osama and Seal Team Six will take pictures and watch porn with the kids.
Hmm .. Disney copyrights the name (Score:2)
Re:Hmm .. Disney copyrights the name (Score:5, Funny)
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Disney copyright lawyers.
Dammit! I've got mod points, and I cannot figure out whether to mod you insightful or funny... there should be a combo-mod or something that allows both at once... perhaps "+1 Insightfully Funny" or "+1 Humorously Insightful" (which would be the one I think applies to your post).
US govt products are public domain? (Score:2)
anyone who spends enough time on wikipedia will understand that most products of the US govt are public domain under copyright law. im thinking that trying to trademark a US government moniker is going to run right into that issue of IP Law. taxpayers are who put up the money for government entities to exist and thus theoretically they (the public) own it.
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Disney always compensates for weak standing by having egregiously aggressive and unscrupulous lawyers.
My... My... My... (Score:3)
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.
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Why would a mouse own a dog? [disney-clipart.com] :-/
No no no.. GOD no! (Score:2)
I can't even imagine the kind of crap Disney would pull with "Seal Team 6"
/announcer voice
"When the a cute little Eskimo boy's village is threatened by an evil (russian) mastermind threatening to destroy the Arctic with his oil drilling, the boy finds help the only way he knows how... *cue music and seal sounds* A grand adventure. A story of companionship and peril. Walt Disney Pictures in cooperation with the United States Navy presents: Seal Team 6"
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Don't forget that you have to have a singing polar bear voiced by Celine Dion a pair of clownish Arctic Foxes voiced by Johnny Depp and John Goodman.
Easy Solution (Score:2)
Beautiful South - One God (Score:3)
This reminds me. [youtube.com]
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.
Geez.... (Score:3)
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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?
You do know that Britney Spears was a Mouseketeer and now performs stripper moves on stage in front of little girls on behalf of a label owned by Sony, right? I mean, she's not the only little whore that Disney raised, but she's the first one who comes to mind.
This kind of sneaky sexuality is of course pervasive in American culture; the first toy ever marketed directly to children was Barbie, who is based on a cartoon about a prostitute. That's right, the primary icon of American commercialism is a pedo who
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Ashley's Anal Adventures?
Education services? (Score:2)
... the fuck? (Score:2)
copyrighting something that already exists as an entity wholly separate and apart from the holder of the copyright.
Neat.
So I suppose someone could file a copyright on "FBI"? Or "POTUS"? And that would fly?
Nothing broken here, nope, nothing at all.
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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.
If anybody, Marcinko owns the name (Score:2)
If anyone is entitled to the name, it's Dick Marcinko [wikipedia.org]. He was the first commanding officer of the team he named SEAL Team 6. (There were only two teams at the time; naming it 6 was a deception.) After he left the Navy, he wrote a number of novels about SEAL-type exploits.
Disney is way out of line here.
Time for a new Shirt (Score:5, Funny)
Seal Team Six
We are no Micky Mouse operation!
So will they sue some Trek fans? (Score:2)
Mind your own business Disney (Score:2)
Tell you what Disney, when your executives are ready to put their lives on the line to kill terrorists, then you can have a trademark for whatever you call your elite unit. Unti then, just stick to making cartoons and mind your own business.
Excellent market positioning (Score:2)
When you think of brains splattering against the wall, think of Disney!
How can they do this? (Score:2)
How can disney trademark an existing, already established name?
Its like disney trademarking the phrase "President of the United States"
What gives Disney the right to be able to trademark something that is OWNED by the US government and its people?
Osama Team 1 (Score:2)
WTF does this have to do with Mickey Mouse?!? (Score:2)
Seriously, what exactly does Disney have a need whatsoever with a name like that?
I can hear the storyline now (cue Duke Nukem voice)..."Six Dwarfs...they used to be seven, until one of their own was murdered by the wicked witch...Together, they will avenge their brothers death. They are...Seal Team Six."
Hey, gotta re-write Snow White in SOME way that appeases the MMORPG generation...
how fucking stupid can you get??? (Score:3)
...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?
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Re:News For Nerds (Score:5, Insightful)
actually, the Disney capability of running trademarks and copyrights forever, and purchasing laws to enable this is standard slashdot fare.
Re:News For Nerds (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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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 ...
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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 [imdb.com]
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.
Re:Lawsuits (Score:2)
Disney's business model is more dependent on legal chicanery and blatant fraud than SCO. I knew some of their employees back in the '90s and they were all fucked over as well. You'd think their management were Scientologists or something.
Re:News For Nerds (Score:4, Informative)
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.
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because nerds like reading about technical things, and military news is almost always highly technical?
What do you expect? (Score:2)
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What do you expect from a company who's mascot's a fucking rat?
Mickey's not a rat, but is a rodent. More interestingly, Disney supports slavery. Did you ever wonder why the dog Goofy is Mickey's peer, but the dog Pluto is his slave?
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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?
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I'm curious as to what your idea of "do it properly" was?
IMO: Even the Nazis got the Nuremberg Trials. Granted several committed suicide beforehand, but the trials still happened.
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But the central actor didn't have a trial, and the disposal of his body is even more shrouded in mystery than bin Laden's. The Soviets intentionally muddied the waters of what happened to El Nazi Numero Uno for the same reason the Yank's dumped bin Laden over the side of a ship, because they wanted to make sure that there was no place, no remaining physical presence for supporters to rally around.
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Second, extraction to undisclosed location.
Third, trial
Fourth, execution if convicted
Fifth, burial at sea
Everything videotaped, nothing procedural hidden.
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I'd have notified our allies that to send over a representative so that someone could have independently verified the identity.
I'd have had some Arabic observers around for oversight, and I would have let them watch the live video feeds and verify the identity of the body.
Instead, there was no identification of the body, no report
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Since there is standard equipment with video recording for military units, I'd have had those issued, rather than choosing to purposefully have no video of any of the operation.
I've read any number of news stories that claimed the Seals had the video equipment and it was running. Dunno whether this is true of not, of course, since I wasn't there. But a lot of news people seem to believe that there are videos of much of the assassination. If so, they might be declassified in 20 or 30 years ...
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So, either the US is incompetent in not taking videos, or
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You'll have to move your indignant rage to a different issue. I have every confidence that you will find one promptly.
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"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
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Sounds more like an entry for the Darwin Awards than anything that should affect US policy. Or does it not matter when they kill Palestinians, but one cute white American girl and we should go nuts?
Oh no, not at all.
The world gets it's collective panties all in a knot when a Palestinian launching rockets at civilians or a Liberal/Progressive American idiot supporting them gets killed.
Israeli families and children being murdered is OK however, no matter the means or circumstances.
Frankly, I'm amazed the Israelis have shown the restraint they have by not completely and utterly wiping out the West Bank & Gaza.
How do you think that'd work out if the Israeli/Palestinian roles were reversed? I'd be bett
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Anyone not convinced of your Jewishness need only look to your sig.
Enjoy your weekend.
[sarc]
Jesse Jackson, is that you?
A fine example of tolerance, open-mindedness, and a non-bigoted world view.
[/sarc]
One need not be Jewish to know that Capitalism has lifted more people out of poverty and given more people a higher standard of living than any other system ever tried. Even China has been forced to acknowledge that fact. One also need not be Jewish to recognize an ignorant bigot. You must be one of the "enlightened, open-minded, and tolerant" Liberal/Progressives.
I'll say a prayer for you that
you can abide by the rules of war (Score:2)
or you can abide by the rules of civil justice
you can't have it both ways
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So either the Geneva Convention or a trial then?
Seems the US decided to take the third choice; make sure nobody sees what goes on and claim "resisting arrest". Classic.
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osama bin laden chose war on civilians in peacetime. why do you wish to grant to him a courtesy he denies the thousands he murdered? what purpose do you think is served?
Re:It's not something for the US to be proud of. (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
Re:Parasites (Score:4, Funny)
Mickey has grown into a very bad rat. I would recommend warfarin.
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Trademarks are domain-specific. FPS character models aren't in the same domain as clothing, so that's irrelevant to this application.
Re:Doesn't Valve Own It? (Score:4, Insightful)
Is that the same thing Disney would say if someone came out with a Mickey Mouse FPS character?
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Tonight's Special Forces assassination is brought to you by Folgers, good to the last drop.