Friday, July 26, 2013

question of the day, sex toy edition (NSFW)

Today’s trademark (and possibly copyright) issue is highly not safe for work, unless your work is like mine!  Super Hung Heroes are sex toys.  The Batman takeoff, who protects and serves GoodHead City, is kind of sculptural genius, as is the Iron Man takeoff.  There are also toys based on the Incredible Hulk and Spiderman, but I wonder if the Batman/Iron Man versions are more vulnerable to copyright claims because they’re so much more clever and thus arguably incorporate the characters in their sculptural elements, not just in their marketing.  See ConWest Resources, Inc. v. PlaytimeNovelties, 2006 WL 3346226 (N.D. Cal.).  (Also, that seems to be Batman on the Batman package, whereas the other characters on the packaging aren’t visually identifiable from what I can see.)  Still, given the way courts treat sex in fair use cases, I’d expect a fair use defense to go well—I hardly think DC/Marvel are likely to enter this particular market, for all that certain of their products are male masturbatory fantasies.

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