In this post for Trademark Tales of Terror, we peer into some enigmatic trademarks related to Michael Myers, the silent and relentless killer from the “Halloween” film franchise, and we look into the “Halloween” film franchise itself.
A chilling score, a white mask, and a dark obsession with his sister. These are the hallmarks, or trademarks, if you will, of Michael Myers. He emerged from the shadows of Haddonfield to become one of the most enduring Halloween icons in cinema history. The “Halloween” series has captivated audiences for decades with this relentless, silent, and unkillable antagonist.
This makes it ideal for selling a ton of merchandise related to the movies. Like with the “Friday the 13th” film franchise, most of the merchandise issues seem to be left to copyright law, but there have been some trademarks registered. A few of those have met a ghastly end. Compass International Pictures owned the trademark to the design of the word “Halloween” with a hand with a knife and a pumpkin face to the side, the classic poster image as it relates to clothing. It used to own that image with the word “Halloween” to the right of the pumpkin for toys, but they failed to submit a good example of it being in use in commerce when it came time to renew the registration, and the USPTO canceled the registration after they didn’t file a new example.
It’s weird that they just submitted a picture of a Michael Myers figure and not packaging for the figure that probably had the mark on it. Even more weird is that the original registration was granted without a proper specimen of use. The whole history of the mark points to terrifyingly sloppy work on the part of both the company’s attorney and the examiner.
It gets yet even more weird. The registration and cancellation of the company’s mark, consisting of the photo of the Michael Myers mask with his name next to it, was killed off during renewal. The example of use submitted for renewal didn’t contain that mark, but, freakishly, it did contain the mark for the “Halloween” knife and pumpkin that got canceled for failing to submit a good example of use.
Once again, the company failed to submit a new example, and the marks registration was canceled. A similar application that had the name above the mask instead of beside it died before it could be registered because they never submitted an example of use.
I’m not being dramatic using the word died for a mark. The USPTO really does list the status of registrations as live and dead, so there are legal fatalities in the world of trademark registration.
Right now, there’s a company from China that just filed an application for the name Michael Myers in relation to a boiler suit costume like the one Michael Myers wears in the movies. This is likely to be refused since it’s not being used as a brand identifier. It’s also copyright infringement, but the USPTO doesn’t look into that.
In a move evoking the supposedly dead Michael Myers suddenly sitting upright, Miramax, which already owns several marks related to “Halloween Kills” and “Halloween Ends,” filed a bunch of new applications last month for “Halloween 2018” marks, having let those marks lie unregistered for now.
The chilling lesson for some of these trademark applications and registrations for this franchise is that sometimes even big corporations totally screw up their applications and renewals. It’s hard to tell why such basic and easily correctable mistakes were made here. Maybe the company just decided not to bother and rely on copyright law instead, but it seems really odd to get so close to registration and to not complete it or not fix a renewal issue when it would be so easy to do so. Maybe the company switched attorneys and things just fell through the cracks.
If you’re applying for registration or already have registered marks, make sure you are well informed by your attorney about the status of the application or registration. They should be keeping you advised of where the application is in the process and when the next deadlines are. After registration, your attorney may alert you about renewal dates, but you should keep track of these yourself as well, so you make sure that your marks don’t die from neglect. If properly managed, your trademarks can live almost indefinitely, just like Michael Myers.
Michael Myers continues to haunt our darkest nightmares, his mask forever etched in our memories, and the lessons from some dead trademark applications and registrations related to the “Halloween” movies serve as a warning to stay vigilant with your trademarks, just like the citizens of Haddonfield keep an eye out for Michael Myers every Halloween.
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