HEROES EVERYWHERE ! PROTECT WHAT’S YOURS !

As discussed last week, perhaps the Biggest breakout tv drama this season is HEROES. Thus, it is no surprise that on the cover of this week’s (Nov. 10, 2006) issue of Entertainment Weekly are three of the characters/actors from the tv series HEROES. So now that it is a true blue success story, what are the tv executives and company attorneys doing about protecting this property and what have they most likely done already.

Two of the obvious intellectual property doctrines that are applicable to protecting this property are copyright and trademark. For starters, copyright protects the content of the show, including the content of the Heroes website, the artwork, and the interactive graphic novel.

Trademark law would protect the title of the tv series, as well as any ancillary merchandising. For instance, any apparel, hats, costumes, toys, games, action figures, comic books, posters, trading cards, video games, etc. can be protected under U.S. trademark law as set forth in the Lanham Act. A primer of this very topic is available online at our office website at:

http://www.trademarkesq.com/pages/article2.html

This above-referenced article suggests an approach to “Protecting What’s Yours!”. We also hope that you will be as successful as Heroes with respect to your creative endeavors and that you will engage the full benefits provided by copyright and trademark principles so that you too can Protect What’s Yours !

Thanks for visiting TrademarkEsq !

Best wishes,

William E. Maguire
http://www.TrademarkEsq.com

*** Postscript; Dec. 14, 2006: Even Wikipedia and its legions of contributors have gotten into the act and created an entry for HEROES as follows:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroes_(TV_series)