As a follow up to an earlier story, Disney is apparently waving the white flag before an onslaught of bad PR involving their attempt to co-opt the term "Navy's SEAL Team 6" under copyright law.
Less than a month after a daring raid on Osama bin Laden's secret hideout, the U.S. Navy's SEAL Team 6 notched a victory over the Magic Kingdom.
Walt Disney Co. said Wednesday that it would pull an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in which the entertainment giant sought the exclusive right to use the term "SEAL Team 6" on items ranging from toys and games to snow globes and Christmas stockings
Snow globes? You've got to be kidding me! "Oh, look, sweetie! It's snowing on the bullet riddled corpse of bin Laden! We'll take two!"
Disney withdrew the application "out of deference to the Navy," a spokesman said.
The move comes after comics and other critics ridiculed the Burbank, Calif., company for trying to profit off bin Laden's killing. Disney first made the claim two days after the world learned of the secret special-operations unit's daring mission into the al Qaeda leader's Pakistan compound.
"Putting a trademark on SEAL Team 6 is like copyrighting 'The guys who stormed the beach at Normandy,'" joked "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart last week. "It belongs to all of us."
Navy officers privately expressed relief Wednesday that the company had chosen voluntarily to retract its application, saving the organization from a long trademark battle.
Disney knew that once they had lost Stewart, they'd lost the war. Disney then withdrew to their pre-2011 copyright lines as a condition of the peace.
In return, I may need to give up my copyrighted use of Uncle Walt®, though I may lob an occasional rhetorical missile into the Land of Mouse as necessary.
Uncle Walt® is a registered trademark of Proof Positive blog. Any attempt by a large rodent like corporation to usurp this title or his likeness will be met by the full force of law. The crack attorney firm of Dewey, Cheatem and Howe has been retained to insure that copyright provisions are strictly adhered to.
H/T Memeorandum
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