Did San Diego Comic-Con Go After Phoenix Comicon Before The Name Change?

Last month BleedingCool reported that Square Egg Entertainment, the organization that puts on Phoenix Comicon (now Phoenix Comic Fest) filed a trademark cancellation on San Diego Comic-Con’s trademark on the word “Comic Con”. The filing of the trademark cancellation came on the same day that Square Egg changed Phoenix Comicon name to Phoenix Comic Fest. If Square Egg was going to file the cancellation, why would they go through with the name change? I hadn’t seen any news about this story since the initial BleedingCool article, so I did some digging around and came across a few things. San Diego Comic-Con, who also owns the trademarks for Los Angeles Comic-Con, San Francisco Comic-Con, Anaheim Comic-Con, and WonderCon; initially filed to have Phoenix Comicon’s trademark cancelled on November 8, 2017. Weeks before the verdict came out for San Diego Comic-Con’s other court case against Salt Lake Comic Con.

22. The use and registration by Respondent of Respondent’s Mark is without Petitioner’s consent and is likely to cause confusion in the minds of consumers as to the source, affiliation, endorsement and/or association between Respondent, Petitioner and their respective goods and services.

23. Respondent’s mark essentially incorporates Petitioner’s registered COMIC-CON mark and is essentially the same as or highly similar to Petitioner’s other COMIC-CON Marks. The respective goods and services of Petitioner and Respondent are essentially the same or highly related. Given Petitioner’s prior use and common law rights, Respondent’s Mark, when used in connection with the goods identified in the Registration, is likely to cause confusion, and mistake as to the source or sponsorship of Respondent’s services under Section 2(d) of the Act.

The file San Diego Comic-Con’s claim can be viewed here at the USPTO website. On January 2, 2018, Square Egg Entertainment answered and counterclaimed to have San Diego Comic-Con’s trademark cancelled. As of right now, San Diego Comic-Con motioned to extend the Defendant’s Time to Answer which was granted.

That is where this case currently stands and the next big deadline is just a few days when Square Egg has 5 more days (as of this article’s publishing date) to answer. Make sure to follow Legion of Sand on Twitter for any additional developments as they happen.