Executive summary: several days after a Navy SEAL team excised Osama bin Laden, the Disney Corporation applied to trademark the term “SEAL Team 6,” on the grounds that there’s money in it it’s an integral and necessary part of the Disney gestalt. The Navy is… not happy about this, and is pursuing the matter because there’s money in it they wish to keep their personnel from being exploited. Now, there’s some argument whether or not Disney’s first-come, first-served tactic will prevail against the Navy’s they-actually-have-Navy-SEALs defense; but let us assume for the moment that it is in fact legal for the Mouse to keep the trademark.
But, hey! Do you know what else would be legal? Why, repealing the Mickey Mouse Protection Act*, which is currently keeping quite a lot of Disney’s material out of the public domain until at least 2019. Or just letting that act expire: I’m pretty sure that the Republic can survive having “Steamboat Willie” freely available for public use, and I’m absolutely sure that I could care less if a mega-corporation is inconvenienced by that, considering that said corporation is also willing to try to exclusively profit from everyday Americans’ deep, heartfelt respect for the sacrifices made by our armed forces.
Continue reading The Navy versus the Mouse: ‘SEAL Team 6’ trademark battle.