Film studios are using their IP rights to greater effect than ever before, says Jeremy Dickerson

When Paramount registered its mountain logo as a trademark in 1914, it was the launch of a new era for IP in the film industry. Film studios began to realise that IP wasn’t just a means of protecting the copyright inherent in their productions, but could also be used to support their brand. Just a decade later, MGM registered the distinctive ‘MGM Lion’ as a trademark, and many other film studios followed suit.

Today, studios are using registered trademarks to even greater effect, by profiting from their innovation and creativity, through merchandising and licensing deals. The Harry Potter phenomenon provides a recent case in point. JK Rowling’s books (which rank third in the all-time bestseller list after The Bible and the Thoughts of Chairman Mao) have generated a series of successful films. The Harry Potter brand is now estimated to be worth $4 billion following the licensing of over 400 Harry Potter-related products. Not only is ‘Harry Potter’ a registered trademark in an impressive range of classes, but so too are the related neologisms ‘Quidditch’, ‘Hogwarts’, ‘Slytherin’ and ‘Muggles’, not to mention the titles of current and potential Harry Potter books and films which belong to Time Warner.

Trademarks offer rights owners the ability to exploit a name or mark in a wide variety of ways, and to prevent third parties from free-riding upon an established and successful brand

With the right trademark strategy, rights owners can expect to both multiply revenue and raise the profile of their leading titles. Trademarks offer rights owners the ability to exploit a name or mark in a wide variety of ways, and to prevent third parties from free-riding upon an established and successful brand. As an adjunct to this, there has been a rise in the recognition of celebrity own-name trademarks in common law. In 2000, Nicole Kidman brought a successful action against the registrant of the URL nicholekidman.com – she has since registered her name as a trademark in the US. Several high-profile celebrities have followed suit, such as Pierce Brosnan in 2003, against the domain name piercebrosnan.com. Of course, the Bond name itself is protected by a raft of trademark registrations for ‘James Bond 007’ and ‘James Bond Special Agent 007’ which ensures tight control over a ‘brand’ image, which has been built by careful associations with glamorous consumer brand names such as Omega, BMW and Aston Martin.


This article first appeared in IP Review, issue 17

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