Speaking of con wars, this rather odd story from UGO goes on and on about how great this weekend’s Anaheim Comic-Con is going to be, without ever mentioning of the fact that it is part of the Wizard World Tour:

Anaheim brings the masses together for an unforgettable weekend of tributes, gaming, celebrities and general geekery. The weekend is not one to be missed, and here are a few reasons why:…[snip] For smaller conventions, it’s always a question of what talent they’ve found to show up for the event — and ACC is obviously not messing around. In attendance are Battlestar Galactica’s seductive Number Six aka Tricia Helfer, the man behind Darth Maul, Ray Park, Shaft himself, Richard Roundtree, Harry Hamlin from the original Clash of the Titans, Q from Star Trek: The Next Generation, John de Lanice and many, many more. Plus Adam West and Burt Ward — because it wouldn’t be a Comic-Con without them!


No, you couldn’t put on a Comic-Con without nerdlebrities! That’s been proven, right?

Obviously the story was written from a press release of some kind, but you’d expect a site of UGO’s caliber to at least name an actual comics-type person attending, even if the show itself, being in SoCal and all, is more of a Nerdlebrity con than a comic-con. Comics guests don’t even get their own guest category:
comics-toys.jpg
It’s this kind of thing that makes some industry-watchers a little sad that CCI didn’t enforce their “Comic-Con” trademark a little more stringently — with more policing, it’s very likely that the Anaheim show would have been given the more accurate name “Reality Rocks Expo II.”

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1 COMMENT

  1. Well this is just peachy. It seems like Anaheim is moving away from the traditional “comic-cons” and is now trying to compete with the San Diego “culture con.”

    It won’t surprise me if it does well, but it seems like every host is starting to move away from the comic genre and now focus on a wider audience. I can see a profit-point-of-view, but I’m disappointed that us comic aficionados are slowly starting to lose what we once called our own.

  2. The saddest thing is that the true comic book cons are growing just as much as the nerdlibrity focused events. Take a look at Heroes con and Baltimore Comic Con.

  3. I’m not sure what your point is here as it’s clouded in half truths and bad reporting.

    The prominant comic and nerdlebrities/reality people are listed in the first section under (drum roll) SPECIAL GUESTS. It’s actually 50/50 between reality idiots and comic pros.

    So clearly the nerdlebrities don’t get their own “guest catagory” either. They’re sharing it. Further down the nerdlebrities and comic pros do, in fact, get their own catagories.

    “No, you couldn’t put on a Comic-Con without nerdlebrities!”

    I’m not sure what the point here is either. Since the comment is clearly directed at West and Ward and since West and Ward are at just about every comic con there is, including San Diego then the comment is actually an accurate one. Or are you actually trying to say that SDCC never has West or Ward at their con, or that SDCC doesn’t promote it’s nerdlebrities?

    If you’re going to make a valid point make the point that the site (and you) failed to mention that comic guests out number nerdlebrities more than two to one. Or mention say that Wizard would rather promote the nerdlebrities. At least that’s honest.

    So no offense, but you’re kind of talking out your ass on this one.

  4. 1) It’s called “Wizard World Anaheim Comic Con” (no hyphen). CCI’s trademark has the hyphen. Not an expert in trademark law, but that is a big distinction.

    2) No separate category for comics guests, but there are quite a few listed, both in the “comic/toy creators” section, and in the special guests section. It actually has a strong comics credibility: 16 in the special category, plus many recognizable names further down. 280 Artist Alley booths, 85 Guest booths, a few major displays, but mostly low-key in size.

    3) This being Anaheim, it’s easy for celebrities to attend and sign autographs. This could become Wizards signature (ha!) event, bigger than Chicago. Of course, it depends on how well it is run, and who shows up. It currently ranks third, after Anime Expo and BlizzCon.

  5. Torsten: “It’s called “Wizard World Anaheim Comic Con” (no hyphen). CCI’s trademark has the hyphen. Not an expert in trademark law, but that is a big distinction.”

    I’m not so sure it is. If that were true, some enterprising company would certainly be selling “The Adventures of Spiderman and Super-Man” by now. I think it’s more, like Heidi mentioned in another post, that they didn’t defend their trademark for too long and thus lost the ability to do so.

  6. Badpenny: Some valid points, but after readings dozens of stories about various Wizard shows, this was the first one my ass ever read that didn’t mention Wizard. Sloppy journalism sure.

  7. Man, that article really needs a proofreader. “it’s own” ? And they didn’t even spell “John de Lancie” correctly.

    You know, I once applied for a job at UGO, and didn’t even get a call back. Did a dodge a bullet?

  9. I’m confused, what’s with all the different spellings? Emerald City, Phoenix and Pittsburgh call themselves “Comicon”. While Anaheim and San Diego call themselves “Comic-Con” with a hyphen. Others, like NY and Boston are just Comic Con. So none seem to be proprietary. Is there a preference?

  10. I know some people I’ve talked to confuse the Wizard World New England Comic Con with this weekend’s Boston Comic Con. Though I myself very much can tell the difference between a Wizard Con and a far better comic con done by almost anyone else. Funny enough the Boston Comic Con has been growing immensely. This year they’re in the same venue as the New England one, the Hynes, the biggest one they’ve been one. Sure is a hell of a jump from the basement of the old Hanckock tower prior years or even the basement of the Westin hotel from last year.

  11. Searching the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (http://tess2.uspto.gov/), one sees that “comic-con” is an active trademark held by San Diego Comic Convention (Serial Number 78714077), while “comic con” (Serial Number 74706192) was abandoned by San Diego Comic Con, Inc. on April 19, 1999.

    “Anaheim Comic-Con” (mentioned earlier when CCI:SD was being wooed by various convention centers) was filed (Serial Number 77802149) by San Diego Comic Convention on August 11, 2009. (They also filed “Los Angeles Comic-Con”.) That entity also owns the trademark on “Preview Night”.

    So SDCC should send a C&D letter to Wizard. Although Wizard could contest the filing, as it has not yet been registered, and SDCC hasn’t used the mark.

    Over on the other coast, “ReedPop” has been filed, but not registered, and there is no record of “New York Comic Con” or “C2E2”, or even “Book Expo America”…

    There are only two other “comic-con” trademarks listed, and both are dead (Chicago, New Orleans).

    Only two “comicon”… one which is owned by an internet icon company, one which is owned by Wizard (“Chicago Comicon”)

    Nothing under “comiccon”.

    Someone could register “comicon” but with the prior use elsewhere, it probably would not be validated. “[name] comicon” would be valid.

    And if memory serves… wasn’t there some kerfuffle when San Diego tried to register “comic-con” back in the day?

    Got it? Now consider: “superhero”!