Sten Lee just can’t stay home. Yesterday he trooped down to LA City Hall to make a proclamation. :
Stan Lee, creator of Spider-Man and other beloved Marvel superhero characters, made his latest cameo at City Hall Tuesday to promote the re-branding of his Los Angeles-based comics convention.
The event previously known as Stan Lee’s Comikaze Expo was officially renamed “Stan Lee’s Los Angeles Comic Con,” Lee told the City Council.
Lee’s comics expo, which is not affiliated with the San Diego Comic-Con, is scheduled for Oct. 28-30 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, where it has been held since 2011.
Obviously the term “comic con” has some strong connotations which the Comikaze folks wanted to avail themselves of. One little problem. Los Angeles Comic-Con (with a hyphen) is a trademark owned by Comic Con International, the folks who put on San Diego Comic-Con. CCI also owns the trademarks for San Diego Comic-Con, WonderCon, Anaheim Comic-Con and San Francisco Comic-Con.
CCI and the Salt Lake Comic Con (Formerly Salt Lake City Comic Con) have been waging a trademark war for a while, and there was just a San Francisco Comic Con over Labor Day, which was unaffiliated with CCI. The hyphenated version of Comic-Con has generally been reserved for SDCC as a courtesy by other show runners, but whether the term can be protected at this point is debatable. I guess that’s why they have courts.
