John Wick to Jane Wick: “Yeah, I’m Thinking I’m Back.”

John Wick to Jane Wick: “Yeah, I’m Thinking I’m Back.”

John Wick is the titular character from the wildly successful film franchise created by Derek Kolstad and owned by Summit Entertainment, LLC. Keanu Reeves stars as John Wick, a hitman that comes out of retirement to avenge the killing of his dog, that his late wife had delivered to him after she died.  The first film titled John Wick was released in 2014; the most recent film (a spin-off), From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, is due out in June.

That the John Wick franchise became a billion-dollar franchise is a bit of a surprise. The first John Wick movie opened with a $14 million box office gross. As the directors noted, production of the movie had been saved by Eva Longoria providing $6 million in gap financing.  Initial screenings for family and friends were disastrous. The movie had a strange premise:  a hitman returning to the criminal underworld to avenge a Beagle? But each John Wick film has been more successful than the last, and Keanu Reeves has enjoyed an amazing career resurgence.

Like the titles of single creative works, character names do not generate trademark rights unless used for a series of creative works (meaning two or more). Summit Entertainment registered JOHN WICK with the U.S. Trademark Office as a trademark for a variety of goods and services, including motion picture films, video games, entertainment services, and toys.  Applications for additional goods and services are pending.

Jane Wick, LLC is a company in Bentonville, Arkansas that currently is taking pre-orders for a leather gun range bag on its JANEWICK.COM website. A year ago, Jane Wick, LLC filed a trademark application for the mark JANE WICK in logo format:

The application covers ammunition bags, leather bags, and clothing. The application received no refusals to register and was published for opposition. Summit Entertainment opposed the application on the basis of likelihood of confusion with the JOHN WICK mark. 

In the notice of opposition, Summit Entertainment asserted that the marks JOHN WICK and JANE WICK are similar. As Summit Entertainment noted, both are comprised of two words with the identical second word, and with the first word being a four-letter name beginning with “J.”

There is an argument to be made (and Summit Entertainment alluded this point) that consumers are likely to make an association between JOHN WICK and JANE WICK. John (Doe) and Jane (Doe) are the most commonly used placeholder names in the United States and are counterparts to each other.[1] 

Summit Entertainment also argued that registration of the JANE WICK mark would result in a likelihood of confusion because the application covers goods (gun range bags) that would be associated with the character John Wick. 

Will these considerations factor into the Trademark Office’s analysis of whether the marks are confusingly similar?  Stay tuned!

Michelle Visser is a partner of Fishman Stewart, with over 25 years of experience practicing trademark law with other members of the firm’s Trademark Group. Check out her full bio here.

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[1] Aside: many languages and countries have “placeholder names,” names given to individuals whose identity is unknown or intentionally concealed.  “John Doe” traces its roots to English common law.  In other languages and countries, placeholder names often incorporate the most common surname, or are a translation of “no name” or “so-and-so.”  In Italy, it’s Mario Rossi.  In German, it’s Max Mustermann (“Max Exampleman” or “Max Sampleman”).