Intellectual Property Insights from Fishman Stewart PLLC
Newsletter – Volume 23, Issue 26
Share on Social
![](https://fishstewip.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/FishTank_Banner_v23_i26.jpg)
THANKSGIVING AND BALLOONING IP RIGHTS
Thanksgiving: turkey, pumpkin (or sweet potato) pie, family gatherings, and of course, a five-story floating Poppin’ Fresh.
Yesterday, many Americans focused on the fare and family on Turkey Day, true to tradition. Many also watched an invasion of New York by cartoon mascots that came to “life” in gargantuan helium, hovering form. It was the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade’s giant balloon character lineup.
While I have long associated the measurements of Thanksgiving with pounds, ounces, tablespoons, teaspoons, and how many belt notches to let out, a read through the lineup of these floating friends provides some interesting measurements (click on each character to see the numbers here): building stories, bicycle lengths, and taxi cab widths.
Poppin’ Fresh measured five stories tall and five taxi cabs wide. Grogu, aka “baby Yoda,” had immense specs for a character so small: three stories tall and four bicycles long.
These airborne animations are not just rich in size but also in intellectual property. Take the Doughboy, born in 1965, a/ka/ Poppin’ Fresh, which is protected by at least seven U.S. trademark registrations (e.g., Reg. Nos. 3068336, 2607725, and 1669633) and five U.S. copyright registrations (e.g. Reg. Nos. VAu000311872 and VA0000550358), and the name DOUGHBOY is subject to at least two U.S. trademark registrations (Reg. Nos. 4631146 and 2764538). Hoo hoo, that’s a lot of intellectual property.
Similarly, the most famous baby in the galaxy, Grogu, has its name protected by at least seven U.S. trademark registrations (e.g., Reg. Nos. 7108391, 7081208, and 6944051) and its image protected by copyright registrations for three posters in which the character appears (Reg. Nos. VA0002344190, VA0002349688, and VA0002330022). Grogu is also the subject of 19 style and development guides protected by U.S. Copyright Registrations (e.g., Reg. Nos. VA0002350171, VAu001442474, and VA0002321709).
These registrations—trademark or copyright—protect very different rights.
Trademarks are marks of trade—they “mark” the “trade” of the owner, identifying to consumers the source of the products.
Take the three Poppin’ Fresh trademark registrations linked above. The registrations identify flat bread, frosting, and dry hot roll mixes, respectively. Similarly, the GROGU registrations identify products such as clothing, beverageware, sunglasses, and bags (among other goods).
These registrations do not give Pillsbury and Lucasfilm the right to use the pokable Doughboy or the name GROGU for any and all things. Rather, these marks serve to indicate the source of the particular products and “related” goods and services.
Even though the trademark registrations specify particular goods, if the trademarks have achieved “fame” (recognition transcending their specific industry), that famousness confers rights far beyond the goods listed in the registrations.
That the Doughboy and Grogu floated through the streets of New York yesterday might be a fair indication of fame.
Copyrights are very different, conferring the right to prevent others from copying (and reproducing, distributing, performing, displaying, and making derivatives). Copyrights protect how ideas are expressed, not the ideas themselves.
Trademarks protect brands to identify sources, copyrights protect expression. Sometimes, both protections can apply to a single creation, as with Poppin’ Fresh and other characters that are used as brands.
Both types of protections are valuable to their owners as they seek to drive value in the brands and their expressions. In the case of Grogu, the “force”-wielding critter is both a desirable brand and a character that third parties want to use on their products and services to sell to fans, and will pay royalties to the owner for that right. These licenses usually are accompanied by a “style guide” that dictates and limits how the licensee can use and depict the licensed property. As noted above, Grogu is the featured character for many Lucasfilm Ltd. Inc. style guides that are protected by U.S. copyright registrations.
Whether the Grogu use in behemoth balloon form was specified in the style guides or not, you can bet that a copyright and/or trademark license was behind Grogu’s levitation act through the streets of Manhattan yesterday. In fact, Funko, a toymaker and licensee of Lucasfilm, manufactured the giant floating feature of the tiny Jedi creature.
Alexander JSW Johnson is an attorney at Fishman Stewart with more than 10 years of extensive experience in trademark and intellectual property matters. He works in the firm’s Trademark Practice Group. He holds a B.A. in Art (studio emphasis) and Journalism.
Shirt Traveler’s Journey at the Copyright Small Claims Court
![](https://www2.fishstewip.com/l/882173/2021-10-06/25vpl/882173/1633556023npAMq2mL/Finny_with_SM.png)
![](https://www2.fishstewip.com/l/882173/2022-01-17/2g6j3/882173/164245165614gFdZWP/Plush_Toy_button.png)
Related Content from Fishman Stewart
Car enthusiasts are buzzing about Alfa Romeo's latest SUV which is also its first EV (plus a hybrid option). Initially branded as “Milano,” the name was changed to "Junior" after it was announced that the car would be produced in Poland.
The online word game Wordle was created in 2021 by Josh Wardle and quickly rose in popularity. Players receive a new puzzle daily with six chances to correctly guess a five-letter word of the day with limited clues.
In a recent decision, the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Eighth Circuit affirmed a jury verdict holding that the use of the "Success Kid" meme by a congressman's reelection campaign for fundraising purposes did not qualify as fair use.
In February 2024, proposed legislation was introduced in US House of Representatives which would extend copyright protection to golf courses. The bill is titled “Bolstering Intellectual Rights against Digital Infringement Enhancement Act” or the “BIRDIE Act”.
OpenAI recently held a live demonstration of a new ChatGPT version that included the use of an AI personal assistant voice dubbed “Sky.” Many observers compared Sky to Scarlett Johansson’s voice in the 2013 Spike Jonze romantic sci-fi film “Her,” which centers on a man who falls in love with the female voice of his computer’s operating system.
June is Pride Month, which honors the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan and recognizes the impact that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ+) individuals have had on history locally, nationally, and internationally. The United States Patent and Trademark Office flies the Pride Flag and promotes the Pride community’s contributions with programming offered annually.
First-time inventions have led inventors to great successes throughout history, sometimes immediately, sometimes after several more attempts at more useful inventions. In the U.S., two very famous inventors with contrasting first-time experiences are Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell.
June is Pride Month. This year we are celebrating with some IP tips for drag performers! Drag performers can protect their intellectual property by registering the copyrights in their original works of music, choreography, and comedy sketches.
Bands often start out as creative endeavors among friends, and bands may not prove lucrative for many years, if at all. Until bands break up, thought and planning may not be given to who is the owner of the band names and entitled to use them going forward.
You’re rarely more than a few yards from Finny’s favorite chips, semiconductor chips to be precise. But what exactly is a semiconductor chip?
IDENTIFYING, SECURING AND ADVANCING CREATIVITY®
![](https://fishstewip.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Service-Mark-Footer.png)