J.K.Rowling & The Legend of Rah and the Muggles

[rainy_lilac at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 14486

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "B.K. DeLong" <bkdelong at p...> wrote:

> Agreed. And Even though Warner Bros. has trademarks for Muggles 
they haven't issued a single product centered around it.
> 


How interesting! 

I know that a company which makes dolls currently owns the trademark 
to "muggles"-- but if I am not mistaken, trademarks have to be 
specific to certain products, right? There is a also a restaurant 
called Muggles which has trademarked the name. The trademark which 
Stouffer has pending (and does not yet own) is for refrigerator 
magnets depicting her little bald cartoon characters, worry stones, 
and other such knick-knacks. I fail to see any connection between 
what she is trying to sell and the Harry Potter series.

Interestingly, Rowling has not used the word "muggle" as a trademark--
she has used it simply as a word, like "green" or "turnip". This is 
protected usage under copyright law-- no matter who uses the word as 
a trademark, they can't stop people from using it as a word.