Update - Hasbro and DC's Bumblebee Trademark Lawsuit

           Last year, I wrote about Hasbro filing a trademark lawsuit against DC Comics. The dispute was about DC's Superhero Girls toys featuring the character Bumblebee, which Hasbro believed infringed on its Bumblebee trademark protecting its Transformers character. I’ve continued to follow the case, and as of August 14, 2018, less than one year after the lawsuit was filed, it appears the parties have settled the case.

            DC’s counsel, James D. Weinberger of the law firm Fross Zelnick Lehrman & Zissu, P.C., filed with the court a letter to request dismissal and stating the parties have reached a settlement in principle. Details of the settlement are not given.

            As I mentioned in my original post, it was unlikely this case would actually see trial or reach a decision on its merits. Since the settlement appears to be confidential, only the parties’ actions going forward will give us clues as to what was agreed upon. I look forward to patrolling the toy aisles to see if there are any apparent changes to the packaging or branding of DC’s Bumblebee toys in the near future.