20 Mind-Blowing Facts You Never Knew About Marvel
5. Marvel Owned The Trademark To The Word 'Zombie'
In 1973, Marvel launched Tale of the Zombie, a new horror series. Wanting to legally protect their newest title, they filed for a trademark on the word ‘zombie’. Two years later, the trademark was finally approved but at this point, the series was about to end, so it didn’t have much use.
Nonetheless, Marvel now inexplicably held the trademark to ‘zombie.’ It sounds impossible to believe that such a term could be owned, and clearly no one else really cared about the legality of still using the concept. Without the ongoing series, Marvel found it impossible to enforce the trademark, especially with its widespread popularity.
Eventually, in 1996, Marvel gave up the trademark and would instead change it to ‘Marvel Zombies.’ Marvel Zombies would shortly thereafter become a popular mini-series, and keep their new trademark alive. As a hilarious cap-off to this story, their new trademark was accompanied with the message that “no claim is made to the exclusive right to use zombies.”