SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - Toymaker Super 7 claims Stan Lee's POW! Entertainment violated its trademark in a new entertainment and merchandising venture called "Stan Lee and the Super Seven." And it claims Lee did so after promising not to.
In its federal complaint, Super 7 says it learned in February that Lee and his company were considering using the Super 7 trademark. But it says POW! Entertainment's attorney assured it that Lee and his company "'decided to move in a different direction and are in the process of developing another mark for their products.'"
However, at the Comic-Con meeting in July, Lee and executives from co-defendants Archie Comics and A Squared Entertainment announced they would be launching a new comic book series called Stan Lee's "Super Seven," complete with "an original made-for-video animated motion picture," according to the complaint.
A press release issued on July 24 stated: "Stan Lee makes his debut as a featured character in 'Super Seven' when he befriends seven aliens who find themselves stranded after their spaceship crashes," the complaint states.
Super 7 claims the new "Super Seven" series will feature a line of products "that are the same as Super 7's offerings and others that are closely related," which it believes will lead to confusion among comic book toy buyers.
It demands compensatory damages, a judgment ordering Lee to stop using Super 7's trademark, and the destruction of all packaging and advertisements bearing the labels "Super Seven" or "Stan Lee and the Super Seven."
Super 7 is represented by D. Peter Harvey and Seth Appel with Harvey Siskind.
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