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25 July 2019TrademarksSarah Morgan

Marvel hits out at BlackBerry over ‘Jarvis’ TM

BlackBerry’s attempt to register its cybersecurity software under the trademark ‘Jarvis’ has not gone unnoticed by comic book company Marvel.

Earlier this month, Marvel took aim at the application in a trademark opposition, claiming that BlackBerry’s trademark would cause confusion with its own Jarvis, an artificial intelligence (AI) developed by Marvel’s movie-franchise character Tony Stark.

Marvel’s Jarvis first appeared in the 2008 film “ Iron Man”, starring Robert Downey, Jr as Tony Stark. The film earned more than $315 million in domestic box office revenue in the US.

Since then, the AI has appeared in multiple Marvel films, TV series and video games, including “Lego Marvel Super Heroes”, a game launched in 2013.

Marvel also owns a ‘Jarvis’ trademark (US number 4737881) covering class 9 for computer application software for use as a voice-controlled personal digital assistant.

Back in January 2018, BlackBerry sought registration of its trademark in class 42, covering the design and development of computer software and a software platform for use in performing vulnerability assessment and penetration testing, among other goods.

BlackBerry’s Jarvis is a cloud-based platform that can find and fix vulnerabilities in software used in automobiles.

After publication in March 2019, Marvel filed a request to extend the time to oppose the mark, before filing its opposition on July 18.

“This likelihood of confusion is materially increased based on opposer’s merchandising and licensing of opposer’s ‘Jarvis’ mark and Jarvis character (and other marks, characters, and elements of opposer’s ‘Iron Man’ and ‘Avengers’ franchises) with significant commercial success,” said the opposition.

Marvel has asked the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board to refuse the registration of BlackBerry’s trademark.

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