US Navy Seal Team 6 defeats another global giant: Disney

Published on Thursday 26 May 2011 16:38

They were the elite special forces unit that took out the world's most wanted terrorist. Now the US Navy Seals who snared Osama Bin Laden at his hideout in Pakistan have vanquished another fearsome adversary of global repute: Mickey Mouse.

The Walt Disney Company announced last night it was waving the white flag in its legal skirmish with the Seals over the rights to use their name.

The entertainment giant had applied to copyright the term "Seal Team 6" just two days after the unit of the same name staged their assault on bin Laden's compound earlier this month. Disney intended to use it to sell anything from Christmas stockings to snow globe ornaments to baseball caps, and to promote a new TV drama about the Seals' covert operations.

The move sparked a wave of outrage from the public concerned at Disney's "cynical" attempt to cash in on a moment of national pride, and prompted the US Navy to file its own hasty copyright application for several terms involving the word Seals.

"The Navy is fully committed to protecting its trademark rights," said spokeswoman Amanda Greenberg.

But now Disney bosses have signalled the retreat, in the verbal equivalent of plucking one of Donald Duck's white feathers in the face of an advancing enemy.

"In deference to the Navy's application for trademark, we have pulled our trademark application," said Kevin Brockman, Disney's vice-president of global communications, in a single-sentence statement.

"It's probably a wise move for Disney," said Alex Moore, joint-editor of the independent culture website DeathOrTaxes. "Exploiting the bin Laden kill on Christmas ornaments would have likely resulted in the kind of backlash Microsoft Bing experienced when it announced it would donate aid to Japan's tsunami victims, but only if enough Americans engaged with its viral marketing strategy on Twitter."

According to the copyright application originally filed by Disney, the company wanted to use the Seal Team 6 insignia on: "Toys, games and playthings; gymnastic and sporting articles; hand-held units for playing electronic games other than those adapted for use with an external display screen or monitor; Christmas stockings; Christmas tree ornaments and decorations; snow globes."

But David Koenig, author of the book Mouse Tales: A Behind-the-Ears Look at Disneyland, doubted that merchandising would have been the real reason for pursuing the trademark.

"Selling snowglobes was not their primary motivation here," he said. "With Disney, there's always a creative project involved and in this case that would have been the television show … If they hadn't done it then many others would have jumped on it.

"The good thing about being Disney is you have a pre-sold audience knowing what they get and instilling trust in you, but against that you have to play to that consistently. This was a poor fit for Disney and they're probably happy just to be through it."It is not yet known what, if anything, the US Navy will do with the trademark. For now, Mr Moore believes they will be happy to savour another successful campaign.

"Assassinations, legal work - these Navy Seals really can do it all," he said.