Batman signal oval series#

This led to the time circa 1962 or 63 when DC’s lawyer was first given the task to make sure everything that needed to be trade-marked or copyrighted was in order and secure.

Batman signal oval series#

Keep in mind that a Batman TV series had been discussed since 1961. If DC was to grow and if Batman was to thrive, this platform had to be mined and greatly expanded. Liebowitz already understood the gross revenue potential in merchandising and that there had been far too little of it for the past few decades. In 1960, he and a partner, Allan Stone, formed Licensing Corporation of America. He was National’s in-house licensing guy since the late 1940s. Jack Leibowitz, one of the owners of National Periodical Publications/DC Comics, had a nephew named Jay Emmett who had been working at DC since the 1940s. It’s important to understand the corporate drive behind this. DC was a small office back in the early to mid-70s and Julie never countered what Bernie and Sol said.

At DC, when it came to anything dealing with rights, copyrights, trademarks, etc., legal took precedence over creative. Not only did DC’s lawyer explain this to me back in 1974, but later on, vice president (later to become president) of DC Comics, Sol Harrison, independently reiterated it to me. The legal opinion was that the addition of the yellow circle would give them a readily protectable mark they could secure. The legal opinion was that the simple drawing of a black bat was insufficient then for trade-markable protection. Michael Uslan From the Uslan Vault of DC History Did you know.?ĭC’s in-house attorney, Bernie Kashdan, explained to me in 1974 that the addition of the yellow circle was motivated by DC’s need to trade-mark Batman’s chest symbol for merchandising, et al, to come.