Comic-Con Receives $3.9 Million Costs Award in Trademark Suit

A San Diego Federal District Court recently awarded Comic-Con $3.9 million in attorney fees and costs in an IP dispute.

In 2014, San Diego Comic-Con (“Comic-Con”) sued the organizers of a rival event, Salt Lake City Comic Con, now called FanX Salt Lake Comic Convention (“FanX”), for $12 million over FanX’s use of the “comic con” trademark. The three-year legal battle recently culminated in a jury award of $20,000 in damages.

Comic-Con and FanX then battled it out in court for an additional 8 months over attorney fees and costs.

District Court Judge Anthony Battaglia found that FanX repeatedly failed to comply with the rules of the court, violated confidentiality, and “recycled” arguments already ruled on by the Court. He indicated that this conduct forced Comic-Con to incur extra and unnecessary legal fees and caused the Court to expend significant resources.

Comic-Con may challenge other fan events that use the phrase “comic con”. At least one such organizer – Rose City Comic Con in Portland, Oregon – has licensed “comic con” for its event.

FanX intends to appeal the costs award.

Author: Hassan Rasmi, 2018/2019 Articling Student-at-law