DC Comics Moves to KO Rihanna's 'Robyn' Trademark

Robyn is Rihanna's first name. Robin is half of DC's "Dynamic Duo" -- and the company notes that it owns numerous trademarks on the Robin name, including ones established in 1984, for a toy doll, and in 1990 related to comic books.

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Originally the alter ego of a circus acrobat named Dick Grayson, Robin first reared his masked head in a 1940 issue of DC's Detective Comics. He was the brainchild of Batman creators Bob Kane and Bill Finger, as well as Joker mastermind Jerry Robinson. Various incarnations of the Robin character have appeared in comics, films and television over the years.

DC argues that the proposed online magazine is "identical and/or highly related" to DC's existing product and believes that since both could potentially be sold to the same types of customers, people "are likely to be deceived into falsely believing" that they are somehow connected. A digital magazine called Robyn that isn't about the Boy Wonder "is likely to cause confusion, cause mistake, or to deceive the public" into think it's from DC, the complaint argues.

The law blog Pirated Thoughts was first to report on DC's opposition to Robyn's trademark.