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

Holy semantics, Batman! DC Comics is seeking to block a request by Rihanna's company to trademark the word Robyn, arguing it is too similar to the name of Batman's trusty sidekick.

Roraj Trade, which holds trademarks for Rihanna's numerous brands including her Rebelle By Rihanna and Reb'L Fleur perfumes, applied to register "Robyn" on June 23, 2014 with intent to "providing on-line non-downloadable general feature magazines." DC's Notice of Opposition was submitted on May 11 in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by James D. Weinberger of Fross, Zelnick, Lehrman and Zissu.

DC Entertainment did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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.