The trademark-infringement trial involving Red Sonja has been postponed until Jan. 28.
Although opening arguments were set to begin yesterday, the Wilmington, Del., News Journal reports the bench trial has been rescheduled because one of the attorneys had a personal emergency.
In the $5 million lawsuit, filed in April 2006, Red Sonja LLC accuses Paradox Entertainment of infringing on its trademark and attempting to create confusion in the marketplace. Paradox denies the allegations, and has responded with a countersuit.
Red Sonja LLC owns the rights to Red Sonja — with a “j” — a character created in 1973 by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith for use in the Conan comics then published by Marvel. Paradox, which bought Conan and the entire Robert E. Howard library in 2006, owns the rights to Red Sonya — with a “y” — a character created by Howard in the 1930s.
Although Thomas and Windsor-Smith used Howard’s creation for inspiration, they’re different characters. The rights to Red Sonja were sold by Howard’s estate in 1982.
July 19th, 2007 at 5:35 pm
The issue over the ownership of RED SONJA is moot. Let the caption stand that it was based on a character written by Robert E. Howard and developed by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith. The parties involved shouldn’t turn this into a pissing contest.
July 19th, 2007 at 5:35 pm
The issue over the ownership of RED SONJA is moot. Let the caption stand that it was based on a character written by Robert E. Howard and developed by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith. The parties involved shouldn’t turn this into a pissing contest.