SDCC doubles down on their Salt Lake lawsuit

16 AUGUST 2015




Maybe they've quadrupled down at this point. I've lost track. At any rate, after Salt Lake Comic Con crowed about its trademark victory last month, CCI is seeking to nullify that trademark with "administrative action" and block them from a logo trademark. But don't expect to see a resolution any time soon; the pretrial conference has been scheduled for 3 October 2016, at which time the actual trial will be scheduled. To put that in our terms, we may have gone through Pre-reg and even Open Registration for 2017 by the time they duke it out in court.

A settlement is still possible; both camps have until 11 August 2016 to submit their final offers. What those offers might look like is a mystery, but we do know that CCI has suggested SLCC just stick to calling itself FanX, the name of its other event. But let's be real; besides the fact that FanX sounds like a porn channel or over the counter medication, it lacks the crucial Con branding that virtually every other event uses for marketing. BookCon, PlumberCon, Cat-Con; there's no way a ginormous pop culture convention is going to relinquish that crucial syllable.

On the other side, Salt Lake hoped to have a "bromance" - that's their word, not mine, just typing it made me shudder - with CCI as recently as earlier this year but apparently that's off the table. I could have told you that, SLCC organizers! CCI is unflinching. This was never going to end with a hug.

Friday night I saw Best of Enemies, which is a powerful testament to how destructive - and ludicrous - a grudge can be after a certain point. While SDCC vs. SLCC is obviously a very different situation, it does make me wonder who's really going to benefit in the end. It's hard to imagine SLCC actually being forced to drop "Comic Con" (or accepting that decision) in a world where so many other events have the same name; and it's hard to imagine what CCI thinks it's protecting. They're already the apex Comic Con. No other Con is as famous or in demand. Even if half the current Member ID holders decamped for SLCC, there'd still be more people clamoring for badges than SDCC could handle. Yes, other Cons are growing fast but San Diego is still the #1 dream for most attendees. I don't see that changing soon.

Maybe this will all get hashed out in court and we'll learn about additional details that are driving CCI to press on. Or maybe it's exactly what we've been told. Either way, it sounds like we'll have to wait a long time to find out.