Studio JMS, J. Michael Straczynski’s corporation, has filed suit against Richard Hamilton over Straczynski’s upcoming Image Comics title The Sidekick, announced in February for debut at San Diego Comic-Con (see "JMS's Joe's Comics Returns").  The suit, filed June 21st in federal court, asks the court to declare that the character Red Cowl, which will appear in The Sidekick, is not an infringement on Hamilton’s character The Cowl, and that the trademark registration for The Cowl was granted improperly and should be rescinded. 

Hamilton created a character called The Cowl which appeared in Miserable Dastards, a miniseries and graphic novel published by Dial C for Comics.

The dispute began in May, when attorneys for Hamilton sent a cease and desist letter to Straczynski alleging that Straczynski’s planned character The Cowl was an infringement on Hamilton’s character and demanding that Straczynski cease and desist use of the name.

Straczynski’s attorneys responded in early June, informing Hamilton that the name of the character in Sidekick had been changed to Red Cowl and suggesting that the change ended the conflict. 

Hamilton’s attorneys responded with another cease and desist notice, which argued that the addition of the color was insufficient.  "[D]o you honestly and seriously contend that, for example, Red Batman, or Red Hornet, or Red Lantern, as comic book characters , would be countenanced or suffered for a minute?," the letter said.  "[T]he copying not only is arrogant, but is as transparent as a plastic comic book sleeve," it went on.  The letter threatened litigation and argued that JMS would be subject to enhanced damages because the infringement would be knowing. 

In its lawsuit, the JMS suit points out that similar names are common in comics, citing several examples:  Beetle, Blue Beetle, and Black Beetle; Spider-Man, The Spider, and Black Spider; The Thing, Man-Thing, Swamp Thing, and The Thing from Another World.  It also argues that the Straczynski character is not similar to The Cowl.

The JMS suit also points out that the trademark on Hamilton’s The Cowl was issued before the name had been used to designate a series, and that a cover mock-up for a comic that had never been published was used as evidence of use of the character in the trademark application. 

Federal District Court in the Central District of California is a busy place, and it’s extremely unlikely that this case will be tried before The Sidekick #1 is scheduled to ship (later than originally announced) on August 7th.  If the case is not settled by then, it will be up to Image Comics and Diamond to decide whether or not to proceed with distribution while the dispute is open.