Registering comic characters

[Magneto_X]

IIRC there's a government website that creators can register their creations, designs and all, unless I'm mistaken.

Does anybody know how to register the characters there and what the url is?

Do I have to do the same with new versions of public domain characters?

[Michael P]

It's the US Trademark Office: http://www.uspto.gov/

You can't trademark public domain characters.

[MacQuarrie]

IIRC there's a government website that creators can register their creations, designs and all, unless I'm mistaken.

Does anybody know how to register the characters there and what the url is?

Do I have to do the same with new versions of public domain characters?

Um, not really. At least not the way you describe it.

In the US, intellectual property rights are handled through the Unite States Patent and Trademark Office (http://www.uspto.gov). There are various protections offered, but none of them are what you're asking about.

Copyright:
Copyright law does not protect idea. You can't copyright a character. You can copyright a particular drawing of a character's costume, or a particular issue of a comic book, or a particular script. The idea has to be "fixed in some tangible medium"; in other words you have to actually write and/or draw the damn thing before you can claim ownership of it. Copyright law also specifically excludes names and titles, so you can't claim copyright ownership of, say, Radish-Man. You can only copyright your particular script or comic starring Radish-Man. If somebody else wants to write their own comic using a totally different character of the same name, they can go right ahead and do it. That's why Marvel and DC can both have characters named Captain Marvel.

Trademark:
Trademark law protects the identifying words and symbols for a category of business; in other words, the marks of a trade. The name "Superman", the S-logo shield, and the Superman character design are all trademarks of DC Comics. But trademarks only apply protection for as long as they're in use. When a trademark goes unused for a certain amount of time, it is considered to be abandoned, and somebody else can register it and claim ownership of it, as when Marvel grabbed the dead Captain Marvel trademark after Fawcett stopped publishing and before DC acquired the character, which is why Captain Marvel can't appear in a comic named after him. Trademarks are also limited in scope. When you register one, you have to specify (and pay for) each category you intend to use it for. There is some limited protection with regard to unauthorized use of trademarks, as for example, printing them on merchandise, but that's determined primarily by the public awareness of the mark, and the ability of your attorney.

Getting back to the questions you asked...

IIRC there's a government website that creators can register their creations, designs and all, unless I'm mistaken.
You can copyright the designs and trademark the names, and that's about all. Copyright is about $30 or so per item copyrighted. You don't have to register everything you do; some measure of copyright protection is automatic, but registration provides you with a verifiable claim and the means to prove it. Trademarks cost hundreds, even thousands of dollars, mostly because of the extensive research necessary to assure that you aren't infringing on another mark. And you are responsible for actively policing your mark. See the Lanham Act.

Does anybody know how to register the characters there and what the url is?
http://www.uspto.gov. Follow the instructions.

Do I have to do the same with new versions of public domain characters?
You CAN'T do the same. That's what "public domain" means. You can copyright your particular stories, and you can file for ownership of the trademark, but anybody who wants to can reprint the original comics in any way they want to, and can create new derivative works of their own just like you did.

But you can't do any of this until the comic in question actually exists. You can't copyright things that don't exist, because copyright means "the right to copy". You can't trademark things that don't exist, because you have to actually be engaged in trade in order to own the mark that identifies your trade.

[MacQuarrie]

It's the US Trademark Office: http://www.uspto.gov/

You can't trademark public domain characters.

Yeah, you can. For all the good it will do you.

Example:
Alfred E. Neuman (the "what, me worry?" kid from MAD Magazine) was originally painted prior to the Civil War, and has been public domain since at least 1920.

Alfred E.Neuman is a registered trademark of MAD.

Anyone who wants to could reprint and sell the original 1850s images of the character, or any of the hundreds of variations produced between that time and the early 1960s, when MAD began using the character. Those images are all in the public domain.

But nobody can use the character and/or name to identify or market their products, because those commercial uses are protected by trademark law, and the image is so closely identified with MAD that any other category of business that tried to use it would be establishing an improper association with or endorsement by MAD.