Seal Team 6 is the name given to the Navy SEALS that conducted a raid and killed Osama Bin Laden on May 1, 2011. A mere two days later Disney filed papers requested to trademark that very name.
On May 3 Disney Enterprises filed three applications with the U.S. patent and Trademark office requesting to trademark the name ‘Seal Team 6’. The company is requesting the use of the name for a variety of potential methods including toys, games, Christmas stockings, clothing, entertainment and education.
The Navy SEALS of Seal Team 6 will never be known to the public by name, but that has not changed the desire to capitalize on their story. It was already released that director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal were working on a script of the biggest news event of the year. Howard Wasdin penned a book titled ‘SEAL Team Six: Memoirs of an Elite Navy SEAL Sniper’ that has been rushed into stores early. Now Disney is looking to cash in on the action by using the name in a variety of toys, games and other items.
This is not the first time a company has tried to trademark a term from combat. Sony attempted to trademark the term ‘shock and awe’ for a video game after the troops entered Iraq in 2003. They eventually abandoned the application.