Shark Boy files lawsuit
 

Source: PWInsider

In today's Dayton Daily News it is being reported that Dean Roll, who has wrestled for years as "Shark Boy", has filed a lawsuit against a Disney-owned Miramax Film Corp., claiming his "Shark Boy" trademark had been infringed upon. Miramax is releasing a movie on Friday called "The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl". Dean Roll filed a lawsuit last Tuesday in the U.S. District Court in Cincinnati, OH to protect his interest. Roll trademarked his character name "Shark Boy" five years ago. In the article it stated that, "Roll wants the defendants, including Dimension Films, Troublemaker Studios and others to return any 'money, profits and advantages wrongfully gained' along with triple damages, attorneys' fees and expenses for bringing the action filed by Dayton attorney Thomas J. Intilli."

I laughed so hard when i read this. It was not that long ago when i first saw previews for this movie and i thought of Shark Boy the wrestler going around as a super hero in a kids movie.

:rofl:

I KNEW this was coming.

Cincinnati. That's where I live! I think I actually met Shark Boy without the mask once, but there was no way of telling for sure.

Anyway, this is about as trivial and frivolous as Spike Lee filing a law suit against Spike TV. Nobody's going to see that movie expecting to see Shark Boy the wrestler, so there will be no such thing as 'money, profits, and advantages wrongfully gained'.

When I clicked on this thread, a Shark Boy and Lava Girl promo startedon TV. :|

Anyway, he's got a case.

lol that's the first thing that came to mind when i heard the title of this movie

omg thats liek so frek-e kk

I'm guessing an out of court settlemnt. :y:

Hurricane should use his powers and sue someone too. Did Denzel have a movie called "The Hurricane"?

** STAY IN THE BACK! THERE'S A LAWSUIT COMING THROUGH! **

This is fucking ridiculous..but KK is right..he's got a case...but my whole thing is nowadays, people can just trademark common names and sue people for it. AAA should sue Triple A :roll:

I was sued by jesus.

Hey, As someone who is good with him, and as someone who has a trademark of his own - I'm all for this.

I'd actually e-mailed not too long ago about this, due to the fact that many people I know were saying 'Hey Kayfabe, Is Shark Boy really in the movie?'. I hope that he gets something from it, as there is no sense in trademarking a name to protect yourself if someone else can just change the spelling or arrangement and then use it legally.

Good for him, and as I said before, good luck. He's got mini-Shark mouths to feed.

No moreso than if you published Spider Man comics.

Well, How common is Sharkboy?

While the lawsuit's a touch silly, I support the rights of people to stick up for their intellectual properties, which is why we have copywrite/trademark/patent laws in the first place. Let the courts decide whether or not he's got a legit claim (I think he does), and whether it affects him (As silly as it sounds, it might...)

That's the same thinking that got the WWF sued. :shifty:

Seriously, I don't doubt that they didn't know about Shark Boy. Taking simple words or objects and adding 'boy', 'girl', 'man', etc. to them is how super hero creators work. Batman, Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, Super Man, etc.

Everyone has this idea that you can just use 'Toys Are Us', etc. as a name.

It doesn't matter if it's spelled different, or if it's changed up a bit - like the late Rob Lewis would say, "the name's the same". Either way, my friend Shark Boy is far better than the movie will be - so :foc: them.

You know what is funny about the whole thing though, you'd think that Miramax would have looked into this before doing the film.

it's based on stories that Robert Rodriguez wrote for his kids years ago. I don't think he examined the registry of names before he wrote them.

Granted he should have before he started filming, but what the hell.

Yes, and Stan Lee has tossed potential names based on Trademar infringement before.

When you create a name, it's YOUR responsibility to ensure that you're not swimming in someone else's pond. Ignorance is not an excuse (I found the results within a minute of logging on to the patent dept. site). These guys have a rather large budget which should in part be dedicated to paying for the internet that geeky little intern monkey uses to research the trademark.

Yeah, when I first saw the commercials for that movie I was like "They stole Shark Boy's gimmick!"

Exactly what I was thinking. Exactly.

yea if he trademarked it he is in the money disney does not have a case

Who the fuck is Shark Boy? Yeah exactly.

Personally he's whining over nothing here. Haven't there been movies with the name Hitman? Bret had that name made his own..he doesnt whine.
The hulk and hulk..so many I could go with here.

People will file lawsuits over anything these days, and I have to ask in the end..is it all worth it? Who cares?

Ah well, I guess sharky needs some dough. Couldnt make it in the business well enough, so leech off disney. He's like a blonde bimbo going after the sports athlete, never working, but spending all his money.

LMAO @ thread

Sharkboy (wrestler) was the first thing I thought of when I heard about movie

I'm going to make "You're Fired" t-shirts and give them away to the homeless.

As far as The Incredible Hulk and Hulk Hogan go - there's an arrangement on the usage of the name, so that explains that. With 'Hitman' - it is a common word / phrase, that is like 'Sting' the wrestler, and 'Sting' the musician. Like Randy Savage, The Village People once had a "Macho Man". :shifty:

With Shark Boy, it's not exactly a common phrase. This is really the first big usage of this name other than by 'Shark Boy' himself. 'Shark Boy' is a rather distinctive name - like Superman or Spongebob Squarepants.

As far as that goes, I highly doubt that. He makes quite a good living taking bookings alone, not counting the fact that his BPW / Shark Boy DVD's sell a fair amount - and his shirts and masks are almost always selling out. Couple that with his TNA deal, and the fact that he's coming out as an action figure form in the not too distant future - and he makes a good deal for himself on the business. Probably more than a majority of the independent guys do.

If Miramax loses / settles, it's their own fault - as KK said, they should have researched it and not left themselves open for something like this.

I hope he wins based solely on the fact that I'm tired of these retarded kids movies.

Spykids.
Spykids 2.
Spykids 3...D.
Baby Geniuses 2.

It's very, very possible to make movies that are good for kids but not obnoxious for...non-kids. Take a tip from Pixar, dammit. I'm ranting.

He has a case, but the thing is..christ, why does he even give a fucking shit so much?

Make money money, make money money money.

What a mongerer.

I hate sharkboy. :n:

Oh well.

:shifty:

Marvel successfully sued WWF for having a wrestler called "The Incredible Hulk Hogan" back in the day. For years they had to show the disclaimer that "Hulk" was copright to Marvel.

Spoken like someone who's never had to protect and intellectual property.

IF he doesn't defend it here, he essentially LOSES his trademarks in a court of law.

In fact, there was a series of big articles dealing with them suing Marvel to extend the licensing so they could do WWE 24/7 with Hulk Hogan. WCW folks have said it was the reason they switched to Hollyood Hogan.

This isn't secret info.

Further, Bret's trademarks extend only to the specific name "Bret 'the Hitman' Hart." Shitty exampels from someone talking out of his ass.

:heart:

It isn't talking out the ass KK. It's typing through the fingers. God damn.

Secondly, my main point above all is he'll lose his trademarks..but why does he really give a shit? It's fucking sharkboy, ya see where I'm going here.

How profitable is he exactly, through that gimmick? I'll wager not that high. This film is perhaps the best thing that ever could have happened to him, financially speaking of course. He has a case, it's just such a laughable one, imho. Get it? If not, post no further.

Yes, And it's face first into a wall. I know you're an attention whore, probably being contrary just so you can get people to respond to you, but your argument is pointless.

It's only Shark Boy, but Hell, if I had an action figure coming out, and might lose income because I didn't challenge a movie, I'd do it too.

But hey, just because it's probably more money than you'll see in a lifetime, doesn't mean it's significant.

I was beat to the punch on that one... Yeah, that's what I wanted to say.
Maybe Shark Boy should just bite Lava Girl on the ass.