Comments on: Why so much Ado about the Winnetou Trademark? – An Editorial

By: Shane

Shane — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:01:17 +0000

As far as I know if a piece of art is over 100 years old it is considered public domain. Art being….Music, Books, Etc

By: christel

christel — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 04:16:46 +0000

Very interesting to read all about the real facts at last! So some woman is trying to register the names Winnetou and Old Shatterhand as a Trademark.
I can’t understand that the Trademark Office is so slack! Don’t they know that these names are in the public domain? Don’t they know how we Germans feel about Karl May?
Then I also read about this person claiming she is a fan of Karl May on one hand, but works hand in hand with the Karl May Verlag whom we all know to have exploited Karl May for more than a lifetime. But now she wants to claim the Trademark for her own company, “WHY”?
Would a real fan go so far to used this beloved Author’s Characters for their own benefit? It seems too easy take a famous name, make it your own and profit from the work of others without ever doing any real work! Isn’t that illegal?
The Trademark Offices should stop these kind of applications right now, or is it also so money hungry that it will take funds without doing any real work?

By: Melissa

Melissa — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:46:58 +0000

I was reading your article with great interest. I have done some investigating on my own and I have a couple comments. I went on the trademark site and looked up Winnetou. The applicant for this trademark had to file a declaration that the name Winnetou is not used in commerce or there is no other product on the market that would cause confusion. This puzzles me because there are many Winnetou films put out in the 1960’s and I also found a film called “Winnetou’s Return” produced in 1998 and even a stage play in American in 1989. Let’s not forget about the open air theater productions that go on at all the Karl May Festivals around the world, so how could this even pass through the trademark office. Clearly the applicant would have done some research on this and known about these since the categories that were filed for cover plays, television shows, DVD’s, movies etc. But the required declarations were signed, which by the way you can view on the trademark office website, stating there is nothing on the market that can be confused with the trademark. I find it shocking that this even got past the application process. Let’s not forget that it states right on the trademarks website you do not have to file a trademark for a product that is used in commerce so the search must be expanded beyond what is on file in their database, you need to search the entire market to make sure that an application is valid. Needless to say someone was sleeping on the job and just pushed this through. I can’t believe this! It can happen “only in America”.
Your article makes a good point, if this trademark goes through, every time Winnetou would be used in any of these categories, the applicant would be entitled to a sum of money without doing anything but owning the trademark name. How can the trademark office be so blind and not verify this information? With the internet at our fingertips all you have to do is type in Winnetou and you get pages upon pages of sites that sell movies and DVD’s. Surely it doesn’t take that much effort to dispute these claims.

By: Victor Epp

Victor Epp — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 02:35:52 +0000

I felt the need to wholeheartedly endorse your editorial regarding the whole Winnetou trademark issue. The time for trademark registration of the names of Winnetou and Old Shatterhand is long past and the manner in which this attempt is being made is an insult of the highest order to their creator. These names are not merely names without meaning. Over time, they have become synonymous with the moral values held by the author, a fact that he himself espoused in his autobiography. You can’t just slice off the piece of pie you want and discard the rest.

That the perpetrators of this trademark application exclusively worship the golden calf without concern for its far-reaching implications is self-evident. Having just completed the Satan and Iscariot trilogy, I am struck by the similarity of their operations to those of the Meltons in that story. Karl May has described them quite accurately – and that was a hundred years ago. I wonder why they don’t apply to trade mark the names of Thomas, Harry, and Jonathan Melton instead. It would seem more appropriate, although not nearly as savory.

But that is only the tip of the iceberg. How for example, would the Native American population view this exploitation of the Apache character known all around the world and held up to exemplify the best of human traits? Has anyone even bothered to ask? One would have thought that would be the first thing the Trademark Office would take into account. Are Native Americans nothing more than a trading commodity? They must be, given the lack of due diligence exercised by the bureaucracy. It isn’t even a matter of commercial adventure. It’s a matter of human dignity. Karl May must be spinning in his grave.

And the most rankling of all is the cavalier way in which the storyteller is relegated to the dustbin. Karl May’s motivation in writing these parables is quite clear and well documented. He was passionate about it. We are now at a place where, through the electronic medium we can reach people around the world to share his stories and teachings just as people did around a campfire in the days when stories were an important way for people to gain wisdom. It would indeed be a sad commentary if all of this were to be sold down the river for thirty pieces of silver.

The bureaucrats would do well to remember that a good deal of the American constitution is based on the practices of the Six Nation Confederacy. It would be a mistake to tramp on the dignity of its native peoples for fear of tramping on the dignity of the constitution itself. The way I see it is that all parties would be best served if the trademark issue were summarily extinguished, and the matter were pursued in the true spirit of Karl May’s wishes.