Harry Potter and the Changing Trademark
Quidditch is dead. Long live Quadball.
According to a July 19, 2022 press release on the Major League Quadball website (“MLQ,” formerly known as Major League Quidditch), the real-life sport inspired by the fictional game Quidditch from the Harry Potter book and movie series, will now be known as Quadball. The press release announced the renaming both by US Quadball (formerly known as US Quidditch) and the International Quidditch Association.
If you didn’t know that Quadball – or Quidditch – was a thing: According to the press release, the real-life sport was created in 2005 at Middlebury College in Vermont and “has since exploded in popularity across the country and around the world.” The game imitates the fictional Quidditch to the extent possible, (obviously) without magic. For example, rather than flying on broomsticks, players in the real-life sport must run with a broomstick between their legs, though the broomsticks have also been less-magically described in other media coverage as PVC pipe.
The MLQ press release gave two reasons for the name change: (1) the increasing scrutiny of Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling for her anti-trans statements on social media; and (2) trademark ownership.
With regard to the first reason, we’ve previously written on this blog about companies taking stands for social justice issues, or, in this case, taking stands against positions with which they disagree.
As to trademark ownership, Warner Brothers Entertainment Inc. owns multiple trademark registrations in the U.S. and around the world for QUIDDITCH for a variety of items including a variety of clothing, toys and sporting equipment, and jewelry. However, there are no registrations for marks including the term QUIDDITCH for any kind of sports entertainment service.
The press release states that “USQ and MLQ will own the trademark for ‘quadball’ in the United States.” A review of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office database indicates that, on December 16, 2021, a company called The Queue Project, LLC filed an application to register QUADBALL for organization of athletic and fitness events and related goods and services, but it has yet to be examined.
Time will tell how the USQ and MLQ will fare at the USPTO, but all we know at this point is that Quidditch has joined Voldemort as that which cannot be named (at least after the 2022 championship seasons ended).