Oh, if only that were true. Talking dogs, rabbits, a fanciful mythical setting — you would think we could phone those reports in. The work we do on animated scripts in fact presents a very challenging set of clearance concerns. I’ve already talked about this work (August 2018) in a newsletter but there is a bit more to be said.
“Clearing for broadcast” was the expression I had heard for many years regarding what “clearing” a script entailed. A script clearance company reviews the script and flags potential invasion of privacy, trademark infringement, copyright infringement, defamation scenarios. Once the producer had addressed the issues raised in the report, the e&o requirement was satisfied and the script was “clear for broadcast.”
We have a lot of experience, however, from doing all those trademark searches for script clearance and title search reports over the years. So, producers have asked us over the years to be more and more involved in the research that happens before a merchandise line can be launched for childrens’ television. [We have never been asked to do this work for adult-skewed animation projects.] That has added 3 time-consuming elements to the searching for kids’ animation.
- a list of sources that are specific to what’s in the story. If “it’s about a bunch of talking dogs” then we’ll check the sources we have that list fictional dog/animal characters. Strange as it may seem, we have a bunch of materials that fall into this category.
- a detailed internet search on the dogs’ names using specific keywords in our searching. How often has the dog name BOOMERANG (made-up example) been used in projects that might be relevant? What is “relevant” might be a book series published for kids, a 1990s kids’ television show, a line of plush toys by Gund, a dog greeter mascot at a chain of amusement parks. It’s amazing how much we find. That part of the searching can take a dog-sized bite out of the day.
- the trademark searching. Looking first in class 28 (toys/games), we look to see what has trademark protection in any of the 186 databases available through our subscription to CompuMark’s SERION databases. Some clients who go heavy on “merch” have asked us to add a step here: searching the other classes in which most kid stuff appears.
The primary list includes class 9 – computers/technology, class 24 – textiles , class 25 – clothing/footwear, class 41 – production of media projects/entertainment services.
Because we want to focus on the two products that are our specialties, we have recently decided to restrict the amount of additional one-off trademark searching we will provide for clients. Unless the trademark searching you are requesting comes from a script we have read or is a follow-up to a title search we have prepared, we will refer you for additional searching to the trademark specialists listed on the “Resources” page of our website (See Referrals | Trademark Searching). If you are launching a product line in relation to your media project, that list of people who specialize in trademark searching is the place for you.
First published August, 2019