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Hasbro Is Suing DC Over The Name 'Bumblebee'

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A legal battle is heating up between toy giant Hasbro and DC Entertainment over two characters that share the same name.

For Transformers, Bumblebee is a yellow and black robot that's been around since the franchise's beginnings in the early 1980s (the Transformers Generation 1 toy line and cartoon launched in 1984). For DC, Bumblebee is the company's first female African American superhero, created for Teen Titans in 1976 by Bob Rozakis, though it wasn't until the next year that she began using the name Bumblebee. Bumblebee is a member of DC's Super Hero Girls franchise.

According to a report from Variety, Hasbro filed a trademark for Bumblebee in July of 2015, just three months after DC announced DC Super Hero Girls in partnership with rival toymaker Mattel. The lawsuit alleges that DC's use of Bumblebee is "likely to cause confusion, mistake and/or deception among the public."

Just to be clear, so that there is no confusion in this article, here is a photo of Bumblebee from Transformers:

Hasbro Is Suing DC Over The Name 'Bumblebee'

And here's a photo of Bumblebee from DC Super Hero Girls:

Hasbro Is Suing DC Over The Name 'Bumblebee'

We'll keep you updated on this developing situation.

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Jude TerrorAbout Jude Terror

A prophecy once said that in the comic book industry's darkest days, a hero would come to lead the people through a plague of overpriced floppies, incentive variant covers, #1 issue reboots, and super-mega-crossover events. Sadly, that prophecy was wrong. Oh, Jude Terror was right. For ten years. About everything. But nobody listened. And so, Jude Terror has moved on to a more important mission: turning Bleeding Cool into a pro wrestling dirt sheet!
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