No, Disney didn’t trademark Loki the Norse god

Trademarks are such fickle things. From KISS frontman Gene Simmons trying to trademark the money bag logo to Kylie Jenner’s attempt to nail down the phrase “rise and shine,” there’s no doubt that people and corporations sometimes overreach when trying to lock down their intellectual property rights. Is it happening in this case?

Here are the facts: Disney trademarked “Loki” back when the first Thor movie was released in 2011. Now, The Washington Post reports that now some fans of the original Norse god Loki are crying foul. The conflict arose on Australian marketplace Redbubble, which removed a tee-shirt design that closely resembled a 2019 version of the Loki character from Marvel Comics. “Disney thinks they can copyright someone’s culture now. 21st century colonialism right here,” one Twitter user wrote. Another launched a Change.org petition to “Stop Disney Trademarking The Names of Norse Gods.”

To be clear, Disney did not trademark Loki the Norse god. You can’t actually trademark gods, though there are several “God” trademarks on record because you can trademark a specific version of God that you come up with. (Think Buddy Christ from Dogma.) “(Disney) could not just trademark the word Loki or any Norse god because they are in the public domain,” intellectual property lawyer Jeremy A. Briggs told the Post. “(Disney) is trademarking the name in association with the character they made up. Disney is not trying to trademark a god.”

Disney owns the trademark to their version of Loki, not the Norse god

When it comes to IP, Disney keeps a close eye on how their characters are used on platforms like Etsy and Redbubble, where fans can sell their homemade wares, including some based on Marvel characters. Loki has always been a popular subject for Redbubble artists because the Norse god is so fluid that there are any number of ways he can be depicted.

The issue arises when fans use representations of Disney’s Loki in their work to make a profit. When possible conflicts arise, more often than not it’s the content platform itself that flags the issue before Disney sees it.

Don’t be surprised to find Disney trademarking other characters’ names in the future. But just as there is now a realm full of Lokis on the Disney+ series, it’s important to remember that there are many versions of Loki out there and Disney has not trademarked them.

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