• by Ray Schultz , July 26, 2022

UFO Magazine has lost a trademark lawsuit against Showtime Networks Inc. over the use of the term UFO.  

The magazine had charged that Showtime violated the trademark registration that it first registered in 2007 with its TV series titled “UFO.”

U.S. Senior District Judge Nancy D. Freudenthal dismissed the magazine’s complaint, saying that it failed to show that Showtime’s conduct is governed by the Lanham Act, the law cited by UFOMagazine.  

It was not known at deadline if the magazine intends to appeal.

Freudenthal noted that “UFO Magazine, without citation to legal authority, argues that the 'UFO 'Series does not merit protection under the First Amendment because the series [is] ‘a compilation and regurgitation of archived and stale tapes and tales that have been cobbled together for the purpose of generating revenue.'”

The judge counters that “UFO Magazine’s contention is meritless. The First Amendment protects expressive works, their titles, and advertising identifying the expressive work by title ‘[e]ven if [they are] not the expressive equal of 'Anna Karenina' or 'Citizen Kane.’”

The judge’s review of the Showtime series itself shows that it uses “a documentary format to display interviews, video clips, and still images, all choreographed with suspenseful music, to explore various historical, cultural, and political aspects of the UFO topic.”

Freudenthal notes that “the term UFO, an acronym for unidentified flying object, entered the English language in the early 1950s and has been used approximately 70 years to refer to ‘flying saucers’ and ‘any unexplained object[s] moving in the sky.”’

The case is on file with the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming.