Hasbro Reapplies for M.A.S.K. Trademark But Stay Calm Fans!

The buzz on Facebook and Twitter the last couple days has been a recent ToyArk story about Hasbro applying for a M.A.S.K. trademark. Wyatt and I have publically supported a comeback for almost 4 years now so this is great news, but I believe we should be a little cautious when declaring that M.A.S.K. is set for a return.

Here are a couple things that lead me to believe this is simply a RE-application of the trademark and not necessarily a sign of a comeback. M.A.S.K.'s original trademark was approved back in Nov 1984 for use by CPG Products which was the parent company for Kenner. Hasbro acquired M.A.S.K. in 1991 and it appears the trademark was cancelled for CPG in 1992. Hasbro then picked up the tradmark sometime after (which I couldn't find any paperwork online.) But with the current trademark on M.A.S.K. issued in Dec 2009 and with a trademark validation term being 10 years, it makes sense to me that 2014 (the 30th anniversary) would require new trademark paperwork to reapply. Of course, this is speculation as I've had no legal training on patent and trademark law, but I think my conclusion is logical. Hasbro is simply taking the steps to keep M.A.S.K. under their umbrella of owned properties.

So what should we take away from this hype? I think the best thing to take out of it is that M.A.S.K. still means something to Hasbro and they want to keep ownership of the brand. Does it mean we might see something new this year on the 30th anniversary? I think it's very possible, but I think at this point it's too premature to say we definitely will. We've only seen M.A.S.K. being used sparingly since Hasbro took over Kenner with the main appearances being Specialist Trakker G.I. Joe figure and the 2011 IDW promo comic book.

Rest assured though if more M.A.S.K. news arises from the Hasbro camp, we'll pass it along to the community. But for now...