The US President’s eagerly-awaited military space branch has hit a snag: streaming giant Netflix has secured trademark rights to ‘Space Force’ in Europe, Australia, Mexico and elsewhere for its comedy show of the same name – with the Trump administration yet to grab the rights to the name in the US.
The Hollywood Reporter says the Air Force only owns a pending application for registration inside the United States based on an intent to use.
Of course, there’s no reason to think that anyone will confuse the military branch with the TV series, but the trademark is likely to become an issue when Netflix wants to sell merchandise related to the show.
Add in Trump’s penchant for licensing his brand to developers of hotels, casinos and golf courses and it could get ugly.
The Air Force maintains it’s not going to set its guns to taser just yet however.
“At this time, we are not aware of any trademark conflicts with the fictional program Space Force produced by Netflix,” their spokesperson said. “We wish Netflix and the show’s producers the best in their creative depiction of our nation’s newest branch of the military.”
Given the series has scored just 40% positive reviews for its first season, sounds like Space Force – the fictional one at least – is a fizzer.
