Universal bullied Sony with Trademark lies?

I just read on the Hotel Transylvania Wiki that they couldn’t let Dracula have a widow’s peak or red lined cape because of trademark issues with Universal Studios.

I thought this was odd because they are trying to trademark aspects of a public domain character but a simple Google search made this revelation even stranger.

1. Hammer had Christopher Lee wear a red lined cape all the time. Starting in 1958 and ending in the 1980s when he would do guest appearances on shows and film as Dracula.

He also had the widow’s peak on a more literary accurate Dracula in 1970 for the film Count Dracula (Not to be confused with the BBC mini-series of the same name from 1977).

Most recently a clip of Christopher Lee as Dracula appeared in Disney’s Frankenweenie in 2012.

2. Dear Dracula is a children’s book and TV Holiday special from 2012. It was not made by Universal Studios. In fact there was a Kickstarter campaign to pay for the animated feature. There is no way they could have afforded to pay Universal Studios. The film was released to DVD exclusively for Walmart, such was the limited budget. But Dear Dracula features the red lined cape and the widow’s peak haircut.

3. At Halloween many companies sell Dracula costumes depicting men with Widow’s Peaks and wearing the red lined cape. And these are not sold by Universal Studios.

4. Widow’s peaks often happen naturally based on real-life hairlines. That would be like trying to trademark a blue eyed Victor Frankenstein (another Public Domain character). You couldn’t possibly get away with it.

5. Fair use and Parody laws would recognize that Hotel Transylvania is a parody.

6. Love at First Bite (also released by Sony, the same company that gave us Hotel Transylvania) featured a version of Dracula with the widow’s peak. This was 1979.

7. Dracula in Buffy vs. Dracula (Episode 1 of Season 5 of Buffy The Vampire Slayer) featured Dracula also with the widow’s peak and red lined black cape. This was released through Warner Brothers for the CW at the time. This was in 2000.

8. Marvel comics Dracula bears both the red lined cape and the Widow’s Peak.


9. Though the red lined cape may have first been used by Bela Lugosi, the widow’s peak was first described (as I recall it) in the original Dracula novel while he’s in his old man form. You cannot trademark content from a Public Domain novel. That is illegal and violates international copyright laws.


So where did this this so-called Universal Studios “Trademark” issue with Dracula wearing a red lined cape and having a widow’s peak actually come from?