After the reaction to the reinvented logo many may think DC now stands for Disappointing Comics, but the new logo isn't an inevitable change. DC Comics and DC Entertainment registered the logo with the US Government’s trademark people, but what exactly does that mean? Bleeding Cool writer Rich Johnston spoke with an intellectual property attorney after it had given us a look at the new logo.
The attorney stated that:
It is set up as an “intent to use” application, which means they haven’t started using it anywhere yet. Generally speaking, when you file one of those, and the USPTO reviews it to make sure there aren’t any obvious conflicts (which there shouldn’t be), they’ll give you something called a Notice of Allowance. From that point, you have 6 months to actually use the mark somewhere and file a “Statement of Use,” after which the registration will become official. You can extend that 6 months up to a total of three years.
So, what this means is that at some point within the next three years or so, they’re planning to use this mark. They don’t HAVE to, though, and they can always abandon it, if they choose. Trademark registrations aren’t all that expensive, so changing their minds depending on people’s reactions is certainly within the realm of possibility (particularly since you put it out there, although TM filings are public, so what can they do, really?)
The most interesting part is that the filings aren't "all that expensive" and it may change "depending on people's reactions." This may be like the internet addresses that are bought and held for any and all possible movie names and other DC properties. Something may come of this, then again it could just be something they want to see how the public responds to first.
Artist Chris Haley also touched up the designs and posted them to twitter: