Some Trademark Claims Against MAD Magazine Revived on Appeal

The widow of cartoonist Don Martin convinced the Eleventh Circuit to revive some of her claims that MAD Magazine used her husband’s name and sold counterfeit versions of his cartoons without permission.

Norma Martin’s allegations for works published before 2015 were properly barred by Florida’s four-year statute of limitations, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit said in an unsigned, unpublished opinion. But it revived her claims based on publications the defendants issued more recently.

Don Martin was a cartoonist and gag writer who regularly contributed to MAD from the 1950s to 1980s.

Norma Martin sued MAD ...