The future survival of the trademarked term “Comic-Con” is at stake.

The trademark is facing its potential doom because of the legal fallout from the producers of the San Diego Comic-Con flexing their IP muscles. They sued a competing “Comic-Con” convention for using the unhyphenated form of their trademarked term “Comic-Con” without paying them licensing fees. But their suit has raised questions about the legitimacy of the trademark—in particular whether the trademark has become too generic, and hence a a victim to its own pop-culture popularity.

The San Diego Comic Convention, the producers of the San Diego Comic-Con event, launched a legal battle against the producers of Salt Lake Comic Con. Both conventions are drool-worthy for fans of comic books and other areas of geek culture. The lawsuit claims the Salt Lake venue is capitalizing on the goodwill of the Comic-Con brand to mislead and confuse consumers into believing that the Utah venue is tied to the original Comic-Con venture.