Halloween Trademarks: Star Wars Edition

Halloween is almost here. Have you picked out your costume yet?

According to the National Retail Federation, consumers plan to spend an average of $27.33 on Halloween costumes for the whole family, and a total of $2.5 billion on store-bought, homemade, large and small costumes. It’s estimated that 68 million Americans will dress up this Halloween.

If you’re having trouble making a costume decision, then Google’s Frightgeist can help. Frightgeist is powered by Google Trends and tells you what costume ideas people are searching for online.

As usual, Hollywood heavily influences the costume decision making process. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you would know that the seventh installment in the Star Wars film series – Star Wars: The Force Awakens – is coming to theaters on December 18, 2015. Given the heavy promotional effort accompanying the film’s release, it should come as no surprise that Star Wars characters are the second most popular costumes this year. Even my 4-year old son is into it.

Disney owns the Star Wars brand, and it doesn’t just rely on “The Force” to protect its lucrative costume business. Star Wars costumes are protected by a number of federal trademark registrations.

Have a happy Halloween! And be sure to check out the official Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer in case you haven’t seen it: