Never mind SEAL Team 7, then…but SEAL Team 11 is wide open!

Regular Trog readers may remember this story:

Disney has filed an application to trademark the name of the U.S. commando unit credited with dispatching Osama bin Laden.

I considered it a tad inappropriate, but otherwise a damn fine business decision. Well:

Walt Disney Co. said Wednesday that it would pull an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in which the entertainment giant sought the exclusive right to use the term “SEAL Team 6″ on items ranging from toys and games to snow globes and Christmas stockings.

They said their intentions were misunderstood.

But, other than the followup on my original post, I’m more interested in this part of the story:

The Navy confirms the existence of SEAL Teams 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 10. The Navy has never acknowledged the existence of Team 9…

…so we can trademark that, then? Since it “doesn’t exist?” Wink, wink?

…while SEAL Team 6, the service’s most elite hunter-killer team, is officially called the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group, or DevGru.

Unofficially, DevGru is widely known as SEAL Team 6.

Well what good is “DevGru?” That’s a marketing nightmare. Sounds like something you hear playing your old records backward. It sounds like something educational. “Look, honey, Santa brought you some DevGru toys!” “[blank stare]”

“We certainly would not request a trademark on a SEAL team that doesn’t exist, like SEAL Team 6,” said a Navy official.

Oh, it doesn’t exist. That’s why you didn’t want Disney to trademark it? Plus, if it doesn’t exist, how can it be “officially called” DevGru?

Huh? Huh? Oh, hang on…somebody knocking at the door…