Parenting app in mother of all trademark battles

A French woman is involved in the mother of all battles with DC Comics for naming her family advice app Wondermum.

- Kim Willsher

Lise Sobéron received a letter from the superhero comic publisher's French lawyers on 1 April demanding she stop using the name because of its alleged similarity to Wonder Woman.

"When I got the letter, I rang my close friends and said: 'Very funny, guys,' thinking it was an April fool," she said. "Then I contacted the lawyers' office and realised it was no joke. They told me DC Comics objected to the name Wondermum."

Sobéron, 43, who visits schools to talk about bullying, is a hero to parents and children in Caen in Normandy, where her company is based. The app provides local listings for family activities and ateliers (workshops) as well as advice and a chatroom. She insists her creation bears no resemblance to the fictional Wonder Woman.

Sobéron's Wondermum has no red, gold and blue star-spangled outfit but wears a white T-shirt, blue trousers and red stiletto heels, with not a headdress in sight.

She does sport a hexagonal pink and purple logo containing the letters WM, but Wondermum is a single word - unlike Wonder Woman - and uses the British spelling of "mum", not the American "mom".