Because the name Captain Marvel wasn't in use anymore, senpai. Not after DC took Fawcett to court and made them stop publishing the character.

the thing is while Cap appeared before Marvel's Mar-vell, hell even before Marvel was named Marvel, there was a while during that time after the DC lawsuit drove Fawcett to close shop, DC didn't acquired the rights immediately, and during that time the right of the name were in limbo, those before DC could secure the rights, Marvel realize there is no current copyright on the name, so they create their own, by the time DC is able to get the rights of the original character, Marvel had already established his with all the legal background established, thus we end they way we are right now

>>77502645
It wasn't in use. Fawcett stopped publishing Captain Marvel comics in the early 1950's after they settled with DC or something like that. So the name wasn't used for more than a decade by the time Marvel used it.

And it's a trademark issue, not a copyright issue. Trademarks have to be continuously in use otherwise they lose it.

>>77502688
That isn't how copyright works.

>>77502802
Fuck trademarks. Trademarks are like copyright's musclebound autistic older brother.

>>77502816
This isn't a copyright issue, it's a trademark issue. You lose a trademark without continuous use. That's why Marvel can no longer use The Champions, because they let the trademark lapse and another publisher made their own Champions which they have kept with the trademark on.

The original Captain Marvel trademark went out of use because DC sued Fawcett out of existence, resulting in no new Captain Marvel material for over a decade, causing the trademark to lapse and giving Marvel the opportunity to make their own Captain Marvel. DC didn't buy and start to use the Fawcett characters until the 70s.

Was gonna chime in on copyright vs trademark, but anon has already done a solid job, and explained why the name "Captain Marvel" was available for trademarking by Marvel Comics. Solid work.

Just gonna offer, as a clarifying example, that copyright issues would be if Marvel started reprinting old issues of the Fawcett Captain Marvel comics (he appeared in Whiz or something, wasn't it?).

>>77502959
They could print his first appearance. That's public domain.

>>77502959
Captain Marvel showed up in Whiz Comics and Captain Marvel Adventures and The Marvel Family.

Some of those comics may be in the public domain, though. That being said Marvel is really more interested in characters they can own outright.

>>77503004
That's pretty interesting, I didn't know it was public domain.

See, I'm not gonna pretend Intellectual Property Law is easy. It pays to know what you're talking about. I mean this stuff is relatively simple, but some patent stuff, in the science and technology industries, even ignoring patent trolls... it gets sticky.

>>77502645
just imagine what it would be like if somebody at Marvel had had the sense to buy the rights to him before DC did

>>77503245
They'd probably have to drastically overhaul him to prevent Superman comparisons (at the time DC was rather strict about preventing Superman analogues, they didn't loosen up until they lost that Greatest American Hero case, I think)

>>77503245
just look at the Sentry, and i have a pretty good idea of how marvel would had done it