Two days after the US Navy's elite SEAL Team 6 swooped on Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, killing the al-Qaeda leader, a lawyer for the Burbank, California-based entertainment company filed an application with the US Patent and Trademark Office for use of the term ''SEAL Team 6''.

Last week, the navy countered by filing two trademark applications of its own for the names ''Navy SEALs'' and ''SEAL Team.'' On Wednesday, Disney yielded to the navy.

''Out of deference to the navy's application for these trademarks, we have withdrawn ours,'' a Disney spokesman said.

Disney found itself in an increasingly embarrassing position, becoming the fodder for jokes on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and the subject of TV news stories that sought to portray the entertainment company as crass for trying to cash in on the elite unit.

Disney's May 3 application requested the right to use ''SEAL Team 6'' on an assortment of products including ''gymnastic and sporting articles (except clothing); hand-held units for playing electronic games … Christmas stockings; Christmas tree ornaments and decorations; snow globes''.

The company was trying to cover its legal bases after television executives for the American Broadcasting Corporation, which Disney owns, had preliminary discussions about creating a TV series about a navy unit, an ABC executive said.

The application request went beyond the confines of a TV show and included the types of merchandise that have become Disney hallmarks.

LOS ANGELES TIMES