Ironic thing is Hasbro was sued a few years ago over a name in the littlest pet shop. (it was a dumb lawsuit however. She claimed the toy stole her name and was making fun of her!)

 

Silly suit. She isn't even a toy!

 

I... I'm always flabbergasted by how suit-happy the US are.

Cya
Raziel-chan

 

A good example of that is Wheeljack. He had to be "Autobot Wheeljack" and Shockwave had to start going by Shockblast for a while. Some times a space or adding Autobot, Deceoticon, or "Owner's" is not enough.

 

Thing is we know Hasbro plays by the rules. If someone else owns a name like Hot Rod, Bluestreak, Outback, Trailbreaker, etc. They make sure to change the names of the toys to respect that trademark. Not sure why DC can't seem to return the favor. Heck, for a while Hasbro didn't own Bumblebee, and guess what? They didn't use the name UNTIL it was free again!

 

Wheeljack was "Autobot Wheeljack" exactly once, and even then it was used inconsistently for the exact same toy.

All other toys were simply "Wheeljack".

 

Yes, it's really gotten unfortunate in the past 20-25 years...

 

I have trouble distinguishing women from cars all the time so this deeply concerns me

 

Kid tells grandma they want the "Bumblebee brick toy" for their birthday. Grandma walks in the store and asks the stock boy where to find Bumblebee... Where does the stock boy send her? To Lego DC Bumblebee or Hasbro Kre-O Bumblebee? Do you see why they have trademarks and only one company uses a specific name at one time?

 

Yet both of those names are words not invented by Hasbro, and were not always Registered Trademarks for Hasbro until sometime recently, so Hasbro had to play the name game for them at first before they were able to get them back.

Obviously what is and isn't going to be enough will be decided by the courts, although I still predict a settlement will be reached long before then.

 

Actually you've got a fair point there. People go shopping for there children or grandchildren either with just a name, or the vaguest of descriptions way more often than you'd think. Just a few weeks ago I had an elderly woman approach me at work and and ask where the "dinobots" are...that could literally mean SO MANY things, especially for a child at the age-group she was shopping for!!!!! Even when we'd narrowed it down to just transformers (cause let's be honest a young kid could mean just about anything that's mechanical and looks like a dinosaur when they say "dinobot"), then you get into movie vs generations vs RID vs rescuebots, and there's the whole "do they want a character that is specifically a member of the dinobots or simply a TF that becomes a dinosaur" and by the end you're just hoping that little Bobby is satisfied so you don't catch grief over it later...and why couldn't the kid have just been A LITTLE more specific????...grrrrrrr...sometimes I just want to pull my hair out!!!!

End rant.

But yeah, you can see where it would be a problem.

 

and all of that means precisely jack when time warner can afford to tie this up for years. they have money to not only burn but to urinate on the ashes!

doesn't matter how much you are in the right if the other side can afford fancy lawyers, look at oj!

 

There is truth to the idea that money can hold more power than the actual law... but Time Warner has to care enough about DC's Bumblebee to want to spend all that money fighting Hasbro on this.

And, bluntly, I just don't see it. DC's Bumblebee is pretty far from "A-list." Can it really be worth it to them to fight Hasbro (which has far more at stake in the Bumblebee name, it seems to me)?

 

they are marketing the hell out of the dc superherogirls line there is animated movies, toys, dolls, bigger dolls, lego, lego movies, role play items, books, comics, clothing, etc and she is one of the main characters in the show and was the hero of the first movie.

plus they will also fight for minority representation being that she is one of the few black characters dc has

 

All that's granted. But I don't think it means nearly as much as you seem to think it does.

 

imagine how much will have to be recalled and how much that will cost vs the future use of an extremely popular character aka the same as Hasbro but time warner are a bigger company

 

They may be a bigger company, but Hasbro has a registered trademark that was never contested, and Mattel/DC is infringing on their trademark regardless of company size, minority representation and whatnot.

 

*sigh* I just don't think that means to them what you think it does.

And, again, the law IS on Hasbro's side on this. Even allowing for "most money wins, regardless," Time Warner has to go through a lot more effort to bend the courts to their will (in violation of the very spirit of how the law is supposed to work) than Hasbro does.

And, seriously, Hasbro just simply cares more than DC does. Put that "Imagine how much..." language in Hasbro's hands, keeping in mind that we're ONLY talking about toys (and marketing related to toys) here, and I think you'll agree that Hasbro has MUCH more invested already....

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Let me suggest an entirely different angle. If DC did have to change the name of their Bumblebee (again, we're really only talking about toys, here, but let's even assume for the sake of argument it had to be wider). They could do so without significant loss to the character's identity.

Not so with Hasbro (they might once have been able to just use "Goldbug," but the audience for whom that name change would work is well outside of their target demographic). If the Transformer wasn't allowed to be called "Bumblebee," people would assume that they were marketing an entirely different character (how many of us really think of Armada Hot Shot as Bumblebee? Their personalities and color scheme aren't that different, but the name is pretty important here).

DC's Bumblebee could be marketed as "Karen Beecher-Duncan" and/or change her heroic name entirely, and people would pick up her toys at almost the exact same rate.

 

More likely, what's already out there will stay out there. It'll affect future marketing more than current marketing.

 

I just think this is going to be a big fight and not something Hasbro should have taken on especially at this time