No. Because then they either say it's wrong and go full RIAA on everyone's ass (which can't happen due to China being China) or they say it's ok with them. Which would be bad because that means KO makers and more third parties will spring up, and one of which might finally cross the line and force hasbro to do something.

It would be a lose lose.

 

Good post....

Its a "damned if you do damned if you don't" situation...

 

Sorry, just wanted to correct some misinformation here. Actually, the robot can be protected by copyright as a sculpture. The molds used to make the toys and the design drawings can also be protected under copyright as artistic works. Furthermore, rights in design drawings can be breached by the creation of three dimensional objects based on those drawings. In essence, copyright protects the expression of an idea (in this case, in toy form), not the idea itself.

Additionally, the names of characters and the term Transformers are protected as registered trademarks, not copyright.

Nonetheless, thanks for the answers everyone  

 

not for me. i mentioned it before and i'll say it again, i don't care much for these companies. those companies can die out for all i care. i won't lose anything.

 

you might not, but the rest of us will.

 

your life and everybody else will move on and probably most of you will still collect transformers no matter what.

 

ugh. its nice to have these 3rd party companies around. hopefully we can enjoy their products for another decade.

 

The 3rd party companies fill a void that hasbro/takara have not/will not fill themselves.

"poking the bear" by asking hasbro about it does nothing whatsoever but invite trouble.

Hasbro cannot touch the companies based in China, because China doesn't give 2 shits about our laws.

 

Hasbro should reverse-engineer the third-party stuff, mass-produce them and sell them for half the third-party prices or less.

 

No need to be a douche about it.

 

That would be hilarious! HA!

 

Wouldn't that be actually legal because China does not have a copyright?  

 

Oh joy, another new thread with that talks about 3rd party companies again.

 

I'm thinking it would. Shoe, meet other foot.  

 

my guess is hasbro is not too intellectual or maybe hasbro is simply afraid of the nuclear missiles of china. I heard rumors that there are also pirated disneylands in China and nobody is complaining.

 

Hasbro basically has to choose their battles. this kind of thing requires time and money, and the outcome may not be worth it.

What I'm surprised they haven't done, however, is tell BBTS and TFSource and such to stop selling 3rd party toys or get cut off.

 

it would be kinda interesting if third party stuff was just sold in toy stores in china.

hasbro should just sell their stuff for cheaper.

 

Pretty sure both don't carry anything that's super IP infringing like Igear's seekers. Things like Warbot are ok though.

 

tfsource has the igear seekers for preorder.

 

So, basically, your attitude is "These don't matter to me one way or the other, so I want to see the fun ruined for everyone else for no reason whatsoever".

That's a lot like going to some kid's party and thinking "Man, balloons are lame. Who cares about balloons?" and then popping all the balloons and shrugging when the kids cry.