Hasbro going to go after 3rd party companies?

Discussion in 'Transformers News and Rumors' started by Insane Galvatron, Oct 17, 2011.

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  1. General Tekno

    General Tekno Lugnut Supremor & Arkivist

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    Re: the legal talk, Venksta, that brings up a point... if Hasbro goes after groups who might legally get a pass in a court of law, would said groups fold over the potential legal costs of the case?
     
  2. Gilgamesh

    Gilgamesh Mostly Harmless

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    They can cut a deal with them: let them keep going with Hasbro's endorsement but they can only make Bumblebees from now on.

    Coming soon: Fansproject Bumblebee upgrade armor.
     
  3. dkr7

    dkr7 Well-Known Member

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    Good things never last :( 
     
  4. DrillBIT

    DrillBIT Silver Wolf

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    I'll call that "Bubblebee".
    Bee in a bubble. Nice looking, but easy to pop. :) 
     
  5. General Tekno

    General Tekno Lugnut Supremor & Arkivist

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    If anything, Hasbro would force them to do anything BUT Bumblebee. He's their cash cow.
     
  6. seekerblackout

    seekerblackout Banned

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    Or Hasbro will beat them at their own game. It's always possible
     
  7. turboedguy

    turboedguy minibotologist

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    Like others have said, I see igear and CHMS/Kotoys probably being their main concern. Toy companys have been making transforming robot toys for years, hasbro doesn't own the rights to monopolize that market. The Hercules, Defender, etc... are just that, transforming robots of unique design. Now igears seekers, no matter what they call them, are a blatant rip off of Takara/Hasbrpo design. Besides color changes, and hip kibble, the standard seeker like Trundercracker, and Sunstorm are KOs. The coneheads are obviously similar, but at least they changed the wings, head, etc... And CHMS/KOtoys Cold stuff, I know they are in China, but Apple got those fake istores to shut the doors, im sure there is a way to put some hurt in their program.
     
  8. General Tekno

    General Tekno Lugnut Supremor & Arkivist

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    Yeah; Hasbro's not gonna come to my house and confiscate my property.

    If the third party bubble bursts? Oh well. Life goes on. I spend less money on toys.
     
  9. blurr69

    blurr69 First time caller

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    I believe everyones heard whatever theyve heard but, Ill believe this actually happening when I see it. I still in my heart of hearts feel like hasbro, even if secretively, appreciate 3rd party companies. They take little to no money out of their pockets and help perpetuate their name and product, its like free advertising and the like for hasbro.
     
  10. Cool Hand Lube

    Cool Hand Lube Well-Known Member

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    The "KO" G1 "reissues" (think: iOffer) get around legalities because Chinese factories used to maintain ownership of a mold for a prescribed time period after manufacturing had stopped. They reserved the right to produce those items at a later date under their own discretion. These were simply the laws as they stood. Sony ran into a similar problem back in the mid-90's regarding Discmans being produced under different brand names, but being built by Sony's specs. Those laws have since changed, and I'm sure Hasbro never thought twice about it back in the day.

    Justitoys is safe simply because of the size difference. As long as a product is 51% different, it's safe. Think of it this way: if an official toy has exactly 100 pieces, and iGear/Justityos remolds/alters 51 of those pieces IN ANY WAY, they are well within their bounds to produce that product. So Justitoys is safe because they have literally altered every piece of the figure to make it mini-sized.

    Other stuff like Impossible Toys' Quints & TF:A mini-figs are probably safe simply because Hasbro has absolutely NO plans to produce them themselves, so they just don't care, but I guess they could easily go after those companies because they ARE infringing on Hasbro's IP.
     
  11. General Tekno

    General Tekno Lugnut Supremor & Arkivist

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    Furthering that, I remember there being rumors that iGear's Seekers actually use a copy they managed to make of Hasbro's own molds.

    Kinda like how it was rumored that some of those G1 KOs from awhile back (eg, Sunstreaker) were using the molds Hasbro had misplaced some time ago.
     
  12. dkr7

    dkr7 Well-Known Member

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    Maybe we're the problem for calling them transformers? lets just call our 3rd party products robots? or something catchier
     
  13. Optimus71

    Optimus71 Active Member

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    Thanks.....this was the point I was trying to point out a few posts back. I am glad it is brought up front again.
     
  14. seekerblackout

    seekerblackout Banned

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    I don't win unless Hasbro makes them.
     
  15. Scantron

    Scantron Well-Known Member

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    Assuming this does happen, I'm not entirely surprised. We've gone from a small number of third party companies putting out the occasional upgrade kit or original figure to quite a few different groups, many putting out original figures based heavily on HasTak IP and a few making blatant high-end knock-offs. They've gone from a minor curiousity that Hasbro could easily ignore to a highly visible issue that Hasbro just can't continue to overlook. With the way IP laws work, you have to at least try to enforce your trademarks, likenesses and copyrights and not just ignore a whole bunch of things just because they aren't called some trademarked name, don't have trademarked faction logos or whatever. I'd imagine the hammer will come down on iGear first, through Hasbro refusing to sell their products to online stores that carry iGear.
     
  16. General Tekno

    General Tekno Lugnut Supremor & Arkivist

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    The question is though, does some of that fall into the problem of intellectual property rather than simple mold copying?

    Eg, take the HoS stuff. It's CLEARLY based off of art that Hasbro ultimately owns, but had no plans to do anything with other than comics.
     
  17. Cool Hand Lube

    Cool Hand Lube Well-Known Member

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    I would assume HoS stuff would be fully prosecutable if the toy design is similar enough to the Hasbro-owned Artwork.
     
  18. seekerblackout

    seekerblackout Banned

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    I don't buy third parties, heck I'm not an adult yet..........Don't judge me.
     
  19. Cool Hand Lube

    Cool Hand Lube Well-Known Member

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    BUT, you would still have to prosecute a Chinese company, which is easier said than done.

    Remember a few years back with the tainted toothpaste and dog food? Two people died, and several pets died as a result, but the US was powerless to prosecute those companies outside of not buying their goods.
     
  20. Valkysas

    Valkysas Attack Buffalo

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    No matter what legal action happens, I'm sure Maketoys, Headrobots, G1uppers, Justitoys, Fansproject will make it through fine.

    iGear, CHMS, and Kotoys.com will very likely go down, and they honestly should.

    Of course, there's the very real possibility that instead of attempting direct legal action against the companies making the toys, and instead focus on the stores and individuals selling them.
     
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