It has indirectly to do with TF, but with Hasbro, who is producing our beloved TF and other toys. I'm a registered longtime member of the RPF, which some of you might know, the Replica Prop Forum, where people are making movie replicas of their favourite movies, including TF1 Allspark Cube. Rich, a friend of mine and very very talented pro-model builder has been posting evidences, that Hasbro has been lazyly taken his picture of Star Wars model Y-Wing for using it on a toy packaging, without giving him compensation and credits, even forgot to shop out the watermark on the mirrored propulsion nacelle!

That's not ok!
http://www.therpf.com/f12/hasbro-sw.../sovereignreplicas.com/rep_ywing_24.jpg[/IMG]

 

if he has proof, well, he should defend himself and his work.
i hope things work out for him.

 

He needs to get on that and hire a lawyer. I don't care who it is, I hate it when work is tolen and taken as their own, when it isn't.

 

With all due respect to your friend, how does he know that's his Y-wing, and not just a similar one? I'm sorry, but they both have pretty generic paint schemes with no really identifying markings and its entirely possible Hasbro has another, similar looking Y-wing of their own.

 

I honestly don't see it--I mean, yeah, they're both Y-wings, but I see dozens of little differences.

And the "watermark" doesn't really prove anything.

 

Do you mean, the watermark you can see in the Hasbro pic?

Looking at the two pics at the battle wear alone, you can see the similarities.

 

Pic thanks to Dan Curto of Rebelscum:

Rebelscum.com; Star Wars Toy News Archive

I honestly don't see much. Maybe it's my crappy eyes, but at least this gives people something to compare your claim with.

 

You can see the watermark on the picture, it's on the right thruster thingy. You can see part of the "S".

EDIT - Uh, if both pictures in the first post are of the paper toy; then what's the problem? If the first picture listed is the Hasbro packaging then I can see the problem but it's not looking that way. First two pictures are just of the paper toy, right?

 

Its probably just a lazy intern being lazy. Get a lawyer who can send a legal notice to hasbro and I'm sure it will be solved.

 

Forgive me for not knowing too much about Star Wars. I searched Star Wars Y Wing toys and I failed to find one box or toy package that had that top graphic on it. Do you have a picture of the the whole toy box/package? Is that top pic a small graphic on the back of a box or something?

 

I ran into a similar problem a few years back. I had commissioned an artist here (King Starscream) to whip up some character art for me. We had redesigned Soundwave, and a few months later, the same image was on a few t-shirts.

After jumping through all the legal hoops, contacting the t-shirt company, there wasn't much we could do. The problem was that the character was a trademarked entity, so all we got out of it were promises of free t-shirts. Had it been an original design or character, then yeah, we would've had more to go on.

I wish you luck on this, but unless you lawyer up and have a strong case, don't expect too much to happen.

 

I see what you mean and i would advise at the least consulting a good lawyer and showing him what evidence you have and see where it goes.

 

I wouldn't threaten anything - it's not like you own the design of the craft. I'd just shoot a note to Hasbro about it with your photos and evidence and see what they say. It's probably just a mistake.

 

Is that the light blue one where he's playing the turntables?

 

no, it was a custom redesign of Soundwave.

http://johnny216.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d6ux37

He also did a custom Ecto-1 transformer for me as a gift for a friend:

http://johnny216.deviantart.com/gallery/#/ddpjzv

and you see that one EVERYWHERE on the 'net.  

 

Now a professional company definitely isn't supposed to operate like this.

But personally, if it was me, I'd feel more bemused and flattered than ripped off and outraged.

I sorta feel like Lucas and also Hasbro have been pretty free about allowing fans to do stuff with their characters, and I don't have much of a problem with that working both ways if they want to borrow a few fan ideas. I wouldn't want them to feel like they have to get every little thing carefully vetted through their legal department.

 

Yes, he wrote on the forum, that he felt flattered and honored, but it's really lazy of a Hasbro GFX to take the pic and slap on the box without asking first. The guy won't die from overtyping....

 

Like with Zeta's Shockwave being a trademark entity, this would also be the same with your friends Y-Wing. If it was a original design, then you would have a case.

Maybe your friend can get free toys like Zeta got free Tshirts.

And Im also a member at RPF, since aug 2007. Very gratefull to be a member there. So much great talent at RPF.

 

for the sake of clarification: was the model scratch-built, or a customised toy/model?

Where exactly is this picture used, and on the packaging of what?

 

I would guess raising legal issues of rights or ownership for anything Star Wars would only attract George Lucas to your door along with his lawyer-goon henchmen armed to the teeth, looking for cash & blood. I hear Lucas is a bit protective of the franchise.