So... Octane is now 'Tankor', is he? Well, that's a real kick in the knickers.  

I don't even understand why Hasbro changed the name. "Couldn't secure the licence"? Last I looked, OCTANE was an ordinary noun in the english dictionary, not a proper name like Optimus Prime. And unless I'm mistaken, 'Hot Rod' is a type of car, not a brand name, so why pick 'Rodimus' instead? And let's not forget Bumblebee. For about twenty years, poor B got shelved in favour of Hot Shot because of another licence problem. Then I suppose Hasbro must have woken up recently and realized they can use that word as much as any human being.

What's next? Ramjet being renamed 'Decepticon Ramjet'? Mirage being dropped from any further release? Why is Hasbro fighting to secure the rights over ordinary words?  

 

Nevermore! Nevermore!

TF trademarks / names are a fairly regular inquiry on these boards--here's the most recent thread:

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/showthread.php?t=159508

And here's the living TF encyclopedia Nevermore's very thorough and nigh-definitive article on the subject:

http://tfarchive.com/toys/trademarks/g1_trademarks_intro.php

Incidentally, I'm okay with "Tankor" as he is a legitimate TF character, and the name seems especially appropoo for a fuel tanker.

And I wouldn't be surprised at all if we do see "Decepticon Ramjet" in the future, as there is a manufacturing company that owns the copyright "RamJet" for their industrial waste compactors:

http://www.marathonequipment.com/ramjet.php

I dump trash and cardboard inside a Ramjet compactor nearly every day at work.

But if you click the link, you'll note their copyright has the name specifically as "RamJet". What's more, according to their company history, they've owned that copyright since the 70's.

The whole Hot Rod/Rodimus issue has been annoying to me as well. I wish Hasbro would trademark HotRod as an alternative, if it's still available.

 

The name "Octane" cannot be copyrighted.

"Decepticon Octane" could, but why bother when the Tankor brand is already available and probably has more recognition with kids?

 

ARGH.

For the umphtiest time: NAMES CANNOT BE COPYRIGHTED. Only ORIGINAL WORKS can be copyrighted. Names do not qualify for "original works", ESPECIALLY not when they're common terms. Ever tried to copyright the wheel?

The term we a looking for is not "copyright". It's not "license", and it's not "patent" either. It's "trademarks".

And you, despite your honest efforts 8which you deserve credit for), fall into the "copyright" trap as well.

And a "Ramjet" trademark by a company that specializes in industrial waste compactors doesn't affect Hasbro at all, since Hasbro doesn't sell industrial waste compactors, and the other company doesn't sell toys. So they don't conflight with each other.

And as long as Hasbro can prove consistent use of the name "Ramjet", they have nothing to worry about.

 

Breathe Nevermore, breathe

 

Trash compacters =/= toys.

 

In the end, it's just the name on the packaging. We can call them whatever we want to. As for MISB/MOSC collectors, you're not being forced to not open them, let alone buy them in the first place.

 

I beg to differ.

 

I feel your pain, Nev...

 

lmao


It must be annoying to be so passionate about things that most people dont give a rats ass about, though I dont know where you could find a rats ass if you needed one in a hurry, so maybe its a moot point-

The Ramjet company (Trash compactor) may not be able to trademark their name, BUT NEITHER CAN HASBRO!

why spent millions adverting on TV when ANYBODY can piggyback on your efforts??

and in any event, its a WIN-WIN, since they can now RESELL the same old toys with the new name -

look how many Tracy McGrady fans had to buy NEW JERSEYS when he got traded from Orlando to Houston??  
Or Alan Iverson from Philly to Denver?

By re-branding /renaming toys in this way, they can get new revenue from an old toyline w/o retooling!

 

Tankor works because he's a tanker truck, though the mold is clearly a g1 octane update. But why nitpick? Classics are back in action.  

 

But I'm pretty sure they can, and have. The point was that the fact that a compactor manufacturer uses the name RamJet has no bearing on Hasbro giving the name to a toy, because they're not at cross-purposes.

Nope... really not sure what point you're trying to make.

They could have resold the toys with the old names, if they'd had the rights to them, and people would still have bought them.

No more than have to buy redecoed Transformers.

They're not renaming the toys so they can market them off as something new. They're renaming them because they no longer hold the trademarks to be able to call the toys by the original name. If they had the trademarks, they'd use them. That's why, for instance, when they released Alternator Shockblast, they still used Shockwave's name (nearly) on the licence plate. Later on, they got the rights to the name Shockwave back, so they can start using it again.
And Hot Rod would have been called Hot Rod, had they not lost the trademark.

 

When I stated "I wouldn't be surprised at all if...", it shouldn't have been taken as anything more than speculation. And I meant "trademark" even though I typed "copyright." I do know the difference between the two, but I blame the error on my dyslexia.

(Sheesh... praise a guy in public for his research efforts, and he nitpicks your post. But since this topic is his forte, I suppose I should have anticipated it.)

 

I gave you credits for at least TRYING to get it right, and linking a few resources.  

 

i find the Scavenger entry to be a little off...

also, about the TM discussion... did you know there is a terradactyl beanie baby named Swoop?

 

The Ty Beanie Swoop is mentioned in my article.

(although the article sure isn't up to date anymore, I wrote it some time around the early stages of the movie line)

 

Nevermore loves these threads!

 

I was under the impression that as long as Hasbro threw the words "Autobot" or "Decepticon" in front of any character's name on their toy packaging, that that was enough to bypass any legal problems since they do in fact own worldwide trademark on those two particular words, and when run in conjunction with another word, thus becomes "theirs" without issue. I thought this is exactly how/why they did it with Autobot Jazz, Autobot Ratchet, Decepticon Blitzwing, etc.

I'm not saying it is that cut & dry or attempting to debate the facts - it's just the impression that I have personally been under for years. Is there any validity to it? And if so, couldn't they technically rename all the names that they've "lost" the rights to over the years so as to market them again? IE: Autobot Trailbreaker, Decepticon Hook, so on & so forth?

I've actually been quite curious about this for a long time, but have never brought it up due to it apparently being a beaten to death topic since before I ever joined the forums.

 

I highly doubt the actual powerglide is an Ultra. so it is probably Silverbolt.

But yeah, ultras onslaught is explainable but ultras Powerglide seems um....