Indeed, but the likenesses are clearly different enough to not be in breach of copyright - Now the concept though is a different story entirely. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by FFN
Indeed, but the likenesses are clearly different enough to not be in breach of copyright - Now the concept though is a different story entirely. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by FFN
Yeah but they're competing with Hasbro in a way. Hasbro may be justified in seeing 3rd party item makers, when they make actual character-toys, as impeding on their potential to do so themselves. I think there's a fine difference between making accessories which compliment Hasbro's toys (e.g. City Commander) and making toys which compete against (or can be perceived as potential competition) Hasbro's toys. For example, let's say the 3rd Party Junkion came out -- and later Hasbro wanted to retool RtS Wreck Gar as their own Junkion -- Hasbro would have a case in arguing that the 3rd party Junkion provides an alternative to their own Junkion, and thus is a form of competition. Competition created by a 3rd party using Hasbro's intellectual property.
I think Hasbro's happy to turn a blind eye to complimentary 3rd party items, but I don't blame HasTak for not allowing the same grace to potentially competitive items based on their property and used without permission.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...ansproject.png
They are also officially different characters altogether with their own names and stories. I also think they are copyrighted and trademarked too.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hursticon
Yes, they are basing their toys on Hasbro characters but it's very hard to proof that when the resulting figure is so different with the only real likeness being the color scheme. Also Hasbro does not own the rights to transforming robots, anyone can make their own.
Although one cannot deny that FanProjects is riding on the popularity of official characters to sell their toys, they appear to have pretty much legally shielded themselves against being sued or banned by being very careful not to cross the legal line unlike IGear and others.
If they were 'basing' their toys on characters from a corporation that vigorously defends their intellectual property, say like Disney, I doubt that flimsy legal shield would hold.Quote:
Originally Posted by kup
The only reason why Fansproject haven't faced litigation is arguably because of China's general disregard for the enforcement of foreign IP and the mercy of Hasbro.
Ah, so many legal experts.
Absence of legal proceedings does not guarantee innocence any more than the mere presence of legal proceedings guarantees guilt.
Let's pause and remember that there still has yet to be any legal proceedings, and certainly not any legal rulings, which are really what count. Anyone can point their finger. That's what dismissals are for.
Yes - i think people's legal expertise gets clouded by an emotional attachment to it rather than the facts.Quote:
Originally Posted by jaydisc
3rd Party products have increased the value in Hasbro's IP and brand. The stuff iGear is doing is clear copy of Intellectual property, but so is all of those copy devastators/protectobots and other transformer toys.
A public trial against a "fansproject" would give Hasbro alot of bad publicity, shares will suffer as well as shareholders. If its in the best interest of shareholders then no problems.
If a "fansproject" got so successful that they were avaliable at every wal-mart/k-mart then they would take action seriously.
Agreed. One has to remember even decisions by Courts are not set in stone- there can be dissenting decisions, decisions that can be appealed and overturned in higher courts. There are also jurisdictional issues. China's laws are different from our common law system/westernized legal principles.Quote:
Originally Posted by jaydisc
On another note- Someone on another forum made an interesting point, which is that the action being taken is not in lieu of any specific product, but due to the 3rd party market as a whole- which has grown significantly in the past year or 2.
In the west, you go directly to jail do not pass go. In China you receive the frigging death penalty.
Just google china "intellectual property" "death sentence".
Every month more and more people are sentenced to death for violation of foreign IP. There's a reason why big companies may choose NOT to press cases against Chinese IP violations......... can you imagine pursuing an execution for someone who makes a dodgy knock off Optimus or Bumblebee toy? That's not good corporate PR if it makes the media.
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I always like to correct an error if I mispoke. As someone has pointed out,
China recently removed the death penalty for a number of "economic related crimes", see http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110225/..._death_penalty for more information.
And as another poster mentioned, there are still widespread violations of copyright infringement. So what I said earlier may not be applicable here :o
I'm in China right now and have been for over a fortnight now, and intellectual properties are brazenly, blatantly and very openly abused here. 98% of Transformer toys I've seen here are knock offs; and I frequently see them displayed near the front of stores so that passer-bys can see them, and they're even sold in major store chains like Parkson Grand and Wal*Mart! All the Transformers I've purchased here so far has been from a small, obscure and out of the way specialist collectable store. Then there's DVDs... I don't think I've _ever_ seen a legit DVD here. I saw one DVD at someone's home that could be legit (or a high quality KO)... but otherwise the others are all very obviously fake. Police would have to be completely blind or stupid not to notice this.
Further discussion (and conspiracy theory ;)) continued here. ;)
Whilst it is not surprising to see where this thread is headed, what is being lost is that it appears to be only certain Brick & Mortars that are being pursued in Japan, who evidently must be sticking certain 3rd Party (Probably iGear) products next to Official ones and employing questionable sales tactics.
Japan is in the middle of an insane set of circumstances at the moment and is metaphorically bleeding money on a number of fronts, so I am not too surprised to see that in this situation, TakTom have chosen to target face-to-face Store Owner/Operators who are stocking these likely infringing products as it is easier to enforce their financial protection on that front as opposed to pursuing those who actually create the items.
Now, I respect those in Legal professions but I don't think one needs to be an Alan Shore in order to see the difference between right and wrong/Fansproject and iGear and the very pitiful impacts that their products would have on a Global Sales scale because at the end of the day - The products are only sought after by those who are informed about the products existence - i.e. a fan with an Internet connection.
What has happened though is that in certain regions, evidently Asia, this is starting to be no longer the case - 3rd party products are starting to be stocked on shelves of face-to-face B&Ms and depending on the owner/operator of said store, they might be attempting to pass the products off as Official and therefore making themselves worthy Targets.
3rd Party products certainly have gained momentum in the past couple of years, they are still however nowhere near the sales levels of HasTakTom or Bandai or Mattel products and people are certainly not setting out to choose them over an Official product.
I believe that this is due to 3rd Parties traditionally selling their products via the Internet to specifically targeted consumer groups (TF fans), which HasTakTom has obviously not had a problem with, but now that people are doing this and then putting them up for sale in face-to-face B&Ms - Is obviously the reason for this recent legal activity in a country with currently sensitive finances of which TakTom is based.
Not because there is a war between Official and Non-Official products, but because there is a war between Manufacturers and the face-to-face Retailers who are deceiving their potential customers.