Takara Tomy beginning to take action against 3rd products in Japan?

Japan has always been pretty tight with copyright laws -- long before the unfortunate events of recent times. Everything I've ever seen or purchased in Japan has been legit. I did once purchase a PlayStation controller that was manufactured by a 3rd party -- I'm sure we have them in Australia too. They're not made by the manufacturer of the console (e.g. Sony), but they're simply made to be compatible with their consoles. The words "Sony" or "PlayStation" doesn't appear anywhere on the packaging, and the design is distinctly different from a PS control. It just happens to be a cheaper compatible product. But that would be the most legally dubious thing I've ever seen in Japan.

I know that KOs do exist in Japan, because I know of at least one Japanese Transfan who purchased some... but they're not easy to find. I think this dude bought his KOs at a convention - and he bought it for the novelty because he'd never seen KOs before (they were really obviously fake KOs (undersized)).

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Originally Posted by reillyd

That's actually a very common and inaccurate misconception there Lint, that China doesn't enforce foreign IP laws. 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".
Here's one just from two days ago http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=34972

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 didn't say they outright didn't.

Thanks I did google it, and I didn't really find a great deal except the actual news websites citing their IP over various things in the web article.

That article you linky'd was scant on actual details but had the woman sentenced for "illegal fundraising" not IP infringement. Pure speculation here but it sounds like she either borrowed a lot of money from an 'unofficial' source or got people to invest in her for dividends to fuel her expanding business empire which caught the ire of the authorities.

But you're right, theres better reasons NOT to press charges against Chinese IP violations than for.

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If a "fansproject" got so successful that they were avaliable at every wal-mart/k-mart then they would take action seriously.

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This is an excellent point. Hasbro probably doesn't really care as long as they are not directly selling to their customers -the retail stores.

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Originally Posted by kup

This is an excellent point. Hasbro probably doesn't really care as long as they are not directly selling to their customers -the retail stores.

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Since there have been knockoff Transformers at retail for decades now, I'm not convinced even that would rouse Hasbro from its torpor.

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Originally Posted by Sky Shadow

Since there have been knockoff Transformers at retail for decades now, I'm not convinced even that would rouse Hasbro from its torpor.

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I've always thought that Hasbro just assumes that Parents can tell the difference between an Official item or a KO, that or the kids will. ;)
Which is exactly what I used to do when my parents tried to palm Mighty Machine Men off to me as Transformers. :p

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Originally Posted by Sky Shadow

Since there have been knockoff Transformers at retail for decades now, I'm not convinced even that would rouse Hasbro from its torpor.

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True. I'm sure many of us remember those yellow and black KO G1 Constructicons sold at Target.

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Originally Posted by Hursticon

I've always thought that Hasbro just assumes that Parents can tell the difference between an Official item or a KO, that or the kids will. ;)

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I'm sure a lot of them can tell the difference. Whether they care or not is an entirely different matter. For a lot of parents, buying a KO toy or DVD for their child means saving money which they can then spend on other priorities like food, school etc. -- I'd like to say that this would be especially relevant to low income families, but I know of rich families who chose to buy KOs because they were cheap... like my godparents -- filthy rich, but a lot of my godbrother's games were KOs, simply because they could save money. I remember asking my godfather to get me a Nintendo Famicom (Family Computer) from overseas, he asked me if I wanted an actual legit Nintendo Famicom or a cheaper imitation -- I asked him to get me a legit console. Although most of the games I asked him to buy for me were KOs (hey, I was a kid!).

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Originally Posted by Hursticon

Which is exactly what I used to do when my parents tried to palm Mighty Machine Men off to me as Transformers. :p

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The main difference being that Machine Men aren't knock offs though. They were Bandai's Machine Robo toys repackaged by Tonka and sold in Western markets as Machine Men (or GoBots). Hasbro later copied Tonka's idea by importing Takara's Diaclone and Microman toys and calling them Transformers. But Machine Men actually came first. ;)

Of course, Transformers now owns Machine Men... suck on that with your nicotine-stained teeth, Cy-Kill! :p

But yes, Machine Men were cheaper (and crappier :p) than Transformers -- so a lot of times I also received Machine Men as bday or Xmas gifts instead of Transformers. Or sometimes if my mother didn't have enough money to buy a Transformer, I'd settle for a Machine Man. :(

Oh yeah, I was fully aware as to what Mighty Machine Men were, i.e. a competing franchise and not a KO, but it still annoyed me as a kid because I wanted Transformers - Alas, MMM were plain cheaper compared to their superior competitors and hence why most of my Childhood TFs came from 2nd hand stores or flee markets. :(

When I was a kid some relatives did give me Gobots as presents thinking they were Transformers. I think that adults then had the concept that any transforming robot was a Transformer (Hasbro).

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Originally Posted by Hursticon

Oh yeah, I was fully aware as to what Mighty Machine Men were, i.e. a competing franchise and not a KO, but it still annoyed me as a kid because I wanted Transformers - Alas, MMM were plain cheaper compared to their superior competitors and hence why most of my Childhood TFs came from 2nd hand stores or flee markets. :(

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Cheer up at least you got em even though they're MMs:D ... I had to make my own since I fully understand we can't afford em... and I didnt want MM's so I didnt bother bugging my parents about em, so my only real TFs (Soundwave, Buzzsaw) got seldom played with and has thankfully survived ehheheh I just made my own paper KOs hehehe thank goodness for colorful catalogs to base it from.

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Originally Posted by liegeprime

Cheer up at least you got em even though they're MMs:D ... I had to make my own since I fully understand we can't afford em... and I didnt want MM's so I didnt bother bugging my parents about em, so my only real TFs (Soundwave, Buzzsaw) got seldom played with and has thankfully survived ehheheh I just made my own paper KOs hehehe thank goodness for colorful catalogs to base it from.

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That's a hell of a creative solution to a problem dude if I'd ever heard of one, I imagine you'd be pretty good at Origami then? :eek::cool:
The MMM's I hate the most were the one's with the detachable 'Throttlebot-esque' motor, they always broke on me but things like this guy I found to be passable. :o