Things you never realised about Transformers (toys etc)

[GoktimusPrime]

^I did not know that, that's awesome!

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Just noticed that Titans Return Weirdwolf will be called Wolfwire. Two questions come to mind:

1/ Does this means that Hasbro were unable to register a closer approximation to the name, like "Decepticon Weirdwolf"? I take it that names like "Strangewolf" or "Oddwolf" are also undoable. What about "Weirwolf"? I know that it doesn't make much sense (a wolf who lives by a weir?), but Hasbro have certainly given us far more ridiculous names like that in the past (e.g. Wind Sheer ).

2/ This means that somewhere out there, someone else is holding the trademark for "Weirdwolf." I must say that I didn't see that coming.

And what's up with Wolfwire coming with "Monxo," but there's a separate Titan Master called "Monzo"?

[Handsprime]

1/ Does this means that Hasbro were unable to register a closer approximation to the name, like "Decepticon Weirdwolf"?

I read that as Doctor Werewolf, which most of you probably have no idea who or what that is, unless you like Dubstep

[Deonasis]

^ Or..

3/ Someone at Hasbro doesn't like the name.

Name changes happen aaalllllllllllllllllll the time.

[GoktimusPrime]

Archer's back?!

[Krayt]

Just a case of PC strikes again....


Not the good PC that sends us toys from QLD.... The bad one where you can't call anyone weird any more....

[Zommael]

^I did not know that, that's awesome!

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Just noticed that Titans Return Weirdwolf will be called Wolfwire. Two questions come to mind:

1/ Does this means that Hasbro were unable to register a closer approximation to the name, like "Decepticon Weirdwolf"? I take it that names like "Strangewolf" or "Oddwolf" are also undoable. What about "Weirwolf"? I know that it doesn't make much sense (a wolf who lives by a weir?), but Hasbro have certainly given us far more ridiculous names like that in the past (e.g. Wind Sheer ).

2/ This means that somewhere out there, someone else is holding the trademark for "Weirdwolf." I must say that I didn't see that coming.

And what's up with Wolfwire coming with "Monxo," but there's a separate Titan Master called "Monzo"?

It's possible that someone else isn't holding the trademark for Weirdwolf, but that it's felt by the trademark office to be too close to a generic term which would not be trademarkable (i.e werewolf) or too similarly to a term which another company has trademarked. In this latter case, what immediately springs to mind is "warg wolf" from Lord of the Rings, which might well be held by whoever the licensee for that franchise is. Trademark law is complex and nuanced, and just because one trademark can't be used by one company doesn't mean another is using it.

[GoktimusPrime]

Fair point, although it's not unheard of for people to "trademark squat" by taking trademarks and doing nothing with them (but continuing to register them so noone else can use them). Kinda like a form of intellectual property hoarding. *cough*HarmonyGold*cough*

[Zommael]

Fair point, although it's not unheard of for people to "trademark squat" by taking trademarks and doing nothing with them (but continuing to register them so noone else can use them). Kinda like a form of intellectual property hoarding. *cough*HarmonyGold*cough*

Not unheard of, but difficult. If say a company called Symphony Bronze was squatting on the Weirdfwolf name, Hasbro would be able to take action against them, and they would have to prove either that they have used the trademark recently or have definite plans to use it - this is how Hasbro were able to lose names like Bumblebee back in the 90s, since they couldn't prove recent use or that they were about to use it. It's also bad for the company who holds the trademark as it may force them to give away their plans - for example Hasbro might have been forced into revealing the existence of the movie if someone had challenged their registration of Bumblebee back in 2004.

[GoktimusPrime]

I wonder how quickly a company can lose a trademark after disuse. It might be as quickly as a year (which would explain why Hasbro are so keen on releasing lots of toys named "Optimus Prime" and "Megatron" every year; although I think they've gone a tad overboard (they would only need to release one of each per year) ).

e.g. Bumblebee and Hound; the last time Hasbro used these names before they lost them was in 1995; G2 Go-Bot Bumblebee and the never released G2 Autoroller Sgt. Hound. My presumption has been that toys like BW Buzz Saw and K-9 were assigned these names because Hasbro had lost the rights to Bumblebee and Hound by this stage. Although those toys were released in 1997, Hasbro would've needed to register the names in 1996 well before their release, so their application for those names may have been knocked back as early as just one year after having registered them for the final year of G2 in '95.

Hasbro last used the name "Laserbeak" in 1985 and had lost it by 1997, hence the BW character's name had the cringeworthy spelling of "Lazorbeak." Hasbro last used the name "Weirdwolf" in 2007, which feels like yesterday to me, but was actually 9 freakin' years ago. So yeah... definitely possible that they might've lost the rights to the name in the meantime.

But it's also interesting to imagine why they can't just keep it a "less intrusive" variation, like "Decepticon Weirdwolf" or "Decepticon Weirdwulf" (wulf being German for wolf), or "Oddwolf" or "Oddwulf" or something like that. Wolfwire... Okay, he's a wolf. Wire? Still, I'll take Wolfwire over Tankor or Scattorwolf.

[Zommael]

I wonder how quickly a company can lose a trademark after disuse. It might be as quickly as a year (which would explain why Hasbro are so keen on releasing lots of toys named "Optimus Prime" and "Megatron" every year; although I think they've gone a tad overboard (they would only need to release one of each per year) ).

e.g. Bumblebee and Hound; the last time Hasbro used these names before they lost them was in 1995; G2 Go-Bot Bumblebee and the never released G2 Autoroller Sgt. Hound. My presumption has been that toys like BW Buzz Saw and K-9 were assigned these names because Hasbro had lost the rights to Bumblebee and Hound by this stage. Although those toys were released in 1997, Hasbro would've needed to register the names in 1996 well before their release, so their application for those names may have been knocked back as early as just one year after having registered them for the final year of G2 in '95.

Hasbro last used the name "Laserbeak" in 1985 and had lost it by 1997, hence the BW character's name had the cringeworthy spelling of "Lazorbeak." Hasbro last used the name "Weirdwolf" in 2007, which feels like yesterday to me, but was actually 9 freakin' years ago. So yeah... definitely possible that they might've lost the rights to the name in the meantime.

But it's also interesting to imagine why they can't just keep it a "less intrusive" variation, like "Decepticon Weirdwolf" or "Decepticon Weirdwulf" (wulf being German for wolf), or "Oddwolf" or "Oddwulf" or something like that. Wolfwire... Okay, he's a wolf. Wire? Still, I'll take Wolfwire over Tankor or Scattorwolf.

As I understand it, it's an odd little area of law in which there is not a lot of certainty. Long and consistent use certainly strengthens a trademark though: it's unlikely any company (even LG with their Optimus phone) would ever be able to use Optimus Prime as Hasbro have so consistently used and protected the trademark, and it's so strongly connected to the brand. I would imagine that even if they didn't reuse it for 10 years Optimus Prime would still be too strong a mark for anyone to challenge. On the other hand, a mark like Slugslinger might be a lot harder to hold on to since it doesn't have that prominent association. There's certainly no rule that says they must use the trademark at least once in one period of time.

It's also worth pointing out that trademarks can be held in different areas. Hasbro could stop releasing all Transformers toys tomorrow (DON'T GET ANY IDEAS HASBRO) and if IDW were still publishing the comics they would be able to hold on to the trademarks at least in the area of comic book publishing.

I know that a lot of the above has been stated before but it's always worth talking about this when it comes up, especially as I still see some fans talking about Hasbro "losing the copyright" and other uneducated responses when talking about name changes and other IP issues. I recently saw someone speculating that Titans Return Clobber is so named because Hasbro lost the trademark on Grimlock, which is very unlikely given how much they've used it lately. BTW, the more likely explanation is they're trying to avoid confusion between this version of Grimlock and ARID Grimlock.