Quote Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime View Post
yeah but we're talking about G1 reissues. I suspect that they don't need to pay royalties for reissuing existing moulds. The royalties and permission would have already been obtained at the time the toys moulds were created and patented, and after that I think that's it.

One reason why I suspect this is so is because look at Bumblebee. We know that for a long time Volkswagen has persistently refused to allow any of their vehicles to be associated with war, which is why the only post-G1 VW Transformer mould we've seen has been the Donald Duck Disney Label TF (since Donald Duck isn't portrayed as being a warrior/soldier in that toy). Yet HasTak have been able to reissue the original Bumblebee mould ... repeatedly! And they were able to reuse the mould for Glyph and Bug Bite.
I agree that G1 reissues probably don't apply as the molds were made ages ago. However I disagree that there was any licensing obtained back then in regards to toys. Back then the corporate culture of suing anybody for whispering your trademark didn't exist at the ridiculous level that exists now.

For example, Porche back then didn't care if you made a kid's toy matching their car model as long as you weren't making cars yourself or cutting into their profits. If Porche knew about it, they would probably feel complimented at the gesture and as a form of free advertisement. Nowadays there is a somewhat industry which is dedicated to tracking down any form of trademark infringement to sue for profit.

In regards to the VW beetle, people are way over sensitive these days with all the PC bullcrap and that's why VW is afraid of anything that vaguely resembles war given their role during WWII