Re: OT - Save the Hobbit pub : Thu Mar 15, 2012 6:33 pm  

Although come to thing of it didn't the franchise embarrassingly lose a case against someone making Trooper helmets, as it was deemed not to be a work of art in which any form of copyright could subsist?

Re: OT - Saved the Hobbit pub? : Thu Mar 15, 2012 6:56 pm  

heheh, looks like people power has got Saul to back down http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-17390623 To those who said it couldn't or shouldn't be done . . .

heheh, looks like people power has got Saul to back down http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-17390623 To those who said it couldn't or shouldn't be done . . .

Re: OT - Saved the Hobbit pub? : Thu Mar 15, 2012 7:05 pm  

Brilliant!

Re: OT - Saved the Hobbit pub? : Thu Mar 15, 2012 7:25 pm  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote: heheh, looks like people power has got Saul to back down http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-17390623 To those who said it couldn't or shouldn't be done . . . They are suggesting that the pub owner contacts them to arrange a licensing deal. Which is exactly what you'd expect being a copyright holder, hardly "backing down"

Ferocious Aardvark wrote: heheh, looks like people power has got Saul to back down http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-17390623 To those who said it couldn't or shouldn't be done . . . They are suggesting that the pub owner contacts them to arrange a licensing deal. Which is exactly what you'd expect being a copyright holder, hardly "backing down"

Re: OT - Saved the Hobbit pub? : Thu Mar 15, 2012 9:14 pm  

McLaren_Field wrote:

They are suggesting that the pub owner contacts them to arrange a licensing deal.

Which is exactly what you'd expect being a copyright holder, hardly "backing down"

Backing down is 100% what it is.

Prior to this rather than suggesting anything, they'd had a cease and desist letter from high powered lawyers. Not an offer to carry on as normal for $100

Re: OT - Saved the Hobbit pub? : Thu Mar 15, 2012 9:18 pm  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

Backing down is 100% what it is.

Prior to this rather than suggesting anything, they'd had a cease and desist letter from high powered lawyers. Not an offer to carry on as normal for $100

They've invited them to talk about a licensing deal, nothing more.

Re: OT - Saved the Hobbit pub? : Thu Mar 15, 2012 9:20 pm  

McLaren_Field wrote:

They are suggesting that the pub owner contacts them to arrange a licensing deal

the kind of thing I had in mind in my first post on the thread. Why go the legal route when a phone call or visit might have led to this outcome anyway?

Re: OT - Saved the Hobbit pub? : Thu Mar 15, 2012 9:26 pm  

Chris28 wrote:

the kind of thing I had in mind in my first post on the thread. Why go the legal route when a phone call or visit might have led to this outcome anyway?

Sometimes you have to get people to come to the table before you can speak to them.

Mr Zaentz told the BBC that trademark law dictated they had to act against infringements of their brands.

"Regardless of the size of the company, if we didn't go after these infringements, then other people would say 'if they can use them without authorisation, why can't we?'

"When it's an established business, we like to get the company to acknowledge they are using our trademarks, stop selling infringing articles and then we will grant them a licence for a nominal fee - approximately $100 a year.

"We asked to them to contact us and amicably resolve this and are open to any suggestions they have.

Acknowledge that they are using our trademarks
Stop selling infringing articles
Then we will grant them a licence

Open to any suggestions they have - presumably in line with their expectations of acknowledgment, stopping infringements and then paying...

Re: OT - Saved the Hobbit pub? : Thu Mar 15, 2012 9:41 pm  

McLaren_Field wrote:

Sometimes you have to get people to come to the table before you can speak to them.

Acknowledge that they are using our trademarks
Stop selling infringing articles
Then we will grant them a licence

Open to any suggestions they have - presumably in line with their expectations of acknowledgment, stopping infringements and then paying...

Yep, it's why New Earswick All Blacks keep getting letters from New Zealand threatening legal action.

Re: OT - Saved the Hobbit pub? : Thu Mar 15, 2012 9:45 pm  

McLaren_Field wrote:

Sometimes you have to get people to come to the table before you can speak to them.

Acknowledge that they are using our trademarks
Stop selling infringing articles
Then we will grant them a licence

Open to any suggestions they have - presumably in line with their expectations of acknowledgment, stopping infringements and then paying...

So why hasn't Dairy Queen sued Liz for breaching their trademark?

The whole Hobbit thing is simply corporate phishing