Tomy Corporation v. Durham Industries, Inc. is not a relevant case for a number of reasons:
[ol][li]At issue in Tomy Corporation v. Durham Industries, Inc. is the unauthorized preparation of a derivative work; not the unauthorized reproduction and distribution of a derivative work as in Schrock v. Learning Curve, Int’l, and would be the case if Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. reproduced the ThunderCats action figures that are now the property of Acclaim Games.
[/li]
[li]Tomy Corporation v. Durham Industries, Inc. is also not settled case law. The decision in Tomy Corporation v. Durham Industries, Inc. is on appeal, because in finding “the mere reproduction of the Disney characters in plastic, even though the adaptation of the preexisting works to this medium undoubtedly involved some degree of manufacturing skill,” the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York declined to follow a contrary ruling in Doran v. Sunset Housing, Corp. in which reproducing a 2-dimensional character in 3-dimensional form and plastic medium was held to be sufficiently original to support copyright.[/ol]
[/li]So, no, you are wrong.
Perhaps the LJN employee who has come forth with a Mad Bubbler can possibly shed some light on who exactly would have the rights here. I’ve put forth the question to him in MannyCollectible’s forum, so if it gets chosen and he’s able to speak to it, will be interesting to see what he says.
I still say I’m not wrong, but if he is in the know and says otherwise, then I’ll gladly take his word on the matter.
Interesting read for what happened to Ted Wolf and the distribution rights for the show itself.
Hopefully this is not duplicate input.
Back in those days companies like LJN would pay royalties for the license and to use the name. Since LJN was purchased by MCA and ultimately turned into a video game company and eventually sold to Acclaim who went out of business in 2004, there really isn’t an “LJN” rights to talk about. The rights belong to Warner Bros who bought the rights from the original creator Ted Wolf.
I had a buddy who was a VP of marketing at Warner Bros, he no longer works there but may have had some insight securing the deal, he often would mention movie projects in the works so I’m sure he knew about the TC launch and marketing strategies around the launch.
For what it’s worth, so far I haven’t enjoyed Bandai’s product line, it’s sort of a coincidence but to compare Bandai to LJN, I’ll I can think of is a game that they made for the NES called Ninja Kid. It was really repetitive, I hope they have learned since then. Allow the figures are nice, I hope they don’t do a BEN 10 type of product for these.
Dude all this is is a copy and paste of something I typed one or two posts up. Seriously what the heck is that!!! Its the second post you’ve done that!!
C’mon man at least type your own stuff, or quote me next time.
Enough already! It’s becoming a bit tiresome and boring, guys
I guess when Bandai produces the Classic line, we will see then how similar to LJN is. Now, there is no point in making assumptions and delving into this topic.
You know I left one response from you in another thread alone just for the sake of not continuing an argument and letting the thread get back to the topic at hand. I won’t let a second one slide. Do you know this guy personally? Because I sure don’t, and therefore I’m not just going to assume that just because he said he works for a trademark/patent/copyright company that its the truth. I presented what I thought to be the case for my perspective of the copyrights and he disagreed. We both presented evidence, and that was it. Also two other points.
Just because someone does something for a living does not mean they are 100% right. Their chances of being correct on facts are much higher than someone not in that profession, but they’re never 100% if for no other reason than the fact that they are human beings, capable of fault.
That service (copyright/trademark/patents/etc law) is primarily BUILT on arguments and facts. Those cases that both Mumm-Ra and I presented…had arguments in them.
That being said, I put this very question up in the thread from Manny to present to the LJN employee to try to get a definite answer to it. I absolutely agree with Lordore that this has gone on too long and should die until we get some sort of answer from him. I’m willing to let it die out and I hope you and Mumm-Ra are willing to do the same.
Neither does it mean that it’s a lie. I’m not taking sides in a debate, but let’s keep this friendly folks - we are, after all, talking about a line of toys.
I don’t like hearing people on these forums being accused of being liars, something that I’ve heard twice in recent times on two different subjects. Yes, when discussing in cyberspace we do only have each other’s word that we are who we say we are and do what we do, but what motivation does someone have to lie when talking about a toyline and a cartoon?
I’d appreciate it if these sort of inflammatory remarks (suggesting that people are lying about what they do for a living) could please end here and now. Thanks.
I really hope we get some awesome vehicles from Bandai. I’m kind of sceptical, but I’ll admit I really like the variety of work they’ve done with Ben 10. That line is really starting to get extensive. I hope the show does well, at least to give us a couple of waves of figures and vehicles.
Yes, the Ben 10 line is probably the line people should be buying now to save for the future as it looks to be quite popular.
Most likely the TC line will be similar in terms of the size od the figures and should allow for some neat vehicles with most figures fitting in better. Ie the vintage thunder tank with 1 front seat
this has just gone up for preorder at comics infinity
toyfare 165
ThunderCats, ho! The last great unrevived ‘80s property is back! (Sorry, Dino-Riders.) We go in depth with Bandai on their all-new T’Cats toys, plus we talk to the folks behind the eagerly anticipated new cartoon. Over in our retro feature, we take a look at the ThunderCats’ shiny, space-faring cousins, the SilverHawks. Then, get the inside scoop on one of the most beloved and missed toy companies of the past decade, with ToyFare’s exclusive oral history of Palisades Toys. All this plus Twisted ToyFare Theatre and much more!
While I skimmed most of the article on the show and Larry Kennedy, here is a snippet mentioning the toy line. For the show confirmation Cat’s Lair, Mumm-ra’s Transformation, Sight Beyond Sight, the Thunder Tank and Claudius( Larry Kennedy) saying Thunder Cat’s Ho!
Animation hasn’t started yet.
Summer/Fall launch most likely
Age group geared towards 9-14 audience
Snarf will have his own “Language”
Borrowing from Avatar: The Last Airbender (Cartoon)for story arch style
Boy growing into crown sounds like Aaang (Airbender) growing into abilities
They’re trying to work in the theme song into the intro
Return of the Samoflange! and other easter eggs from old show.
Seeing that this interview was probably sometime in December Warner Brothers should hopefully have some teaser animation and figures ready for the NY Toy Fair in February.
A preview of the new series will be in the March #165 issue of ToyFare.
So we should definitely see a large ThunderCats presence at this years SDCC.
Thanks so much for posting that up - first time I’ve been excited about the new ThunderCats series since it was first announced!
I think the supposed “re-release” of classic ThunderCats figures is a misleading quote - I take that to me that Bandai will effectively be doing a line of “ThunderCats Classics”-type figures, with new sculpts in the classic look and (possibly) style, which we knew already. But still, awesome to get it confirmed!
Yep I agree, I think he meant classic style toys, but basically said it in a very confusing way (not aware of the situation on the LJN toys)
I’m guessing we should be getting more news in February at New York Toy Fair Hopefully they will finally unveil the designs and show some toy prototypes!
Who was this interview with? WB, Bandai or Larry Kenney???