Lickety Split in FIM!!!

Reaperfox said:
...which is a line people keep believing and still doesn't make sense when you think about the Blind Bags and T-shirts produced now with named G1 ponies identical to the original toys.
Click to expand...

lauren faust is the one who is supposed to have said it. whenever I see the retro merchandise, it always has the pony, but never the name with it. as far as the blind bags go, I hadn't seen any G1 recreations, but admittedly I don't follow them too closely.

there is also a discussion on this forum about the whole concept Losing copyright


quote is in the sidelines here. many difference sources have that quote posted.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OpuSJCZVsDw/TitedAMe8eI/AAAAAAAABAY/7xkN40JPD7A/s1600/History-concept.jpg
 
buddafly said:
lauren faust is the one who is supposed to have said it. whenever I see the retro merchandise, it always has the pony, but never the name with it. as far as the blind bags go, I hadn't seen any G1 recreations, but admittedly I don't follow them too closely.

there is also a discussion on this forum about the whole concept Losing copyright


quote is in the sidelines here. many difference sources have that quote posted.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OpuSJCZVsDw/TitedAMe8eI/AAAAAAAABAY/7xkN40JPD7A/s1600/History-concept.jpg
Click to expand...

I think Reaperfox is referring to the Dollymix ponies in the UK (correct me if I'm wrong!).

I never thought about this in much detail to be honest and just reacted with scorn whenever the copyright issue was brought up, until talking with my brother and also remembering G1 Transformers copyright. From what we were discussing he posited the theory that Hasbro has only partially lost copyright i.e they retained some and lost others but more than that, in the case of the Dolly mix ponies has Hasbro itself lost the copyright or only certain divisions? The fact that those ponies were released in the UK (not all with their original UK names it must be added i.e Princess Sparkle) under licence indicates that in the UK copyright was retained for those names. It might however be true that Hasbro within the US lost the copyright. Creating a problem for Hasbro as a whole with releasing/re-releasing toys (I never remember the anniversary re-releases being issued in shops in the UK that didn't have to import them first, correct me if I'm wrong of course, I may just have been looking in the wrong places).

Referring back to what I was saying about G1 Transformers: Hasbro lost the name Hot Rod some time in the 90's. As a result whenever that toy was rereleased as either a later generation or as a remake of the original, the toy was renamed and has been called anything from: Hot Rodimus, Rodimus Major, Rodimus or for a bust release Hotrod. So it's not unknown for Hasbro to lose licences, the question of course with MLP is: has Hasbro lost all names in all territories? The answer would appear to be no, with some names being retained in some and possibly not in others.

In the forum Buddafly has linked to they raise a good point with regards to where copyright is currently retained, from what I understand with regards to copyright, no matter whom "created new content" or "released" content relating to a character, if that copyright is not renewed then it reverts to the original owner after a number of years. I'm speculating through the issue of Sailor Moon, as back in the early 2000's Toei lost all rights to the product and they reverted back to the original owner Naoko Takeuchi the writer. If this remains the same for toy franchises that spawn spin-offs, remember the cartoon and comics will ultimately be spin-offs from the toys, then the distribution rights etc may have reverted back to Hasbro so they can do with them as they like. Not owning the name Hot Rod for example has not stopped them from re-releasing the later Transformer series' nor the re-releasing the comics, so the same can be said with regard to MLP on this issue.

As for Lickety Split being a boy... well I can't stop them and since I'm unlikely to watch too much FiM finding it far too preachy for my tastes it doesn't really bother me. I'm giggling about it to be sure as I know my Lickety Split would not have appreciated being called a boy but, heyho I'm not the current target audience. ;)
 
Yes sorry, the Dollymix ponies. There's also at least one official T-shirt with Sundance on (her likeness and name.)

I'm not savvy enough to understand regional/territory copyrights, so I suppose that makes sense. It still really doesn't wash with something as generic as "Bluebelle" or "Firefly" though, which are both /things/ and not a unique pony thing? I've no idea. ;p
 
I honestly don't believe they lost the copyrights to the names, but rather wanted to put rainbow dash and pinkie pie in there after all the effort and money they'd spent on the core seven trying to make those characters appeal lol.
 
Yeah, basically I believe what Archer said. Just today I saw a girl wearing a Sundance hoodie. I really do think it was a line fed to someone that resonated down to fandom. I do not see how you can copyright a the name 'Firefly' "Blossom" or "Glory." I really have so little faith in Hasbro that I see it all as an excuse to get Pinkie and Dash in the new lines. Hey, it worked.
 
Reaperfox said:
Yeah, basically I believe what Archer said. Just today I saw a girl wearing a Sundance hoodie. I really do think it was a line fed to someone that resonated down to fandom. I do not see how you can copyright a the name 'Firefly' "Blossom" or "Glory." I really have so little faith in Hasbro that I see it all as an excuse to get Pinkie and Dash in the new lines. Hey, it worked.
Click to expand...


All G1 pony names are trademarked, hence the TM found on the back of every box after the names.
Heck even the name Molly is trademarked. The TM is tiny and almost killed my eyes staring at them but they're definitely there after every single name from every backcard/box image I could find via google images.

As for getting G3 names into FiM, I'm not surprised they would want them in there, they're from the most recent lines and it gives them a wider pool to draw from both name/characterwise and potential audiencewise.
 
Reaperfox said:
...which is a line people keep believing and still doesn't make sense when you think about the Blind Bags and T-shirts produced now with named G1 ponies identical to the original toys.
Click to expand...

I agree. I think Hasbro just fed Faust a line of BS because they really wanted to keep using G3 characters (that they'd sunk so much advertising / money into).

I cannot think of one single possible way Hasbro could have lost the trademarks, copyrights, or what have you to every G1 pony EXCEPT APPLEJACK.

I mean, seriously, how? How would that work? It couldn't be "because there was an Applejack in G3", because Hasbro reused MANY G1 names in G3.

Basically, it is my opinion that Hasbro is full of [bleeeeep!] on this issue.



The irony, of course, is that out of all the names / characters originally proposed (Applejack, Firefly, Surprise, Posey, Twilight, and Sparkler), Applejack is the one that is immediately going to remind people of a totally different product--Applejack cereal.

To add to the insanity, Hasbro actually has a G.I. Joe character named Firefly. lolwut!!
 
Last edited:
In the end, I guess we just have to accept that thin gs aren't always going to be perfect when it comes to big business. Oh well... Maybe we'll see the real Lickety Split in the background someday!
 
HulkbowSMASH said:
Copyright vs. Trademark vs. Patent

An example of how a word is used to exclusively identify a product:

Apple Corps v Apple Computer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Click to expand...

Thank you for the links! I'd read the first linked page but reading on with regards TM, it states quite clearly:
"Trademark rights can last indefinitely if the owner continues to use the mark to identify its goods or services. The term of a federal trademark registration is 10 years, with 10-year renewal terms. However, between the fifth and sixth year after the date of initial registration, the registrant must file an affidavit setting forth certain information to keep the registration alive. If no affidavit is filed, the registration is canceled."

Which indicates that it is highly likely names were lost, whether all, or which we'll likely never know as I doubt Hasbro is going to say any time soon. It also highlights a possible reason why the name Applejack would still be TM'd as it was used for G3 and thus would have been one of those renewed. It also clears up for me the issue with the Transformer Hot Rod whose name went the same name as the ponies/some of the ponies.

I do wonder however if whomever was originally quoted mixed up copyright and trademark though. Just a thought.
 
Skeen said:
QFT.

For the record, my name is also Shannon. ;) I always forget yours is too, Josie, because in my head I always call you "Josie," even though I totally know that isn't your name.
Click to expand...

Dude, I don't know if I ever knew you were a Shannon too! *high fives!*
 
LadyM said:
I agree. I think Hasbro just fed Faust a line of BS because they really wanted to keep using G3 characters (that they'd sunk so much advertising / money into).

I cannot think of one single possible way Hasbro could have lost the trademarks, copyrights, or what have you to every G1 pony EXCEPT APPLEJACK.

I mean, seriously, how? How would that work? It couldn't be "because there was an Applejack in G3", because Hasbro reused MANY G1 names in G3.

Basically, it is my opinion that Hasbro is full of [bleeeeep!] on this issue.



The irony, of course, is that out of all the names / characters originally proposed (Applejack, Firefly, Surprise, Posey, Twilight, and Sparkler), Applejack is the one that is immediately going to remind people of a totally different product--Applejack cereal.

To add to the insanity, Hasbro actually has a G.I. Joe character named Firefly. lolwut!!
Click to expand...

It's just like you said. The only reason Hasbro was able to use the names Applejack and Spike is ONLY because they used them in G3, and thus, still had the rights to the names.

Like someone mentioned earlier, trademark issues are the same reason the Transformer community got TFs named 'Hot Shot' rather than 'Hot Rod', and also why the name Bumblebee hadn't been used until they got it back for the Movie franchise. It's also why many Transformers have modifiers like 'Autobot <insert name here>' or some off the wall spelling like 'Shockblast' instead of 'Shockwave', because those names are much easier to trademark.
 
When I saw the episode I went all OH.GOD.PLEASE!

I feel sorry for her/him already
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top