Universal's legal action against 11th Hour
POSTED BY: CABridges
UPDATED: Monday, November 13, 2006 09:47
VIEWED: 59280
PAGE 9 of 17
Quote:
Originally posted by WhoIsRiver:
They have to ensure official t-shirts get sold, and fan wares stop that.
Not that I've seen. Hell, I've bought all the shirts they've released, and I can make them here at home if I so chose. I was one of the first in my area to buy them, and to tell everyone I knew to go get one.
Most folk I know bought BOTH fan and licensed merch.
I think any true fan, IMO, would buy licensed merchandise first and foremost. They understand that merchandising is part of what gets more of what they love out in the world for them to partake of it.
Just sayin'.
TCM
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Quote:
Of course, there's a wider picture where fan wares lead to free advertising. The industry hasn't caught up with that.
And that, Dear Browncoats, is where we and Universal, (if they were thinking ahead on the issue) could have a chance to make history. Can you imagine the place Universal would have in fandom history (and legal history) if they worked with us instead of against us?
The media distribution and creation economies are changing rapidly. Old School studios and networks are scrambling to catch up. Some things they do right, others, well, not so much. They're jumping off into things like "street teams" (guerilla marketing), MySpace sites, etc. just because they know those things are popular, maybe they've heard about it working for a popular band or indie film. They think they can make it work for them, but they don't take the time to research the particular audience, or -- God forbid! -- actually TALK to these people instead of just checking off a few boxes on a survey or scanning over a couple of fan sites. There's a lot of mismatch of marketing plans/licencing issues/corporate understanding of the current technology and environment going on.
Our current copyright situation is not at all adequate for the way digital content is being used, and is based on a traditional owner also being the only one to produce or license their work, and does not consider all the various ways that content can and is distributed and used today and will be in the future. A major revamping of these laws needs to be made to protect artists, but also allow for non-defamatory promotional uses and other original derivatory works. I'm not for going out and making an exact copy of someone's work and passing it off as your own or that you have the rights to sell it, but if it inspires you to make something of your own that is significantly different in style? That's a different animal, and is also something that with digital media is going to be increasingly impossible to stop and regulate.
Universal could set precedent here, either good or bad. If they really wanted to be the leader in media production for the 21st Century, they might want to consider the benefits of participatory fandom and be the first to offer limited licensing deals to their fans -- I don't think any of us are a significant threat to their bottom line; however, we ARE a significant unpaid addition to their marketing team, and they took great pains to try to use us that way in the past. I'd just like to see them step up to the plate and be respectful of the talent and devotion that helped them out in a difficult situation, and return the favor.
"We gotta go to that crappy town where I'M a hero..."
_______________________________
Shiny stuff for Browncoats at:
http://www.cafepress.com/outtotheblack
http://www.outtotheblack.com
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"we ARE a significant unpaid addition to their marketing team"
As pointed out in a previous post, Universal is not paying anyone to market Serenity, they no longer have a Serenity marketing team.. Their roll in the verse is to get paid by other people to have the right to make money off of their property. No one at Universal cares a lick about the promotion of FF. They haven't for some time. The marketing staff has been replaced with a licensing sales staff. It is sad to us, but a great example of movie industry capitalism....
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I mind me of the way New Line worked with CafePress to encourage Snakes on a Plane designs from fans. They said, straight up, that fans couldn't use the logo or any character likenesses but anything else went, go wild.
Pity it was wasted on a bad movie, but I love the idea and the recognition that fan word of mouth was powerful.
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Quote:
Originally posted by kaneman:
"we ARE a significant unpaid addition to their marketing team"
As pointed out in a previous post, Universal is not paying anyone to market Serenity, they no longer have a Serenity marketing team.. Their roll in the verse is to get paid by other people to have the right to make money off of their property. No one at Universal cares a lick about the promotion of FF. They haven't for some time. The marketing staff has been replaced with a licensing sales staff. It is sad to us, but a great example of movie industry capitalism....
I don't disagree with any thing you've said. However, maybe it's time for marketing-as-we-know-it to change. In the "Long Tail" model (see the book by Chris Anderson), new media economies are likely to be driven more by word-of-mouth and niche properties (such as Firefly/Serenity) rather than "tentpole" (blockbuster) properties that are becoming increasingly risky. Studios are starting to realize that there's money (and lots of it!) to be made from ancillary sales - DVDs, books, merchandise- as well as secondary distribution models (podcasts, Direct-to-DVD, web distribution), and even though they don't want to spend money or time promoting a lot of these things (especially once they leave initial distribution launch), wouldn't it make sense to do what you could, cheaply and easily, to work with a group of fans who really, really want to spread the word (and increase sales for YOU)?
It's a thought, and I'm not the only one to have it (see http://www.henryjenkins.org/ for more on "participatory fandom"). It would be great to see Uni REALLY jump on the bandwagon with us to start this change!
"We gotta go to that crappy town where I'M a hero..."
_______________________________
Shiny stuff for Browncoats at:
http://www.cafepress.com/outtotheblack
http://www.outtotheblack.com
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someone at Whedonesque just posted a link to a really interesting website:
http://www.chillingeffects.org/
evidently a joint project of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, University of San Francisco, University
of Maine, George Washington School of Law, and Santa Clara University School of Law clinics has been created to document C&D letters which
are being sent out to people online, and to provide legal advice in this regard.
They have places to submit C&D letters for fan fic,copyright, trademark, and other 'violations'... even if they can't fix the
problem it is good to know that there are some smart up and coming lawyers who don't want to let the corporations make all the rules just
by the size of their pocket book...because original artwork by BlueSunShirts, BlackMarketBeagle and 11th Hour does not belong to Universal...
just like Andy Warhol had every right to paint and sell Campbell soup
cans, free expression of art does mean something.
rant over.
(but seriously, do post any and all e-mail from lawyers here at
http://www.chillingeffects.org/
and see if they can be of any help!)
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"just like Andy Warhol had every right to paint and sell Campbell soup
cans, free expression of art does mean something."
He never had any legal right to paint Campbell cans. Today he would be in violation of copyright. I don't recall Campbell's trying to stop or bringing suit against him. Am I wrong on this.....
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Just my two cents.
And please don't flame me ><
Universal is NOT marketting Serenity (nor FF, for that matter) anymore. The franchise is [probably, but I am an optimist!] done for them.
Thus, anyone making any kind of cash (for whatever reason, even for Universal's stuff) is probably violating marketing/liscensing laws. There probably was a "free-for-all" marketting up until 30 September of this year, allowing one year for fans to spread word for the DVD and movie etc by word of mouth and cloth.
Shikashi, since Universal makes no money in it anymore, it would be "closing" down the marketting dept. (and dealing only through official liscencess, which, if we look at WMP and the RPG, is also shaky and foreboding).
Sadly, this probably means they're done with the it entirely, which is bad news for us (although the cast, etc, do have other work, etc, and life moves on).
I don't intend to sound down-right evil on the matter, but I DO understand why a company like Universal would do such things. Yes, they're not doing it in the nicest fashion, but that's how capitalistic gain works now (very sadly). It would be like me selling shirts with original Super Man (with C. Reeve!) or Masters of the Universe stuff, where I would make money off a dead-horse. Yes, I WOULD be promoting those franchises, but there is no IMMEDIATE cash-flow into that corporation (and sometimes those don't even exist anymore), and a few pennies here and there to them doesn't account ME making money for the product.
I DO agree that ORIGINAL art etc should be protected from this kinda rackett, but I DO understand where someone like Universal LLLC would come from.
As a final note, it does show a shiny change in the way the world has changed with the internet, art, media, etc, and how the massive corporate world of the 20th century is being strangled. Within a decade there will probably be a huge breaking in how legal issues and corporate issues, like this, etc are handled.
IKIYO.
DRE
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>The marketing staff has been replaced with a licensing sales staff.
Sales and Marketing are two different departments. Usually, notably, under the same 'Consumer Products' or 'Licensing' banner.
One has not replaced the other here.
Universal's Marketing department has other films to promote and support.
Sales execs will consider any proposals from businesses who want to give them money to manufacture product based off one of their Properties.
"A government is a body of people usually notably ungoverned."
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My thoughts and prayers are with you, 11thHour. *hugs*
I don't know how Universal think this is kind, helpful or constuctive. It is nothing less than insulting, alienating loyal browncoats out here.
I LOVE your work and a hope you can't get this whole mess straightened out.
(One of my prized posessions of Firefly memorabilia is one of your Inara art Deco cards -it's so pretty)
Don't let this put you off. Keep producing your beautiful artwork. Just take up the challenge to create without reference to what seems to be 'forbidden'. *loads of hugs & support sent your way*
Humbug
"You know what the first rule of flying is?... Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but you take a boat in the air you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turning of worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down, tells you she's hurting 'fore she keens. Makes her a home." Mal, BDM
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