Hasbro is going after a pony plushie maker on DA

[Wardah]

customizing is NOT infringing.

Unfortunately, customizing a pony to be a hasbro character IS infringing on copyright if you are making a profit on it.

On the other side, taking a pony (or any other toy for that mater) and turning it into a 100% original creation is legally no different than a kid writing their name across the side of a pony. You are legally allowed to resell your property and there is no law saying it has to be in the exact same condition as when you bought it.

[xkappax]

On the other side, taking a pony (or any other toy for that mater) and turning it into a 100% original creation is legally no different than a kid writing their name across the side of a pony. You are legally allowed to resell your property and there is no law saying it has to be in the exact same condition as when you bought it.

Yes, there are definitely a lot of gray areas. (gray? grey? I never know how to spell that) ... It's as I said earlier. They're not going to go after the small time customizers. People have been doing that for ages. They're going to go after the ones who are really profiting off of it... mainly the plushie makers. There are some big ones out there and they are making ALOT of money off of something that does not belong to them.

[Jenn77]

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for answering my question It might have been a silly one,but I figured it didn't hurt to know.

[LadyMoondancer]

Ok say you make a G1 into a G4 or vise versa  or any other different gen. for someone as a gift no profit made or anything, it was just because they wanted something like that to have. Is that allowed or would that be considered infringement as well? I figure it doesn't hurt to know visitors can't see pics , please register or login

I'm sure there are grey areas. Hasbro isn't going to come after someone for making a gift for someone. They're going to go after people who are profiting from their characters.

Not necessarily;  it depends on the company.  Back when The Sims was still "Sims 1", people used to make custom "skins" for Sims characters to make them look like famous people or superheros or whatnot.  Despite the fact that they were distributed for free on fan sites, Marvel sent Cease & Desist letters to anyone who DARED create a skin of Spider-Man, Captain America, etc.   (DC Comics, on the other hand, didn't mind at all.)  I mean, Marvel wasn't even putting out any computer games at the time--you'd have thought they'd be happy that fans liked their characters enough to want to have them as Sims.


Closer to home, a customizer who made a custom pony of the winter queen from the first Narnia movie had . . . the movie company, I think? (some company, anyway) . . . go after her and demand that she remove all mentions of Narnia and the Queen's name from her eBay listing.


Trying to protect the highly lucrative and popular "Narnia characters turned into pony" market, I guess.

creating a cyber fizzy, or gothic mimic (both styles never released by hasbro) are ideas CHANGED to become original.

I believe it would still be considered Hasbro's intellectual property unless you could prove it was parody, in which case it would be fair use.   Again, see the example of the snow queen or whatever her name was from Narnia.  I would say turning her from a humanoid into a pony is a pretty drastic and major design change!   But the company still went after that custom.


Incidentally I wasn't replying to you specifically with the glass houses comment, but rather the tone of the whole thread.

I was really hoping somebody would put a Sauron image up.  You never disappoint, LM!!

Someone had to do it! 

[Tilas]

Well with customizing, Hasbro still makes that ~$5 USD gross profit on each pony sold as bait. Whether they've been altered or customized or not they're still official licensed Hasbro products.


When you buy an embroidery machine and yards of Minky, Hasbro doesn't really see a dime of it ^_^; I know I know, technicalities schmechnicalities, but I'm just sayin'.

I agree with this totally. In the end, hasbro DID get a piece of the pie with a custom pony, even if it was a small chunk. With plushies, they don't. Also, as many said, customs are a tiny TINY peice of that money pie... plushies are much bigger.  So that might be a reason they don't hound customs nearly as much.

[xeevee]

Actually, hasbro own a copyright on colourful ponies with pictures on their butt.  They own the trademark on the names twilight sparkle, apple jack, etc.  If they wanted to go after someone for making and selling a custom my little pony with a picture on its butt they could.  Who they should be targeting is fakie companies for copyright infringement. They are the ones who compete on a larger scale.  But they wont because it is logistically too hard.  Instead they pick on someone who makes custom plushies.  Yes they are allowed to, but just because the customiser makes a lot of money doesn't then mean that hasbro couldn't bust any of us for using images that are mlp inspired.

[LadyMoondancer]

Well, any company can sell a pony with a picture on its bum, Hasbro doesn't own the rights to that concept.

But if that pony is in a Hasbro mold, like the Dollar Store babies, or if it is not in a Hasbro mold but uses a MLP design (like a Lanard pony, but with Pinkie Pie's color scheme and symbol), then THAT is definitely infringing on Hasbro.


It is baffling that they never seem to go after fakie companies, even when they are pirating molds of the current generation.   There are tons of G3 fakies out there and I'm sure G4 fakies aren't far behind.

[xkappax]

Actually, hasbro own a copyright on colourful ponies with pictures on their butt. 

Crud. I guess I'm going to have to cancel my new hit show, "colorful ponies with pictures on their butts"... sigh. I guess I'll just have to go with my back up, "colorful bears with pictures on their stomachs".

[LadyMoondancer]

 

[Sunset]

Actually, hasbro own a copyright on colourful ponies with pictures on their butt.  They own the trademark on the names twilight sparkle, apple jack, etc.  If they wanted to go after someone for making and selling a custom my little pony with a picture on its butt they could.  Who they should be targeting is fakie companies for copyright infringement. They are the ones who compete on a larger scale.  But they wont because it is logistically too hard.  Instead they pick on someone who makes custom plushies.  Yes they are allowed to, but just because the customiser makes a lot of money doesn't then mean that hasbro couldn't bust any of us for using images that are mlp inspired.

I'm sorry, I disagree with this.  You can't own the copyright for the generic idea of colorful horses with pictures.  You can own the copyright to specific names/molds/art designs, etc.  Otherwise, it would be the same as saying that Disney owns the copyright to all animated mice who talk.

[Jenn77]

Actually, hasbro own a copyright on colourful ponies with pictures on their butt. 

Crud. I guess I'm going to have to cancel my new hit show, "colorful ponies with pictures on their butts"... sigh. I guess I'll just have to go with my back up, "colorful bears with pictures on their stomachs".

 

[kamakazee82]

but still using the name in connection with it can insite a company action of "remove our name from it because we are not part of this and do not want any part of this if possible problems arise" ... and i KNOW someone mentioned that before ... yes, the idea is different, you turned it from human, to a pony, but they are still connected to it by name. some may be fine with that, others may not. because while the white queen was turned intoa pony, it still resembles the white queen in dress, etc. whereas my example of a cyber pony (sorry, i loves them so and they are ALWAYS the first customs i think of lol) ... the origianl g1 ponies are sadly kind of in limbo and up for grabs in a certain way ... protections only go so far when unused and undefended ... and they didn't wear super awesome fuzzy boots or have amazing hairfalls or such amazingly heartfelt handpainted works of art on their bums and their faces weren't expertly painted into joyful mad rainbows of pure perfection! ... and g1's were not g3's ... lots of changes, lessened restrictions, not totally okay to do, but it is a far cry from an exact replica plush of the homage pony that is still fully and actively protected and actively being used, whereas again the white queen had the human to pony change, but was still actively protected/used, royalties not being paid on the name use, the company could have said "hey, give us our royalty fee of how ever many hundreds or thousands of dollars and then it's all good" instead of saying "hey, yeah, could you just not use our name so we don't have to press legal matters?"  it's part of why "demon donkey" and "fun neddy lovy" ponies still exist ... just enough different and a different name ...:\

but the awesome plushes were 100% accurate ans same name ... dangerous territory ... like the lady and the tiger story. sure one door is a pretty lady, but one door has a ravenous tiger. you play the game you know the risks. it's 50/50. sooner or later those odds can backfire. bigtime

[DazzleKitty]

Actually, hasbro own a copyright on colourful ponies with pictures on their butt. 

Crud. I guess I'm going to have to cancel my new hit show, "colorful ponies with pictures on their butts"... sigh. I guess I'll just have to go with my back up, "colorful bears with pictures on their stomachs".

LOL!!!!!


I can see both sides of this but the artist and collector in me wants me to side with whitedovecreations. I also think Hasbro should be chasing fakie companies. I don't like them picking on one person who isn't making nearly much as Hasbro is.

BTW, I LOVE this person's plushies. I wish I could afford to commission her to make me a Twilight Sparkle or DJ Pony. And what I wish more is that I had her talent, LOL.

[kamakazee82]

yeah, i don't think anyone is arguing her talen or the pure win of her plushes at all. i gave her mad props all through this for that ... just the copyright/trademark thing not good

i so would love to have her make my ponysana but i can't afford those insane prices lol with all that skill, think of all the cool stuff she could do with her own ideas or helping people realize their own ponies, etc as plushes or making her own plush company! AND THEN HAVING HASBRO HIRE HER TO MAKE ALL THEIR PLUSHES! *dies* t'would be EPIC!

[StarFaerie]

Actually, hasbro own a copyright on colourful ponies with pictures on their butt.  They own the trademark on the names twilight sparkle, apple jack, etc.  If they wanted to go after someone for making and selling a custom my little pony with a picture on its butt they could.  Who they should be targeting is fakie companies for copyright infringement. They are the ones who compete on a larger scale.  But they wont because it is logistically too hard.  Instead they pick on someone who makes custom plushies.  Yes they are allowed to, but just because the customiser makes a lot of money doesn't then mean that hasbro couldn't bust any of us for using images that are mlp inspired.

I'm sorry, I disagree with this.  You can't own the copyright for the generic idea of colorful horses with pictures.  You can own the copyright to specific names/molds/art designs, etc.  Otherwise, it would be the same as saying that Disney owns the copyright to all animated mice who talk.

Yep, you're right they can't copyright it. They have patented them though. (But I believe the patent has now expired)

Actually, hasbro own a copyright on colourful ponies with pictures on their butt. 

Crud. I guess I'm going to have to cancel my new hit show, "colorful ponies with pictures on their butts"... sigh. I guess I'll just have to go with my back up, "colorful bears with pictures on their stomachs".

LOL!!!!!


I can see both sides of this but the artist and collector in me wants me to side with whitedovecreations. I also think Hasbro should be chasing fakie companies. I don't like them picking on one person who isn't making nearly much as Hasbro is.

BTW, I LOVE this person's plushies. I wish I could afford to commission her to make me a Twilight Sparkle or DJ Pony. And what I wish more is that I had her talent, LOL.

Unfortunately it's very hard to act against the fakie makers because they are mostly in China which has very lax IP laws.