Hasbro Accused of Piracy Over MLP Font

[LadyMoondancer]

Upon information and belief, Defendant Hasbro has not purchased the special license
from Font Brothers which authorizes the use of the GENERATION B font software as a
resource for use on goods for sale and for distribution to third parties or in the creation of
its various HASBRO “My Little Pony” branded goods, products, and/or services.

Hmm . . . reading the court papers, it sounds like Hasbro purchased some kind of license, but the font company is arguing it didn't purchase the correct license for what the font was used for.

At present, the amount of such damages, gains, profits, and advantages cannot be fully
ascertained by Font Brothers, but are believed to be not less than $150,000.

Uh, that's it?  I figured this was about millions of dollars. 

[Leave a Whisper]

Bring on G5! Bring on G5!

Seriously though, I would be deeply amused if this is what brought G4 to an end. Unlikely, but wild!!

How the heck does a massive company like Hasbro not triple-check all of their licenses and such??

I have pleasant dreams that g5 will come soon and they will look like ponies and not make internet memes in every single episode.

Seriously though, it sounds like they're trying to take a bigger chunk of the pie

[rosierjay]

so what you're saying is, i should go buy all the mlp fim episodes before they disappear off netflix again. i wonder if you own the digital titles if they can take those back or if it has to be in physical copies....

[Wardah]

While I have a feeling it will eventually all get sorted out, I can't shake the worry that this will cause the pearly translucent ponies to get recalled. It would be the second time I'm teased with the promise of official translucent G4s only to get it snatched away.

[LadyMoondancer]

The worst case scenario is that Hasbro redoes the packaging.  The G4 ponies themselves don't have the font on them anywhere . . .

[Wardah]

That's only if they haven't already done them in the packaging. Tho I wonder what would happen with the already packaged ones. It would probably cost more to repackage them than they would lose if they just wrote it off as a loss so the ponies would probably be destroyed in the process. Ugh I really hope they can somehow settle this.

[Sparkle Pony]

Huh, that's crazy...  I doubt this will go anywhere but it might have some kind of impact on the brand.

[Lore-Lei]

Wow, coming into this thread I thought it's a mistype and it has to do something with the fan-made 'Equestria' font. Heh, this is getting very interesting.

[Al-1701]

Upon information and belief, Defendant Hasbro has not purchased the special license
from Font Brothers which authorizes the use of the GENERATION B font software as a
resource for use on goods for sale and for distribution to third parties or in the creation of
its various HASBRO “My Little Pony” branded goods, products, and/or services.

Hmm . . . reading the court papers, it sounds like Hasbro purchased some kind of license, but the font company is arguing it didn't purchase the correct license for what the font was used for.

At present, the amount of such damages, gains, profits, and advantages cannot be fully
ascertained by Font Brothers, but are believed to be not less than $150,000.

Uh, that's it?  I figured this was about millions of dollars.

They're using "$150,000" as a threshold figure.  Certain levels of court require a complaint to be above or below certain economic levels.  The actual amount probably won't come out until this reaches the courtroom or is settled.

This is apparently a case of software piracy.  What Font Brothers does is buy the exclusive rights to make the files of fonts people create.  They then sell licenses to companies and individuals for their use.  Hasbro distributed Generation B to several third party companies which is software piracy.

[Shileah]

The statement that the owner of the rights to the font wants "all items destroyed" that use the font is just a usual thing said in such disputes (like a threat). In general, an issue like this is very likely to be resolved by a mutual agreement, where Hasbro will pay an amount XY and the rights holder will grant an extended license.
Licensing is a very complicated field, and mistakes happen all the time.

Source: I was a trained paralegal before I switched to the light side of the Force and stopped helping lawyers to make rich people richer. 

[Judhudson]

The statement that the owner of the rights to the font wants "all items destroyed" that use the font is just a usual thing said in such disputes (like a threat). In general, an issue like this is very likely to be resolved by a mutual agreement, where Hasbro will pay an amount XY and the rights holder will grant an extended license.
Licensing is a very complicated field, and mistakes happen all the time.

Source: I was a trained paralegal before I switched to the light side of the Force and stopped helping lawyers to make rich people richer. 

Yep.  Its all a bluff to get Hasbro frightened to want to pay to settle the issue.  No worries, MLP isn't doomed, and this won't cause G5 to happen

And yeah, lawsuits take an extremely long time to get started.  It could either be the fact of our slow legal system, or that they waited for the perfect time to strike to get the most money/best outcome from Hasbro.

Regardless, Hasbro will be signing a check. lol

[StarSwirl05]

Maybe Hasbro should call upon the sea ponies since now they're in distress. 

[Galactica]

Sounds to me like the font company is probably not making as much money these days and looking for some money.  The suit looks pretty frivolous to me, but chances are they will get something in settlement.

People are so greedy sometimes.

[Leave a Whisper]

Sounds to me like the font company is probably not making as much money these days and looking for some money.  The suit looks pretty frivolous to me, but chances are they will get something in settlement.

People are so greedy sometimes.

Yup.

[sailorstitch]

From an article on this "In addition, Font Brothers demand the destruction of all products and material which utilize the infringing font."
 
Seems like overkill.

What are they going to do? Raid every collector's homes and seize all the G4 merch? If they show up at my house to take my ponies, they will be met by my dad's shotgun!

sailorstitch