Marvel Vs. Hasbro

[samurainoir]

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2016/10/01/marvel-comics-versus-hasbros-over-trademark-for-roms-dire-wraiths/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

This gets particularly awkward given that Hasbro is a big cash cow for Marvel's toy licensing, and the history Marvel has had developing storylines and characters for Hasbro's Transformers and GI joe RAH amongst other properties in the past.

As the article mentions, ROM was a flop as a toy, and the only reason why there is any interest in the property at all is the fact that Marvel continued the comic series well past the demise of the toy.

So this was bound to happen eventually. Particularly since the Dire Wraiths have become popular marvel villains through clashes with the X-Men and other space faring characters over the years since ROM's cancellation. I have not doubt that the licensing contracts were a bit loose back then. Particularly when it comes to characters and concepts created for a licensed book. We've seen various odd precedences where Marvel has ceded rights from Red Sonja over to Howard's estate back in the day for example, or villain Kulan Gath being given shared ownership between the contemporary license owners of Red Sonja and Marvel.

Micronauts characters such as Rann, Mari, and Bug continue to run around the Marvel Universe, except Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn seems to indicate that using those characters in movies would pose a legal problem for Marvel.

Doctor Demonicus and Red Ronin were created for the pages of Godzilla, yet still appear to be part of the Marvel U.

Marvel has also tried to shore up the Space Knight trademark previously with the non-ROM related in name-only Space Knights, as well as Venom Space Knight recently in anticipation of Hasbro's new ROM franchise.

[MRP]

Well the Dire Wraiths, the concepts behind them, and the Space Knights existed as part of the ROM lore before Marvel ever got the license, and were part of the commercials that aired for ROM before Marvel ever touched the property... the commercial can be see here on You Tube... https://youtu.be/ktFvrEQKdjw?list=LL...eeHu4VXuVVXyKw

They were also part of the promo materials Parker Brothers gave to Marvel to pitch the license.

so Marvel is going to have a tough time claiming these concepts were their creation to challenge the trademark.

-M

[samurainoir]

^^^
Did that toy fair promo material include the visuals of the Dire Wraiths? Or was it the Marvel side that created the look? Essentially, the way trade-mark works is that you can't claim a name or an IDEA. You need to trade-mark a visual execution/logo. Given that it was a dormant toy property for so long, and Dire Wraiths never existed in toy-form in the Parker Brothers incarnation, it would appear that Marvel got the jump on it...

Marvel/Disney has at least one previously uncontested trade-marked Toy Product out there to stake their claim.




appears IDW/Hasbro has a different visual for their Dire Wraiths?

[hedrap]

Marvel won't win.

I'm wondering what the motivation is...plans for Wraiths in a Guradians/Space Knights film, forcing Hasbro to divest IP rights in negotiations or trying to set precedent.

Methinks they don't like the Hasbroverse's potential of crowding the marketplace with recognizable nostalgia brands...

...just hit me that is Hasbro really wanted to scare the crap out of Marvel. They'd strike a deal for MOTU to be part of the Hasbroverse as the Fourth World/Asgard contingent. That would get some attention.

EDIT: Marvel has had to split rights before, so why make an issue over such meh characters? Even if they had movie plans, they could still use the characters with different names -hell, make them the real Chitauri - and Hasbro can't do squat.

[MRP]

IDW did go for a different look for the Dire Wraiths because the visual designs for the Marvel look were done by Marvel.

btw, the new ROM series from IDW is actually pretty good.

-M

[samurainoir]

Marvel won't win.

I'm wondering what the motivation is...plans for Wraiths in a Guradians/Space Knights film, forcing Hasbro to divest IP rights in negotiations or trying to set precedent.

Methinks they don't like the Hasbroverse's potential of crowding the marketplace with recognizable nostalgia brands...

...just hit me that is Hasbro really wanted to scare the crap out of Marvel. They'd strike a deal for MOTU to be part of the Hasbroverse as the Fourth World/Asgard contingent. That would get some attention.

EDIT: Marvel has had to split rights before, so why make an issue over such meh characters? Even if they had movie plans, they could still use the characters with different names -hell, make them the real Chitauri - and Hasbro can't do squat.

Disney is notoriously litigious and has decades of history in aggressively protecting their trade-marks. Seems par for the course now that Marvel is part of the Magic Kingdom. As we've seen with Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Starlord, Drax, and Gamora. EVERY Meh character in the Marvel Characters stable now has the potential to be leveraged into licensing gold.

Also, unless one buys out the other, the likelihood of Mattel licensing MotU to Hasbro is as likely as DC licensing the Justice League to Marvel. If anything, I'm actually kind of surprised Mattel hasn't been as aggressive as Hasbro in pursuing their own cinematic universe with the likes of MotU, Monster High, Hot Wheels and Barbie.

[PNGwynne]

I'd love a reissued or modernized ROM figure, the poseablility of the original was lacking.

[samurainoir]

I also have to think that if Marvel is successful in laying their claim to the Dire Wraiths against Hasbro, that it would set precedence so that Marvel Legal could give James Gunn the go-ahead for Bug as he originally wanted for future Guardians of the Galaxy films. Hasbro of course, also owns Micronauts these days.

TM'd as "Marvel's Bug" of course.

[jwyblejr]

If Disney buys out Hasbro as it's been rumored for awhile,problem solved.

[VintageMike]

I've been reading the new ROM was actually wondering about this. That commercial and any records Hasbro has will make it tough for Marvel. The IDW comic is only using the name/idea apparently created by Parker Bros and not really anything Marvel established. As long as Hasbro has the records, proving these concepts were established pre-Marvel they should be fine. Wouldn't shock me to learn either that this was so long ago the current people at Marvel don't even realize this. The irony here is that in fact Marvel is/was in the wring continuing to use the name after they lost the Rom license. Hopefully this will be settled, I get why Marvel/Disney thought they had to do it but with this coming to light, this is a losing/worthless battle for everyone.