unoffical merchandise

[Devons Daddy]

i dont think so.
i have seen plenty of star trek stuff labeled as unoffical.in many comic shops in the west.t shirts, toby style mugs,games, chess sets and so on.spoof paper backs.plates and so on.
its a grey thing it seems.

though i see it from both sides.but if the creators where to push rebellion a bit.there would be potentail revenue for them.and well deserved too.
there is a market for it.a big one.and as stated,a marketing angle.quality can equal awareness,
the fact FP is now 75% merchandise says it all really.
i would suggest if we emailed rebellion and asked. they may actaully wake up and get it moving. how hard can it be to get a licensing contract organized.

i want officail merchandise.
i want to be able to walk into a shop and buy it. i want it to be a good quality.
i want all concerned to be rewarded in the correct manner.

come on rebellion, lets get it together,i want to collect and enjoy.

[paulvonscott]

I did point all that out at the start it should be said.  It's definitely wrong, but then is copying an album, lots of people do that, it's still wrong and it's still illegal and I bet there isn't anyone here who hasn't done it.  Yes, you've stolen ?15 that goes towards retailers, disributers, publishers and artists royalties, how do you feel now?  You probably aren't bothered much, which is pretty much how it goes for this sort of thing (rightly or wrongly).  So saying it's wrong isn't enough to persuade people not to do it, they know it's wrong.

I suspect the problem of 2000AD unnofficial merchandise doesn't exist on a large scale (of course that doesn't mean it's not serious, blah, blah etc.), but regardless of rights and wrongs (and yes, it is wrong to produce unofficial merchandise) it does show there probably is a market for decent quality, reasonably priced merchandise out there, and one that could be catered for directly throught Rebellion, their licencees or people with micro-licenses (to produce kits, models,etc.).

For instance, doesn't it bother you that John Wagner gets nothing from your knock-off Dredd clock?  It would me.  

It would bother me even more if someone was making money by selling Crab Man action figures, based on a best selling series of Crab Man books I'd written (which I haven't, I'm going to get them ghost written).

I'm sure if Rebellion considered it a problem they could do a lot through easy and accesable licensing (from large companies to cottage industry) to prevent it.  The other options are to ignore it and the indescriminate use of lawyers, both of which could cost them money.

[paulvonscott]

I don't think it is that grey DD I reckon paramount pictures probably spends a lot of time and money guarding their intellectual property.  there are however things you can do.

As gordon said you can write a book about something, an episode guide, a history or whatever.  You can produce spoofs, usually claiming it's a parody, though I suspect the laws in countries difffer over this.  You can produce images of actors on merchandise, because the studios don't own them.

You'll also note that all the unofficial books don't use the actual logo of the programme (usually some crappy poor mans version) they are using, simply because they can't, it's not theirs.

Every chess set, boardgame, mug and plate I've ever seen for sale has been licensed, but then that's here and it doesn't mean they don't exist.

[Devons Daddy]

i just hope the game goes through the roof.this would have many companies knocking on their door.and hopefully create the aviability many us hanker for.

but many things that rebellion are involved in are already licensed.or they are license holders.so whats so difficult for them.

they have not even got back to uncle umpty.how long does an email of sorry not at this time take to draft.?

we need to be aware that the readership is not growing, signifcantly as such any income source tooth based is a great one.
so why are they so damn slow on this.