Why does Hasbro keep getting a free pass for their copyright BS?

[ShadOBabe 19,003]

Them taking town Princess Molestia had nothing to do with the content that was made, it was only taken down because it used a character that they own. Even if that was the case, it would be nothing other than pure censorship.

And how exactly did Fighting damage the product's image? Cause the characters were fighting each other? Again, censorship.

 

Censorship? Censorship is when people keep you from doing what you want with YOUR creations.

If you're using THEIR creations, you just have to shut up and deal because it wasn't yours to begin with.

Edited February 3, 2016 by ShadOBabe

[Kapitan zur See Hans (Daz) 883]

Indeed, as others have said before, we have no claim to the franchise or any of the assets present or related to MLP. As teachers tell you in class "this isn't a democracy, I am the law" we are just having access to what they own. Unless you get the ok from Hasbro before hand you run the risk of C&D. Simple as that, don't try it unless you know you can do it first. If you are doing something that is sketchy better complete it before you release anything then archive it.

[Plonkett 345]

Indeed, as others have said before, we have no claim to the franchise or any of the assets present or related to MLP. As teachers tell you in class "this isn't a democracy, I am the law" we are just having access to what they own. Unless you get the ok from Hasbro before hand you run the risk of C&D. Simple as that, don't try it unless you know you can do it first. If you are doing something that is sketchy better complete it before you release anything then archive it.

 

Sega doesn't seem to have a problem with people making animations based on Sonic. Name one Sonic animation that had gotten a C&D from Sega.

[Kapitan zur See Hans (Daz) 883]

Sega doesn't seem to have a problem with people making animations based on Sonic. Name one Sonic animation that had gotten a C&D from Sega.

Didn't say that Sega didn't have a problem. Read my previous comments as I said it was not good for business with Nintendo. Hasbro is an entirely different beast, like I said they make their money with merch. Bronies may buy merch too and will largely not stop buying merch due to fan content being removed, especially considering we are the minority when it comes to their profits.

[Plonkett 345]

Censorship? Censorship is when people keep you from doing what you want with YOUR creations.

If you're using THEIR creations, you just have to shut up and deal because it wasn't yours to begin with.

 

So what are you trying to say? That it's okay for a company to abuse the copyright system? At the end of the day, it's still censorship if you're taking down something that was just made out of love.

Edited February 3, 2016 by vgmaster9

[Kapitan zur See Hans (Daz) 883]

Sounds like you are talking more about the ethics of the copyright system. There is an end all be all to that, ethics and business steer clear away from each other.

[cuteycindyhoney 13,308]

Sigh. Like it or not, Hasbro has the legal right to put out a C & D on any fan art, animation, story, or even forums such as this. Just because someone produced something as a "Labor of Love" doesn't mean they automatically have the right to use another company's copyrighted material. The argument seems to be..."But I like it. That means I should be exempt from copyright laws, and can do what I want with the characters I love."

[ShadOBabe 19,003]

If you take down something that was just simply made out of love, it is not only censorship, but also just abusing the copyright system.

 

Hon, I'm sorry, but you're kind of wrong on this.

If the intellectual property doesn't belong to you, it doesn't belong to you.

Period. That is copyright law. It is meant to protect owners of intellectual property.

 

Whether you abuse the company's creations and damage their image (Princess Mollestia) or create something so SPOT ON perfect that it can be mistaken for the real thing (Button Mash Adventures), you could potentially cause problems for the company and their product. I have no sympathy for the Mollestia crap, but the Button Mash thing in an unfortunate result of extreme talent.

 

That animation was so perfect that to any unaware (and unobservant) person, it would look like an official Hasbro release. While not repugnant in it's content, Hasbro can't risk having a third party do that. The people that work on making the show are under contracts and guidelines. But the creator of Button Mash Adventures was just off in the wilds making whatever he liked. He had no accountability like the official hired DHX staff. So they felt it was in their own best interest to stop it.

Edited February 3, 2016 by ShadOBabe

[Celli 4,338]

@@vgmaster9, First of all, Princess Molestia wasn't taken down due to it having Celestia in it, if that were the case, why hasn't every other tumblr with MLP characters been canned? And it wasn't because of the material, again, all the other popular tumblrs wouldn't exist either.

If you know who Pinkiepony is, I need not say anything else. If you don't, well, I'd rather not explain it.

Also, Fighting is Magic was too popular for it's own good, showing at EVO wasn't the best idea. It's pretty much the biggest fighting esports event.

And as others have said, Button Mash was too similar to the show itself, also if I'm correct, Jan was making money off of it, which is bad, and other animators were doing it for free, as a side hobby basically.

But compared to other companies, Hasbro has been pretty generous. *Cough*Disney*Cough*

Edited February 3, 2016 by Celli

[Megas 27,742]

 

@@vgmaster9, First of all, Princess Molestia wasn't taken down due to it having Celestia in it, if that were the case, why hasn't every other tumblr with MLP characters been canned? And it wasn't because of the material, again, all the other popular tumblrs wouldn't exist either.

If you know who Pinkiepony is, I need not say anything else. If you don't, well, I'd rather not explain it.

Also, Fighting is Magic was too popular for it's own good, showing at EVO wasn't the best idea. It's pretty much the biggest fighting esports event.

And as others have said, Button Mash was too similar to the show itself, also if I'm correct, Jan was making money off of it, which is bad, and other animators were doing it for free, as a side hobby basically.

 

- It wasn't just showing it at EVO(though I agree it played a part), they were also using the game to raise money charity, which in a sense is still monetary gain. I know my post makes it sound like Hasbro is a soulless, evil corporation that hates charity(which is probably not true), but my point is they were still using Fighting is Magic to make money in some way, which is still a big no no, regardless of what the money is actually for

 

- I never heard of this at all, but I do remember the C&D happening because it looked waaaay too much like the show itself

[Celli 4,338]

@,Yeah, I think he was making money off of his stuff, which included all his MLP animations, along with the fact that Jan's videos had views in the millions.

Not exactly a big help. 

[cider float 2,538]

Not sure why this makes you upset when there was petitions on keeping Friendship is Fighting afloat. It's not gone anyway it just changed it's look to other animals. 

[Gestum 2,493]

It's Hasbros IP, they have all the rights in the world to take down fan art or projects that uses their IP without permission.

[Moved to Elsewhere 11,331]

Free pass? Trust me, I was in the fandom during the Fighting is Magic C&D, people were not giving them a free pass. Sure there might be a vocal minority, but not what I've seen. Also, it could be worse. They could be Viacom.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,680]

I have seen plenty of Brony backlash to Hasbro doing what they do. This fandom is not a quiet bunch. 

 

The way I see it, it is Hasbro's property. They own MLP, we don't. Honestly, they are far more lenient than some give them credit for. 

[CastletonSnob 3,078]

Could someone remind me about what Nintendo did with LP?

[Guest]

But everything they are, there's that vocal minority that keeps coming to their defense.

Vocal minority always exists.

 

That being said I grill Hasbro when they do something that is just stupid like take down some fanart. However I do recognize instances where I can at least understand Hasbro's logic in taking something down, even if I don't personally agree with it. Such as the Molestia thing. Hasbro doesn't want people to mistake a character with such an offensive connotation with the legitimate product and legally they are within their rights to fight it. That being said, I know people will defend Molestia, and I am not speaking against her right here, but I am just saying I understand their concern from face value. A lot of people forget that Hasbro does not have the time to defend things when called out. So say a mother is concerned over Molestia, Hasbro doesn't have the time to send her an email and  explain it's fan made, fair use and the character actually isn't that bad, blah blah blah, it would be far too much of a waste of their time.

 

I can understand their logic, but I don't necessarily agree with it. That being said our copyright laws need to be rewritten, but in a manner that allows people to protect their IPs. I think a good medium is that fanart, fanfiction, etc should all just be fair use and anything bigger like full scale games or something should be through licensing. I.e. you can buy a license to make them from Hasbro, etc. I can understand being more concerned over the bigger projects like full scale episodes because you don't want people mistaking fanmade episodes for your own especially when they look similar enough. Like as much as people criticize Double Rainboom, from a parent perspective, it's easily mistakable as the real thing.

 

To further my point: As it stands Hasbro is in their right to protect their property. It's easy for all of us to say we would do it differently because we don't own a big giant brand that we fear people taking control over and stealing from us. A lot of people say they would be just happy that people are using their brand to make fan projects, but you can't honestly say that until you are in that boat. Imagine if you were Hasbro for a minute. What is one of the biggest reasons people praise MLP? The community. Something that Hasbro has no control over. Others will say the fan works. So imagine you created this big thing and other people are more or less getting a good majority of the credit even though they'd be nothing without you.

 

Don't forget Hasbro made the brony community. Hasbro is responsible for its existence, and while we all have our gripes with them over something or other, we still need to learn to respect them. Hasbro is relatively silent about bronies in comparison to other fanbases and their creators (Homestuck comes to mind, Hussie actively engages with his fans), and that might be because bronies have little to no respect for Hasbro. If bronies were more respectful to the creators, the creators may actually listen to them more. But how are you going to convince people to even consider your input when every minor mistake the staff make people grill them over. Fuck M.A. Larson got grilled pretty bad just for "bad episodes". McCarthy was grilled heavily over the Equestria Girls movies. How do you expect these people to listen to you when half of the input they get isn't even constructive and when it is, it's filled with venom. Half of the "constructive" reviews I see make sure to coat themselves in anger, venom and an atmosphere of general discontent.

 

Some people apparently don't get how a critique works: respect is still necessary. This is generally what I see as an example of "critiques" of "bad" episodes:

 

"This episode was by far the weakest of the season. The plotline is stupid and filled with holes. It broke canon and what we understand about the characters. I was so disappointed by this because I had hopes for this one. Larson clearly just can't write."

 

Instead of something like:

 

"To start off with what I liked about this episode, I felt the humor was spot on! It was funny and engaging. There was a lot of energy. That being said, I felt that some of the plot was a bit harder to follow because of things that didn't quite make sense. If it were me, I might have taken a little extra time to explain this plothole, but there were some high points to this episode. I can definitely tell that Larson is trying, and it's good to see he has humor down!"

 

That's how you give a critique, it should feel like you are trying to help by stressing the points that worked and stressing the points that need work. This is not how a majority of reviews I see go.

Edited February 3, 2016 by Guest

[Jest (Inactive) 875]

Yeah, but that doesn't make the few things they did, like taking down a non-profit Tumblr webcomic (Ask Princess Molestia) any less shady or scummy. If they did it before then they can do it again at their own discretion. There's no justifiable reason for a company's legal department, striking against what was created out of love and appreciation for the product that the creator watches/reads/plays/listens to, unless it's being monetized.

 

You think it's scummy that Hasbro took down something as sick as princess molestia? Nice. In my pretty neutral opinion Hasbro is a hella lot better with the copyright BS than alot of other people are and lets be honest if there was no justification behind their copyright claims the material wouldn't be bought down x)

Edited February 3, 2016 by Jestwinged

[Riganthor 484]

Hasbro tries to keep a middle ground and not piss of the fanbase too much the only reason they took down projects like buttonmash was that it was getting media attention and if they didn't do anything they would lose the rights to chars named in the episode (yes this is part of copyright law).

[Guest]

 

 

Them taking town Princess Molestia had nothing to do with the content that was made, it was only taken down because it used a character that they own. Even if that was the case, it would be nothing other than pure censorship.

 

That isn't necessarily true. We don't know exactly why it was taken down. Hasbro never told us. So to say one way or the other is mere speculation. I am all for fighting unfair decisions, but we have to make sure we know the reasoning before we assert something.

 

 

 

And how exactly did Fighting damage the product's image? Cause the characters were fighting each other? Again, censorship.

 

It is not censorship to take down things that use copyrighted material. That being said, there is also the possibility that Fighting is Magic represents a free alternative to a future Hasbro product which would be damaging to business if there is a free alternative to a paid product. We don't know. We can only speculate, but there are a number of legitimate reasons to take it down. Besides the crew behind the game are now making a for-profit game, so it actually kind of worked in their favor. If anything, FiM getting taken down encouraged them to branch out.

 

 

 

Sega doesn't seem to have a problem with people making animations based on Sonic. Name one Sonic animation that had gotten a C&D from Sega.

 

Every business handles this differently. That being said, Sega is a far smaller company than they used to be. Their fanbase has dwindled, so they will take any free advertisement they can get. Just because Sega does something though, doesn't mean everyone should. What works for one company does not work for them all.

 

 

 

So what are you trying to say? That it's okay for a company to abuse the copyright system? At the end of the day, it's still censorship if you're taking down something that was just made out of love.

 

They aren't abusing it though. Whether something was made out of love or not has no bearings on anything. So you're telling me that I can rip off anything I want so long as I do it out of love? "Yes your honor, I stole the Star Wars films, but I did so because I loved them! So you shouldn't fine me or make me pay for them."

 

 

 

Hasbro can't risk having a third party do that.

 

This is the big thing here. A third party that you do not own or control could start by say releasing something great that helps you. But ANYWHERE down the road they could gain enough popularity that they are mistaken for you for so long and then they release something offensive and now everyone things you did it. When people are not under your control, you just can't trust them with your properties because they are liable to do anything even if they seem like nice guys at first.

 

 

 

If you know who Pinkiepony is, I need not say anything else.

 

While PinkiePony took credit for it, there is no actual concrete evidence that she had anything to do with it. So we can't say for certain she's to blame, though I do think she's a hypocrite and a crybaby.

 

 

 

- It wasn't just showing it at EVO(though I agree it played a part), they were also using the game to raise money charity, which in a sense is still monetary gain.

 

Bingo! Why is this a bad thing? I'll tell you why:

 

Let's say they raised money for a charity that Hasbro didn't approve of. Let's say that that charity later is found out to be a fraud and it makes big news. Now Hasbro looks like they supported it. They can't take the risk of supporting anything that they did not research themselves.

 

Not to mention since Hasbro has no ties to the charity they have no way of knowing it's legitimate. For all they know the FiM crew could have set up this thing that LOOKS like they are donating to charity, but actually pocketing the cash. Hasbro has no way of knowing, and thus should treat it as if it's the worst case scenario sadly because we live in a world where people do shady things.

 

 

Not sure why this makes you upset when there was petitions on keeping Friendship is Fighting afloat. It's not gone anyway it just changed it's look to other animals. 

 

Nah it's gone. It's still a carbon copy but it's a new product.

Hasbro tries to keep a middle ground and not piss of the fanbase too much the only reason they took down projects like buttonmash was that it was getting media attention and if they didn't do anything they would lose the rights to chars named in the episode (yes this is part of copyright law).

 

Yes! This is another fine point!

 

Our copyright system REQUIRES copyright holders to actively utilize and try to protect their copyrights or they lose them. It's part of why Sony rebooted Spiderman after so many years because they were going to lose the copyright if they did not create new products.

[Gestum 2,493]

if they didn't do anything they would lose the rights to chars named in the episode (yes this is part of copyright law).

Source? As far as I know, copyright law doesn't work like that. Trademarks do, but that's a completely different thing.

[Plonkett 345]

 

@@vgmaster9, First of all, Princess Molestia wasn't taken down due to it having Celestia in it, if that were the case, why hasn't every other tumblr with MLP characters been canned? And it wasn't because of the material, again, all the other popular tumblrs wouldn't exist either.

If you know who Pinkiepony is, I need not say anything else. If you don't, well, I'd rather not explain it.

Also, Fighting is Magic was too popular for it's own good, showing at EVO wasn't the best idea. It's pretty much the biggest fighting esports event.

And as others have said, Button Mash was too similar to the show itself, also if I'm correct, Jan was making money off of it, which is bad, and other animators were doing it for free, as a side hobby basically.

But compared to other companies, Hasbro has been pretty generous. *Cough*Disney*Cough*

 

 

Well according to Jon Joseco, PinkiePony had nothing to do with Princess Molestia being taken down.

 

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NWxGs9eT2CM/Utmu7GH92tI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/I-eKae0f6io/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-01-17+at+5.28.59+PM.png

 

Also, if it's true than Jan did make money off his animations, then it would kinda make sense.

[Celli 4,338]

@@vgmaster9,Still the fact that some tumblr users probably reported his blog after Pinkiepony happened, so then obviously Hasbro took it down. 

[Shanks 10,816]

Bronies criticize Hasbro all the time actually. Legally speaking companies can lose patents if they don't do a certain bare minimum to "protect" them from "infringement", in other words certain projects had to be C@D to meet his criteria or else Hasbro would have lost the patent. It sucks and I hate it too, but Hasbro has actually be considerably more lenient with this than other companies. If you really want to see companies that are being dickish about copyright and patents than you should see the things Disney and Viacom have done. As for Molestia though that had a more to do with SJW busy body assholes who didn't even bother to check their facts and actually read the fan comic they were bitching about. If they read it they would have realized that most of the humor was based on sex in general rather than rape despite the name but that would too inconvenient for the regressive leftist idealogues that opened their fat mouths on this.

Edited February 3, 2016 by Shanks

[EverEverOn 346]

I understand why Hasbro's actions might upset people. But we have to realize WHY they do what they do.

Hasbro owns anything relating to My Little Pony. Therefore, they own the right to take down any fan-made works. If they don't like someone drawing something they own without permission, of course they're going to request that it's taken down. Copyright works like that.

That reminds me, my seventh grade art teacher told us something about copyright. Even if the creator never pays a fee to have '©' placed on the product, it's still copyrighted. Pretty much anything can be copyrighted by the original creator. Pony is one of those things that is copyrighted. As a result, people need permission to create works of art using those characters.

But Hasbro doesn't take everything down. In fact, I seldom see things getting taken down in the first place. The only stuff I recall being taken down is full episodes on YouTube and DailyMotion. Hasbro even lets BronyCon continue.

So yeah. While Hasbro does take stuff down, they've still been pretty generous when it comes to fan created work and allow it to stay up.