"Brony" Being Blocked by Zazzle for Infringement Claims by Hasbro

[Carbon Maestro 1,003]

If you guys didn't know, EQD recently posted something rather interesting about the word, "Brony" being used as infringement claims. What's interesting is that this is the first time Hasbro (The intellectual property rights holder) has authorized Zazzle to remove the pony related product due to the infringement of using tags such as "Brony" or "My Little Pony."

 

Just to clarify, Zazzle is an online retailer that allows users to upload images and create their own merchandise, and a few bronies sell pony merchandise through its products.

 

Here's the notice as posted by EQD:

 

While it's expected for Zazzle to take-down character names, interestingly enough, Zazzle will takedown any merchandise with notable sayings? Seriously Hasbro? Last time I checked, 20% Cooler isn't a trademark catchphrase. Is this something that's going to be a growing trend? Or will this just be temporary?

 

Personally I think it may have to do with the new marketing team back at Hasbro headquarters, and doing this sort of thing is like biting the hand that feeds you or playing with fire. It can get ugly. While it might be too soon to jump the ship, I certainly hope that this isn't a prelude to something much worse in the future. What do you guys think?

Edited May 24, 2014 by Carbon Maestro

[King 5,625]

I feel as though this is more on Zazzles end then Hasbro's. Hasbro doesnt own the term "Brony" and they know it, thus they cant file any claims for it. The only thing Zazzle can take down is content that includes characters from the show.

[DementedPillowMaster 26]

What is this evil sorcery?!     

[Flying wub 48]

Zazzle please stop this bullcrap brony is a own term and we the fans call us bronies (pegasisters)

They have no reason to do this!

[ghostfacekiller39 23,860]

Eh. Redbubble and WeLoveFine are my favorite stops for MLP Merch - I haven't even heard of Zazzle before this, to be honest, and as daft as this Zazzle ordeal is, I've always heard/know from experience RB and WLF are really the two best places to go in terms of price and quality, respectively, so it's not *too* big of a blow

[Rainblow H. Ash 5,091]

Never heard of Zazzle, but seems like a dumb business move for them to make.

[Frith is Magick 1,471]

I think this is indicative of a different problem. Bronies aren't "the hand that feeds Hasbro" as much as we think: all the good merch is licensed or fanmade, not made by Hasbro, so that is what ens up more popular. Hasbro's revenues do not reflect the community's collective expenditure as close as could be expected, and because they have smaller producers (fans) profiting from their trademark without giving hem a cut, it makes business sense to become more competitive. In theory this would be improving to outdo the competition, but in this case they can limit the competition by cracking down on copyright infringement. It's all about the bottom line.

 

I'm not trying to paint Hasbro as an evil empire (well, no more evil than the rest of the empire); any company would do the same. Hasbro is fairly lax with copyright protection, and it only seems to be the content that actually poses a threat that they target. As for the term "brony", I can see that being blocked a search term because of the content it leads to, but the term itself is not their intellectual property and if it is, then there is some sort of conspiracy going on.

[Zhortac 1,474]

Sounds like they need to learn, that "brony" isn't really related to the damn show, since the origin has more to do with 4chan, then the show itself.

[M'aiq the Liar 5,804]

Eh. Redbubble and WeLoveFine are my favorite stops for MLP Merch - I haven't even heard of Zazzle before this, to be honest, and as daft as this Zazzle ordeal is, I've always heard/know from experience RB and WLF are really the two best places to go in terms of price and quality, respectively, so it's not *too* big of a blow

Not yet, but if the worst happens it could snowball. Hasbro could just pull all non-licensed products off that carry their characters likeness. Meaning welovefine's entire stock is gone for the most part. So while it may not be a huge loss to you, the after effects may carry large repercussions for other retailers, and could spark hasbro to "pull the plug" on large scale fandom made stuffs.

 

 

And this is worrying. Hasbro does not own the rights to any product that has the word "brony" on it, as they do not own any intellectual rights to that. While they may just be authorizing people to remove products, hasbro really cannot as it does not own the property.

[Carbon Maestro 1,003]

Not yet, but if the worst happens it could snowball. Hasbro could just pull all non-licensed products off that carry their characters likeness. Meaning welovefine's entire stock is gone for the most part. So while it may not be a huge loss to you, the after effects may carry large repercussions for other retailers, and could spark hasbro to "pull the plug" on large scale fandom made stuffs.

 

 

And this is worrying. Hasbro does not own the rights to any product that has the word "brony" on it, as they do not own any intellectual rights to that. While they may just be authorizing people to remove products, hasbro really cannot as it does not own the property.

 

I don't think they are allowed to "own" a single word (As I recall, Google, Apple, can only own the names of their products if it's made up or it's not used from a cultural standpoint) so to say that the word "brony" is owned by intellectual rights is just incorrect because it's culturally significant and they cannot own such a thing.

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,824]

This should not be. I think this is Hasbro's issue. They cannot "own" the word "brony" as posters said above me. 

[Twilight The Creator 298]

Well, Hasbro can't technically copyright the word, since it originated on 4chan.

However, on Twitter people are tweeting about "alternatives", most of them being "ponybro".

:okiedokielokie:

[Graveyard Duck 150]

That's OUR word! You can't use that word!

[Bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb 167]

That's OUR word! You can't use that word!

your profile picture makes that sentence so much better 

[nami438 90]

If you guys didn't know, EQD recently posted something rather interesting about the word, "Brony" being used as infringement claims. What's interesting is that this is the first time Hasbro (The intellectual property rights holder) has authorized Zazzle to remove the pony related product due to the infringement of using tags such as "Brony" or "My Little Pony."

 

Just to clarify, Zazzle is an online retailer that allows users to upload images and create their own merchandise, and a few bronies sell pony merchandise through its products.

 

Here's the notice as posted by EQD:

While it's expected for Zazzle to take-down character names, interestingly enough, Zazzle will takedown any merchandise with notable sayings? Seriously Hasbro? Last time I checked, 20% Cooler isn't a trademark catchphrase. Is this something that's going to be a growing trend? Or will this just be temporary?

 

Personally I think it may have to do with the new marketing team back at Hasbro headquarters, and doing this sort of thing is like biting the hand that feeds you or playing with fire. It can get ugly. While it might be too soon to jump the ship, I certainly hope that this isn't a prelude to something much worse in the future. What do you guys think?

(this is not a criticism of you, just general commentary)

 

When someone uses the term "brony" when are they not referring to My Little Pony in some way these days?

 

I'd be surprised to find that even a few of the people tagging their merchandise "brony" on Zazzle were not selling infringing merchandise.

 

Unfortunately now people who want to sell, say, a shirt that just says "brony" will run into trouble. Wonder if there were very many such people on Zazzle to begin with.

 

Hasbro does not own a trademark on the word "brony", nor are they or Zazzle claiming that this is the case.

Meaning welovefine's entire stock is gone for the most part.

Welovefine has licenses for all of the merchandise they sell, including for My Little Pony.

I don't think they are allowed to "own" a single word (As I recall, Google, Apple, can only own the names of their products if it's made up or it's not used from a cultural standpoint) so to say that the word "brony" is owned by intellectual rights is just incorrect because it's culturally significant and they cannot own such a thing.

In the USA, you can trademark a word when it is used in relation to your product.

 

Example: King, the developers of Candy Crush Saga, used to own a trademark on the word "candy" when it is used as a title for a video game.

Edited May 25, 2014 by nami438

[M'aiq the Liar 5,804]

(this is not a criticism of you, just general commentary)

 

When someone uses the term "brony" when are they not referring to My Little Pony in some way these days?

 

I'd be surprised to find that even a few of the people tagging their merchandise "brony" on Zazzle were not selling infringing merchandise.

 

Unfortunately now people who want to sell, say, a shirt that just says "brony" will run into trouble. Wonder if there were very many such people on Zazzle to begin with.

 

Hasbro does not own a trademark on the word "brony", nor are they or Zazzle claiming that this is the case.

 

Welovefine has licenses for all of the merchandise they sell, including for My Little Pony.

In the USA, you can trademark a word when it is used in relation to your product.

 

Example: King, the developers of Candy Crush Saga, used to own a trademark on the word "candy" when it is used as a title for a video game.

But Hasbro has not trademarked the word in relation to their product. And Welovefine does sell artist provided works, that have not been authorized by Hasbro. Hasbro is giving license to a word it has not trademarked, and does not own product licensing to. If one wanted, this could be brought into court. And king's trademark was turned down by the patent office, as it was far to broad a trademark, and there are very few courts that would uphold such a idea. Edited May 25, 2014 by Miaq_The_Truthful

[nami438 90]

But Hasbro has not trademarked the word in relation to their product.

Correct, they have not and hopefully will never try to.

And Welovefine does sell artist provided works, that have not been authorized by Hasbro.

Hm? I am pretty sure WeLoveFine only sells licensed products.

Hasbro is giving license to a word it has not trademarked, and does not own product licensing to. If one wanted, this could be brought into court. And king's trademark was turned down by the patent office, as it was far to broad a trademark, and there are very few courts that would uphold such a idea.

In no way is Hasbro asserting that they own "brony". I don't think Hasbro has any part in this at all, this is all Zazzle. Zazzle is just trying to catch people selling infringing merchandise through their website, not asserting ownership over the word "brony".

And king's trademark was turned down by the patent office, as it was far to broad a trademark, and there are very few courts that would uphold such a idea.

I thought that King withdrew it voluntarily. Either way, I hope your way would have been what the patent office said to that.

Edited May 25, 2014 by nami438

[M'aiq the Liar 5,804]

Correct, they have not and hopefully will never try to.

 

Hm? I am pretty sure WeLoveFine only sells licensed products.

 

In no way is Hasbro asserting that they own "brony". I don't think Hasbro has any part in this at all, this is all Zazzle. Zazzle is just trying to catch people selling infringing merchandise through their website, not asserting ownership over the word "brony".

 

I thought that King withdrew it voluntarily. Either way, I hope your way would have been what the patent office said to that.

But by blocking the word brony for a copywrite infringement, Zazzle is making the inference that Hasbro does own the word. While they have not yet filled for licensing to the word, one company is by extent making the inference that they are. This can lead to many, many issues both in the immediate, and later on. If I were Hasbro, I would send them a list of the MLP related copywrites the company owns, to avoid such an inference. And WeLoveFine has a general merchants license. They can legally sell FiM products, but it is not "official" sanction merchandise. Keeps those soccer moms from making complaints about the "I watch it for the plot" t-shirts.

[Sigma 768]

The pop-culture term 'brony' is public domain.

 

If Zazzle plays this out correctly, then they may end up giving Hasbro a taste of their own civil-lawsuit medicine.

Edited May 25, 2014 by Asterisk Propernoun