Universal going Fox on the Browncoats

[White Knight]

Universal has started issuing "cease and desist" orders to the online FF/S unofficial merchandisers. The kicker? 11th Hour, the queen of guerilla marketing, is being told that she's legally obliged to pay almost $9,000 in retroactive lisencing fees.

Yup, that's right. Blue Sun Shirts, Black Market Beagles, the multitude of CafePress stores, they're all being shut down. There will be no FF/S merchandise aside from Universal and Fox put out, and so far they haven't put out much.

Personally, I think this is f***ed up. Sure, Universal own the rights, but they encouraged the fans to get create in their marketing of the movie! They went along with it! They wanted us to help them get Serenity popular and now a year later they turn around and tell us to go f*** ourselves!

[Sci-Fi]

The majority of the cease and desist orders/requests are from FOX and Universal is protecting it's rights to Serenity.

http://whedonesque.com/comments/11355

That being said, if the Firefly community wants to sell merchandise, then it has to either get a license or sell items that do not specifically use the images from the show or movie. FOX hasn't given permission or sold a license for Firefly for years, but Universal has.

So you could keep selling "Never Stop Believing" T-shirts, knockoff hats, etc etc as long as no identifiable logos or symbols used in the show are used. Fans will know what it means anyways.

Consider yourselves lucky that they allowed people/fans to make money for this long. Other industries, like the NBA, MLB, NFL, etc etc crack down on copyright violators rather quickly and even confiscate the merchandise. Studios with well known franchises jealously and aggressively protect their copyrights...ST, SW's, James Bond, etc etc.

The studios have only asked to stop the sales and further legal action is usually dropped. Now if somebody decided to keep selling after getting a notice, then they take their chances on losing more than just sales. And it really doesn't matter how long the show has been off the air either or if any profits were given to a charity. To be honest, I find the fan prices are about the same as fully licensed products.

It may sound unfair to go after fan made merchandise, but some have made profits from it and the studios want their cut. In many cases, the producers and actors get a percentage of the profits from those licensed products that are sold. I mean, how many T-shirts have you seen that had the pictures of the cast in them? The actor's agents/agency, SAG, etc etc will be banging on the studios doors demanding their share of the cash or in some cases, take legal action directly against the sellers. You can see what a (legal and financial) mess this can become. Might as well pool your money together and start a small company like Art Asylum did. obtain a license(s), and then sell your items.

Underground selling will go on, but it won't be in the open...like online stores/sales are...and you'll probably see the same stuff sold outside or even inside various conventions, fan get togethers, or flea markets.

[White Knight]

I know all the lisencing stuff, that it's Uni's right and everything, but this is such a slap in the face after they've been egging us on to do this sorta stuff for years. And requesting lisencing fees after the fact? BS!

[rarocks24]

Well, they could always go overseas. I saw a Rasta Park shirt with the crew from South park on it.

[Bragi]

Fox and everyone else learned their lesson from Star Wars. Fox let Lucas keep the licensing rights and literally lost out on billions.

Which is why, to this day, Fox over-protects their property.

It's greedy and unnecessary for properties like Firefly, which they never supported anyway. But that's how things are.

And I was goin' to get myself an ear. . . . I mean. . . . a Blue Sun shirt.