{"id":134491,"date":"2017-08-30T07:28:42","date_gmt":"2017-08-30T13:28:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=134491"},"modified":"2017-08-31T22:29:52","modified_gmt":"2017-09-01T04:29:52","slug":"cant-nice-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/30\/cant-nice-things.html","title":{"rendered":"This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things"},"content":{"rendered":"

Because people figure out ways for crazy intellectual property law suits about them.<\/p>\n

Hasbro, I have no doubt that “Bumblebee” is a very popular Transformer. I also have no doubt that you expect a Bumblebee solo movie to make oodles of money. Go have at it.<\/p>\n

But none of that affects DC’s character, Bumblebee, one of (if not the) first African-American heroes the company created, back in the 1970s for the Teen Titans, several years before the Transformers were even created. She’s been around in the comics on and off since then, and showed up in the excellent Teen Titans<\/i> cartoon.<\/p>\n

And even if you, somehow, managed to trademark the name “Bumblebee” (yeesh), I seriously doubt anyone is going to confuse a black woman who can shrink with a giant robot that can turn into a car. Any more than people who are looking for Transformers swag will inadvertently buy cans of Bumblebee Tuna.<\/p>\n

Yeesh.<\/p>\n

(I wasn’t able to find the actual trademark application involved, though this mid-2000s one<\/a>\u00a0was abandoned by Hasbro. It was for “toy action figures, toy vehicles and toy robots convertible into other visual toy forms.” Another one<\/a> Hasbro successfully put in for “Bee Vision” covers “Toy masks; role-play toys; toy action figures, toy vehicles and toy robots convertible into other visual toy forms”)<\/p>\n


\n
\n<\/a>
\nHasbro Files Suit Against DC Comics Over \u2018Bumblebee\u2019 Trademark<\/a><\/span>
\nTwo superhero franchises are about to square off in federal court over the right to market \u201cBumblebee\u201d toys. Hasbro, owner of the Transformers brand, filed a lawsuit on Monday accusing \u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Because people figure out ways for crazy intellectual property law suits about them. Hasbro, I have no doubt that “Bumblebee” is a very popular Transformer. I also have no doubt that you expect a Bumblebee solo movie to make oodles of money. Go have at it. But none of that affects DC’s character, Bumblebee, one … Continue reading “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,11,79,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plusposts","category-media-comics","category-media-intellectual-property","category-media-movies"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/unnamed-9-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11605,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/07\/28\/bt07_traitors_and_tumult.html","url_meta":{"origin":134491,"position":0},"title":"BT07 – Traitors and Tumult","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 28-Jul-07 8:22pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Teen Titans: Titans around the World, vol. 6\u00a0(DC) [collects #34-41] w. Geoff Johns; a. Tony Daniel, et al.\u00a0 Writing New reader? Art Non-comics reader? Once again,\u00a0\"One Year Later\" rears...","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/stars4.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11618,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/07\/28\/bt07_titanic.html","url_meta":{"origin":134491,"position":1},"title":"BT07 – Titanic","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 28-Jul-07 2:57pm","format":false,"excerpt":"New Teen Titans Archives, Vol. 3\u00a0(DC) [collects #17-20, TotNTT #1-4] w. Marv Wolfman; a.\u00a0George Perez\u00a0 Writing New reader? Art Non-comics reader? I started collecting comics in earnest just as...","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/stars4.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":45139,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/09\/11\/a-live-action-teen-titans.html","url_meta":{"origin":134491,"position":2},"title":"A … live-action Teen Titans?","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 11-Sep-14 6:55pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm intrigued, though Akiva Goldsman being associated with the project does not fill me with confidence. Originally shared by +The Mary Sue: Hold on to your butts, #Titans The Teen Titans Are Getting Another TV Show, This Time It\u2019s Live Action View on Google+","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49481,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/02\/02\/no-longer-teen-titans-go.html","url_meta":{"origin":134491,"position":3},"title":"No-Longer-Teen Titans Go!","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 2-Feb-15 3:16pm","format":false,"excerpt":"So the live-action Teen Titans TV series pilot seems to have a script, laying out the character included -- Dick Grayson (post-Robin), Barbara Gordon (Oracle, in all but name so far), Hawk & Dove, and (in a brief glimpse) Raven and Starfire.No sign of Beast Boy yet, and Cyborg seems\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15393,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/26\/bt09-t-is-for-tots-blogathon.html","url_meta":{"origin":134491,"position":4},"title":"BT09 – T is for Tots (#Blogathon)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 26-Jul-09 1:24am","format":false,"excerpt":"The Blogathon is down to 151 blogs from drop-outs and no-shows -- but our total pledged is just $9 short of $40K. Woot! If it stays there too long, I may have to donate the difference myself! \u00a0 New Teen Titans Archives, Vol. 4\u00a0(DC) [collects #21-27, Annual #1] w. Marv\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/stars4.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8976,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/03\/13\/dcau_news.html","url_meta":{"origin":134491,"position":5},"title":"DCAU News","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 13-Mar-06 2:51pm","format":false,"excerpt":"(That's \"DC Animated Universe\" for the non-initiated.) THE GOOD: A Teen Titans DTV release (Teen Titans Tokyo) is coming. A Legion of Super-Heroes animated series is coming. Teen Titan, Justice...","rel":"","context":"In "Comics & Comic Books"","block_context":{"text":"Comics & Comic Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134491"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134496,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134491\/revisions\/134496"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}