I was just goofing on you, don't take it offensively. This kinda stuff is just not important to me. Nothingi personal, so I'm sorry if I offended you.

Thats why i dont post on boards much. to many smartass's.

 

 

BTW i found your post very helpfull.

I assumed that was the case..now it's good to know i was thinking the right thing.

 

:roll

 

Well excuse me for trying to help answer some questions. I see alot of threads with people asking why TF's arent named this or that when they are obvious homages, but they get back incorrect answers. I was trying to help clear it up.

I cared but Big Grim's post was HI-Larious! :tflaugh

Same here. It does explain things, but it still doesn't explain the childishness of the car companies. They actually think that we would confuse the Mazda RX-8 "Autobot Jazz" with some crap compact car from Honda is just plain silly.

The part you misunderstand is that they "shop" these designs to car companies...they aren't gonna show Mazda a toy called "Jazz" and expect them to not be insulted that they chose the name of an OPPOSING car company.

 

They want to impress the companies, not piss them off.

The part you misunderstand is that they "shop" these designs to car companies...they aren't gonna show Mazda a toy called "Jazz" and expect them to not be insulted that they chose the name of an OPPOSING car company.

 

They want to impress the companies, not piss them off.

There's a car company called "Jazz" :tfhuh :tfhuh :tfhuh

After some long discussions with a guy who worked in a copywrite office and knows the copywrite laws like the back of his hand, I'm gonna shared what I learned.

 

Everytime it comes up that the Hot Rod reissues was named Rodimus Major, it kills me to see the obligatory "The copywrite ran out and somebody else got the name" remark. This is wrong. What happened is that the laws changed over the years. In 86, there was nothing wrong with naming a sports car 'Hot Rod'. But now they can't because it's a generic term.

 

Simply put, you can't put a name on an item that is a general term for what it is or what it does. A hot rod can't be named Hot Rod just like a crane can't be named Crane, Hook, or Grapple. It would be like Ford putting out a new car and trying to call it the 'Car'. The reason behind it is that it would be unfair to the rest of the car makers. Someone saying, lets go get in the car, refering to a GM product would look bad as that is the name of a Ford product. So to avoid this the laws were changed since the 80's.

 

This is also why Hasbro had to put "Autobot" in front of the reissue names. It was either put "Autobot" in front of them, or change the names. They made that decision after all the whining of the fans over the whole Rodimus Major fiasco. If they could go back, most likely they'd name him "Autobot HotRod".

 

Again, it has nothing to do with a trademark running out and someone else taking it. Those sorts of things can happen, but in the case of Hot Rod, Grapple, Hoist, Skids, etc, etc, etc,... it is not what happenend.

Um.....I thought it was stated BY HASBRO that the "Autobot in-front-of-name" doesn't always work. That is why we have "Silverstreak" and not "Autobot Bluestreak", same with Rodimus Major.

 

Although you have a good explanation, I fail to see why a software program can be called "Shockwave" or "Flash", when those are generic terms. Doesn't your camera "Flash" if you have that setting turned on? Isn't a "Shockwave" dealing with an explosion? So I don't see why toys can't use "Hot Rod" but a software program can use "Shockwave".

 

I'm not a genius at this copyright stuff, and I won't claim I am. But I don't get the whole "law changed and "Hot Rod" can't be used becuase it's a generic term."

Big Grims picture was hysterical and i didnt think he was being offensive (still not sure what i would have thought if he did it to one of mine ;))

 

It funny that insane Galvatron says "its like ford producing a car called `the car`" as that is exactly what they did in europe albeit spelt `Ka` it was pronounced `car` in the advertising (its a tiny car BTW)

 

Copyright law is a Starscream, Lotus were trying to copyright the wedge shape for cars a couple of years ago and trying to get royalties from ferrari and all other sports car manufacturers who use a mid engined design which is naturally disposed to a wedge shape. Fortunately this farcical attempt failed.

 

I am sure my 2 cents worth doesnt help restock the `care factory` ;)

Big Grims picture was hysterical and i didnt think he was being offensive (still not sure what i would have thought if he did it to one of mine ;))

I'm sure it'll come up at some point :tftongue

Too bad it doesn't hold water.. *cough*Windows*cough*

 

And then there's the small fact that they're trademarks, not copyrights, which is a different thing.

 

No, you probably can't copyright generic terms. You can, however, trademark them, as in the case of Microsoft continually renewing the trademark on "Windows".

 

This is also why we routinely see posts concerning Hasbro's latest trademarks for new Transformers.

 

Perhaps you should talk to someone who worked with trademarks, rather than copyrights?

 

Coke will never lose their trademarks on either "Coke" or "Coca-Cola", as those are brand-names. As long as they keep paying the renewal fees, it's theres.

 

Microsoft will never lose "Windows" as long as they keep paying the trademark office to keep it registered, despite the fact that it is one of the most generic words available.

Too bad it doesn't hold water.. *cough*Windows*cough*

 

And then there's the small fact that they're trademarks, not copyrights, which is a different thing.

 

No, you probably can't copyright generic terms. You can, however, trademark them, as in the case of Microsoft continually renewing the trademark on "Windows".

 

This is also why we routinely see posts concerning Hasbro's latest trademarks for new Transformers.

The thing about "Windows" is that it's the name of a computer operating system. As such, "windows" is a metaphorical term. I'm sure it would be different if Microsoft had tried to call it "Computer" or something, or if they had been selling actual windows.