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The Real Monsters Behind Godzilla
eldavojohn writes "A Wired blog looks at the real monsters behind Godzilla: his lawyers. Do you think Godzilla is basically a glorified T. Rex? Guess again, as his lawyers have tirelessly argued: 'He's erect-standing. He's got muscular arms, scaly skin and spines on back and tail and he breathes fire and has a furrowed brow, he's got an anthropomorphic torso. The T. rex has emaciated bird-like arms and stands at a 45-degree angle.' Read on to find out why they targeted the site davezilla.com but not mozilla.org. Another abuse of the American trademark & copyright system? You decide — just don't make a float of him or you'll find yourself paying an undisclosed sum to Toho Co. Ltd."
He looks more like an allosaurus or perhaps a Dryptosaurus
Just because it's foreign (and maybe a little silly) doesn't mean it's not a high-powered brand. Middle-class American white folks might not realize it, but Ultraman is the third most merchandised character in the world, right after Mickey Mouse and Charlie Brown (and before Superman). And the people who command that kind of market share have lawyers? Color me shocked.
Breakfast served all day!
godzilla is decades old. ip law should time out after a decade, at worst
"Godzilla" is a trademark, and exclusive rights in trademarks are perpetual by design. Should Coca-Cola be allowed to pass its own products off as Pepsi, just because Pepsi has been around since 1903?
There is an argument for deciding more sensibly what is covered by trademarks and what is covered by copyright, and for limited trademarks in certain situations.
The Godzilla likeness, name and roar are distinctive and used in commerce; trademark protection seems reasonable to me.
Prtotecting it is important to keep it form becoming generic, resulting in their loss of the trademark.
Just because something has become well known and popular doesn't mean it should loss protection; in fact popularity and recognition is a goal of most trademark owners.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
>'The T. rex has emaciated bird-like arms and stands at a 45-degree angle.'
>45-degree angle
Someone has been reading really old paleontology material, or has been reading really bad children's books. Also, they apparently never saw Jurassic Park.
Climate Progress - Hell and High Water
I'm afraid that at this point I stopped caring about your opinion...
Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
Is this what you're talking about, or is there another version?
for those interested. The Godzilla statue is located in Hibiya, Tokyo. Directly infront of the original Toho theater. Now known as the Toho Hibiya Building. (the orange building under the cross. The indicator is the location of the statue)
http://map.yahoo.co.jp/pl?type=scroll&lat=35.67029086&lon=139.76332388&sc=2&mode=map&pointer=on