JanAnimations Hit with C&D from Hasbro

[Ashton]

Then Bronydom has truly become underground.

I lol'd.

[FrankT]

You know... hidden, furtive, secretive. Something we'll all be - and in some cases, are already.

[Lux]

(Sigh)

It seems another great work has fallen. I liked the work Jan Animations from Let's Go and Meet the Bronies to Button's Adventures. It seems that with C&D cases the creators often throw up their hands and raise the white flag as there is no way to fight the order without extensive time, energy, and especially legal fees.

What is sad about this is that these cases of big name projects like Fighting is Magic and now Jan Animations is that it can be a discouragement to those thinking about doing something similar. Notice that Hasbro isn't going after the artists or fanfiction writers no matter how big their art or stories become. Neither have musicians of the fandom, plush makers, pony fursuit makers, etc. been given a C&D order it seems. (If they have I certainly haven't heard about it). It seems like the target is the biggest projects like games and animations. It's as if to say that if you get too well known or too involved with a complex project you will inevitably be shut down. I know that the intention of Hasbro is to prevent their brand being seen in a negative light or having their characters used in a big project, but you can;t help but see the fact that others will equate popularity and the complexity of the project to being the downfall.

It's as if to say "don't make any games or animations because you will be shut down."

I don't blame Hasbro as they are trying to protect their brand, but there needs to be some agreement as to what it acceptable and what is not. Perhaps Hasbro should create a statement of what they consider Fair Use of their characters, stating what it can be used or not used for. Yes, there will always be those thinking that their creativity is being stunted by big business but having guidelines for fandoms there can be an agreement between the original creators and the fans. It not only shows that the business cares about their fans it allows fans to plan ahead with their projects.

Also US copyright laws need to be fixed too, being more in line with the Creative Commons licensing that allows creators of things to state what things are allowed for copyrighted works. They need to redefine Fair Use and Intellectual property for a new age, especially one that is being increasingly digitized.

[FrankT]

I'm so depressed about this right now.

[Rosewind]

It sucks, but I understand why it happened. Hasbro must protect its trademark or it can lose it, especially concerning works that are very close to the real thing.

[Slazer]

THE COPYRIGHT LAWS NEED A MASSIVE BLOODY OVERHAUL.

Spoiler-ed due to extreme Royal Canterlot Voice usage. But yeah, that's my opinion on this whole mess. I'm upset and quite infuriated, and agree especially with the first part of Lux's above statement. Nevertheless, because of these retarded laws as they are written, Hasbro's hands are quite literally tied.

[FrankT]

I say one of us should go straight to the White House and demand changes to the law. Anyone willing to do it?

[Slazer]

I say one of us should go straight to the White House and demand changes to the law. Anyone willing to do it?

If only it were that simple.

As it is, the best option may be to put together a petition and pass it around. If we obtain enough sigs, and given the scope of this BS and the fact that we are not the only fandom suffering from these horribly-written laws we should, it'll be seen by the legislature.

[FrankT]

We'll do that then!

[Halide]

Surely, you can't be serious.

[rjrgmc28]

I say one of us should go straight to the White House and demand changes to the law. Anyone willing to do it?

Although I am not a US citizen, Australian bronies can actually contact their Federal Member of Parliament or a Senator in their state (link) to help spread the word about the broken copyright and trademark laws.

Unfortunately due to Uncle Rupert (Murdoch) having influential control over the government and in the process stuffing things up, some of the members may not be able to speak about this issue at all. But it is worth a shot just to even bring this issue to light, especially the fair use/dealing aspect of the copyright and trademark laws now currently being under review as a result of the Australian Law Reform Commission's report into the system being released a while back.

[elsporko]

Button's Adventures also falls under Fair Use and parody: The quality of the work and the style actually doesn't stop that from being true. Jan's Animations could fight and would win by most analysis, but it isn't a fight worth having since Jan doesn't want to hurt his/her chances to work with Hasbro in a more official capacity at some point. The content he created was perfectly appropriate and there are plenty of show-style content that is not appropriate anywhere from tumblr to YouTube that if Hasbro was attacking due to inappropriate fan response would get taken down. The fan response to the appropriate content Jan Animations made does not have *anything* to do with this. None at all.

I base my knowledge on copyright laws on a thing I wrote about mad magazine producing parody song lyrics

The courts determined if the focus of the song was the same in the parody and the original work is was not different enough

I think when the focus of the "parody" or ponies who look just like the show including one who is a character on the show and the work isn't a critique on the original or much of a twist on it then it would be tough

Now something like the mov series could make an argument

[FrankT]

Oh sh- pass! And I just realised that I threw out my copy of the pilot episode after I was done using it to make a YTP! I don't have anything to prove Button's existence now!

[QuickLime]

They were profiting off of using someone elses property and character via selling t-shirts and such, and that really wasn't fair, perhaps Jan should have asked permission to make things like how the Sonic Rainboom people did?

It wouldn't kill the community to ask before using Hasbro's property, especially if it's for a animation or something.

[Ashton]

Now something like the mov series could make an argument

When I heard "parody" that's exactly what I thought of... sad that _those_ are the ones Hasbro cant touch with a 10-foot pole...

They were profiting off of using someone elses property and character via selling t-shirts and such, and that really wasn't fair, perhaps Jan should have asked permission to make things like how the Sonic Rainboom people did?

It wouldn't kill the community to ask before using Hasbro's property, especially if it's for a animation or something.

It was "Double Rainboom" and yea, Hasbro seems to be more than glad to give permission considering they green-lighted THAT... (I wont spoil it for any who havn't seen it, but lets say the second half ruined it... though the animation and VA and such were all top-notch)

[QuickLime]

Exactly, if Jan had asked permission I'm sure they actually woulda been cool with it

[Noedig]

Point being, I'm sure that Jan isn't all that concerned about changing the way he draws his animations now.

However, you'd be excruciatingly disappointed when he had to remove all but that one video about "Sorry Jack".

But, I don't think neither side are in the wrong...

Jan made his animations as a big fan, Hasbro understood that.

And Hasbro is only trying to protect its stuff, and Jan understood that in response.

[FrankT]

When I heard "parody" that's exactly what I thought of... sad that _those_ are the ones Hasbro cant touch with a 10-foot pole...

They should do. It's unworthy of the MLP:FiM name!

[elsporko]

When I heard "parody" that's exactly what I thought of... sad that _those_ are the ones Hasbro cant touch with a 10-foot pole...

It was "Double Rainboom" and yea, Hasbro seems to be more than glad to give permission considering they green-lighted THAT... (I wont spoil it for any who havn't seen it, but lets say the second half ruined it... though the animation and VA and such were all top-notch)

The thing with Double Rainboom is that it was an animation project and not something for the internet

[rjrgmc28]

I don't normally bring updates to situations like this (and my stress and anxiety levels have not been helping either), but it has been a week since the news broke and it there seems to be some good news according to the JanAnimations Twitter account this afternoon (morning/evening etc) with this tweet:

"So far, permission has been given to keep a few videos online. Not a total loss." (link)

Five videos have been made available for public viewing again including Don't Mine at Night (the animatic version, not the final cut) plus a segment from the Brony documentary after permission was sought and approved.

The fate of the other videos still remains unknown at this stage though.

[FrankT]

Petition. Sign. Might not work. But worth a try.

http://www.change.org/petitions/hasbro-bring-back-button-mash?recruiter=20596265&utm_campaign=signature_receipt&utm_medium=email&utm_source=share_petition

[QuickLime]

Petition. Sign. Might not work. But worth a try.

http://www.change.or...=share_petition

It wont work, I assure you.

[FrankT]

Dangit... why do I bother anymore?

[QuickLime]

The Petition is worded REALLY immaturely, anyone with common sense would laugh it out the door! It practically demands things, then insults, lots of exclamations and caps locks really don't come across as serious, more like a heated, passionate scream that doesn't have any logic or sense behind it.

I know that losing Button Mash is disappointing, but Hasbro has the right to protect their rights, and their own property, if they just let everyone do what they wanted with their property it eventually becomes free use, and then Hasbro would take a financial blow and could suffer from it.

It is just not right to tell someone they don't have the right to protect their OWN interests just for your amusement you know?

[Needlemouse]

While I agree that it is within a company's right to defend their copyright - at this point they've more or less reached the point where it's become less like defending copyright, and more like just having an itchy trigger-finger on C&D orders when it comes to larger projects that have genuine effort put into them.

The only other copyright holder I know of that goes this out of its way to kill high-grade, fan-made content is Square-Enix when it comes to the Chrono Trigger franchise. Heck, could you imagine if other franchises were shut down as readily? Touhou would be dead in the water if it got even half the level of copyrighted content disdain from its makers that Hasbro dishes out. The Fantasy Kaleidoscope series, for example, would never have made it past the first episode if Team Shanghai Alice handled fan-made content the way Hasbro does.

Again, I get it, defending copyright, yadda, yadda. But there comes a point where you're less defending your copyright, and just plain killing free publicity and discouraging fans from being creative. Hasbro is very much reaching that point, if they haven't already done so.