MalmeyStudios
Sr Member
Problem Solved!
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A Letter to WB
- Thread starter MalmeyStudios
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Bro, "Quoting you here."
"I was listing items such as generic latex superhero armor as a free gift with the purchase of Official WB action figures or comics."
C'mon....INTENT is a rather popular word with studios and yours was clear.
Curious, how many times did you have auctions ended in the past? Did you start another account after being warned? It takes a few pulls before they kill your account all together. I've heard of very few instances of immediate revoction of Ebay status.
Don't get me wrong. It's unfortunate when this happens and all but it's known by all propmakers that Warner is and has always been the most protective studio under the sun.
Your letter is filled with such playground logic that I doubt you'll get a reply. I'm sure I speak for most responsible board members when I say, it's not a good idea to EVER mention other prop forums in letters to the studios while pleading your case. I consider that a burning offense.
I noticed that you never once mention, "you won't do it again" when asking for them to reinstate your ebay account. It looks to me as though you're asking for permission to continue what got you ****-canned in the first place.
Why post this letter here, anyway? I'm not saying anything that won't be echoed a few dozen more times in this thread. You floated a hot auction and they called you on it...it sucks but it's nothing we all haven't seen for years.
I know it sounds like I'm raining on you dude but you did just about everything you could to find yourself on radar.
Good luck but I don't think this thread is going to go well for you.
"I was listing items such as generic latex superhero armor as a free gift with the purchase of Official WB action figures or comics."
C'mon....INTENT is a rather popular word with studios and yours was clear.
Curious, how many times did you have auctions ended in the past? Did you start another account after being warned? It takes a few pulls before they kill your account all together. I've heard of very few instances of immediate revoction of Ebay status.
Don't get me wrong. It's unfortunate when this happens and all but it's known by all propmakers that Warner is and has always been the most protective studio under the sun.
Your letter is filled with such playground logic that I doubt you'll get a reply. I'm sure I speak for most responsible board members when I say, it's not a good idea to EVER mention other prop forums in letters to the studios while pleading your case. I consider that a burning offense.
I noticed that you never once mention, "you won't do it again" when asking for them to reinstate your ebay account. It looks to me as though you're asking for permission to continue what got you ****-canned in the first place.
Why post this letter here, anyway? I'm not saying anything that won't be echoed a few dozen more times in this thread. You floated a hot auction and they called you on it...it sucks but it's nothing we all haven't seen for years.
I know it sounds like I'm raining on you dude but you did just about everything you could to find yourself on radar.
Good luck but I don't think this thread is going to go well for you.
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The Manlet
Sr Member
Indeed....
exoray
Master Member
We all hate the love letters, but the simple fact is that the unlicensed hobby as a whole is ILLEGAL and infringes on intellectual property rights...
Intent, contributory actions and the way the items are marketed can all lead to grounds for legal infringement...
Sorry to be blunt but the little "it was a free 'generic' item" game is just that a game... Basically if the average citizen on the street was shown your auction would he say "Cool a free generic superhero muscle suit, is included" or would he say "Cool a free (character pictured in the item being sold) superhero outfit is included" If it was the second then it was infringement plain and simple...
Also I have to agree that listing or talking about the 'other' properties, studios or sites is in bad form... IMO it shows your intent to infringe even more so...
Again yeah it sucks, but the WB is a protective studio always has been...
Get your Ebay account back or a new Ebay account, and list your suits for what they are generic muscle suits, don't put any pictures, text graphics, logos, etc. to owned properties or insinuate in any other fashion that they are anything more then a generic superhero muscle suit... And if your suits are patterned off a specific suit that is owned property then I suggest you create a more generic one based off the human muscle shape and form...
Yeah they might not sell as well but it will remove you from the bulls eye and give you a much better stance legally...
Again yeah it sucks, but the WB has taken the first move if you keep pushing the button, they could very well unload putting you in the poor house for the rest of your life...
Intent, contributory actions and the way the items are marketed can all lead to grounds for legal infringement...
Sorry to be blunt but the little "it was a free 'generic' item" game is just that a game... Basically if the average citizen on the street was shown your auction would he say "Cool a free generic superhero muscle suit, is included" or would he say "Cool a free (character pictured in the item being sold) superhero outfit is included" If it was the second then it was infringement plain and simple...
Also I have to agree that listing or talking about the 'other' properties, studios or sites is in bad form... IMO it shows your intent to infringe even more so...
Again yeah it sucks, but the WB is a protective studio always has been...
Get your Ebay account back or a new Ebay account, and list your suits for what they are generic muscle suits, don't put any pictures, text graphics, logos, etc. to owned properties or insinuate in any other fashion that they are anything more then a generic superhero muscle suit... And if your suits are patterned off a specific suit that is owned property then I suggest you create a more generic one based off the human muscle shape and form...
Yeah they might not sell as well but it will remove you from the bulls eye and give you a much better stance legally...
Again yeah it sucks, but the WB has taken the first move if you keep pushing the button, they could very well unload putting you in the poor house for the rest of your life...
Is this real? Or is it April 1st on January 2nd?
If this is indeed real, may I also suggest that if you are going to write a "formal" letter such as this, maybe write it in MS Word first? That way, the grammatical and spelling errors are flagged...
Don't mean to be a jerk, but if I was from Warner Brothers and was responsible for replying, I wouldn't take it seriously.
If this is indeed real, may I also suggest that if you are going to write a "formal" letter such as this, maybe write it in MS Word first? That way, the grammatical and spelling errors are flagged...
Don't mean to be a jerk, but if I was from Warner Brothers and was responsible for replying, I wouldn't take it seriously.
I wouldn’t have even sent the letter in the first place and just counted myself lucky that all they did was mess with my ebay account. Live and learn.
rmschneider104
Sr Member
Not sure that "can accept" was good word choice. If anything, I think "tolerates" costuming is more appropriate. But like others have written, I never would have written the letter and if I did, I would not have drawn attention to other costuming board.
"All of us are wondering why it is that George Lucas can accept the 501st and the Dented Helmet as official Star Wars Costuming boards but WB cant accept the batman costume forms. On the above mentioned Star Wars forms it is acceptable to buy and sell custom made star wars props to complete Star Wars Properties costumes."
"All of us are wondering why it is that George Lucas can accept the 501st and the Dented Helmet as official Star Wars Costuming boards but WB cant accept the batman costume forms. On the above mentioned Star Wars forms it is acceptable to buy and sell custom made star wars props to complete Star Wars Properties costumes."
PHArchivist
Master Member
I review customer letters every day.
Eight out of ten Americans can't write worth crap, or do not care to. How you express yourself in the written word is the first and last impression you give. Letters with grammatical and spelling errors - at least for me - immediately lose a large degree of credibility, regardless of the content.
First, clean it up for technical accuracy.
Second, shorten your letter; its way too long. I guarantee you that anybody reading this letter wants just the main points and facts. All the additional dribble does is decrease the chance your letter will be given full attention.
Third, do you REALLY think WB cares what Lucas does? I work for a car company. If somebody writes "Well, Honda would do it for me..." or "Ford would cover it.", I don't give a rat's ass because I'm not representing Honda or Ford.
Eight out of ten Americans can't write worth crap, or do not care to. How you express yourself in the written word is the first and last impression you give. Letters with grammatical and spelling errors - at least for me - immediately lose a large degree of credibility, regardless of the content.
First, clean it up for technical accuracy.
Second, shorten your letter; its way too long. I guarantee you that anybody reading this letter wants just the main points and facts. All the additional dribble does is decrease the chance your letter will be given full attention.
Third, do you REALLY think WB cares what Lucas does? I work for a car company. If somebody writes "Well, Honda would do it for me..." or "Ford would cover it.", I don't give a rat's ass because I'm not representing Honda or Ford.
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Noeland
Master Member
Warners has a complete no tolerance policy when it comes to unlicensed replicas for any of thier properties, and they have a VERO happy lot working ebay for them too. VERO's don't get questioned because they are "verified" rights owners. That means if one of their VERO companies says "pull this auction" ebay does it with no questions asked. Period. End of Story.
Why? Because it's all part of the deal ebay made with these rights holding companies so they could continue to operate.
It sounds to me like you were not following ebay policy anyhow, so it may not even have been WB that had the auction pulled, and your account nuked.
And WB considers you a "pirate" a "bootlegger" and a "criminal", not an innocent fan.
Why? Because it's all part of the deal ebay made with these rights holding companies so they could continue to operate.
It sounds to me like you were not following ebay policy anyhow, so it may not even have been WB that had the auction pulled, and your account nuked.
And WB considers you a "pirate" a "bootlegger" and a "criminal", not an innocent fan.
Too Much Garlic
Master Member
Buy a license or get off the soapbox. Holy hell, do you want to shut down this hobby???
Gigatron
Sr Member
The sentence directly above that one explains that he removed the WB employee's name for protection.
Does anybody on these boards read anything anymore, or just post all willy-nilly based on a few choice words?
Anyway, the legality of what you did or didn't do is between you, WB and ebay. But outing other forums and groups is bad form. It's the whole "hey don't just yell at me, Billy did something bad too" vibe that gets entire forums shut down. Thankfully, LFL's watchdogs are aware of us and tolerate us, but it's mostly because we are a self-policing group that tends to not step on the toes of license holders. If we were to recast MR products, don't think for a second that LFL wouldn't shut us down.
-Fred
Gigatron
Sr Member
:lol You have to be careful, choices like that may come back to haunt you. Next thing you know, people are calling you "nilly" and you have no idea why.
-Fred
tk1780
Well-Known Member
Ouch. Yup this could have been worse dude. I know a gent who got a cease and desist letter from a certain licence infringment. I think there are few memebers here on the board that have also been hit with stuff like that. I would count my lucky stars and move on. This kind of negative attention none of us need.
clonesix
Master Member
A letter to WB about your ebay account?
Batguano, I am having difficulty reading your letter and figuring out what you are trying to accomplish with it.
The opening sentence of a letter is usually the only one read by someone to determine if it is worth reading, or if it goes into the trash. After a WB employee reads your first sentence, he will toss your letter into the trash. Why would WB have ANY interest in YOUR ebay account??
The rest of the letter is incomprehensible jibberish. After I have read through all of it, (and it was painfull) I see that your closing statement is that you want WB to reinstate your ebay account.
Letters need to follow a format so that the reader can understand what a person is trying to say. Be sure to state up front why you are writing. It should be the first thing the reader reads. Stay to the facts of the matter.
The closing should contain the action request. You want the last thing the reader reads is what he is supposed to do.
Batguano, I am having difficulty reading your letter and figuring out what you are trying to accomplish with it.
The opening sentence of a letter is usually the only one read by someone to determine if it is worth reading, or if it goes into the trash. After a WB employee reads your first sentence, he will toss your letter into the trash. Why would WB have ANY interest in YOUR ebay account??
The rest of the letter is incomprehensible jibberish. After I have read through all of it, (and it was painfull) I see that your closing statement is that you want WB to reinstate your ebay account.
Letters need to follow a format so that the reader can understand what a person is trying to say. Be sure to state up front why you are writing. It should be the first thing the reader reads. Stay to the facts of the matter.
The closing should contain the action request. You want the last thing the reader reads is what he is supposed to do.
I'll echo what the others said about the grammar and tone of your letter. I'm not sure why your account was completely shut down. I've been VERO'ed multiple times by WB and have never had my account closed.
My first VERO really scared me and prompted me to write a letter to WB. I received a very cordial answer to my questions. It led to a discussion of licensing, but the property I was interested is high-visibility and a number of large companies had already scooped up very broad licenses.
I still believe there is a place for a small-scale niche or artisan license. I'm all for giving the license-holder their due. I believe it's fair that they be remunerated for their development, marketing, and releasing of a brand. However, I also think it's fair that you receive the benefit of your effort in creating a "generic latex suit." WB knows the market for such things is small, and they just don't have a process in place to benefit from it. I think it will take a shake-up such as we've seen with the newspaper industry and their advertising model before small-scale license ideas are investigated.
My first VERO really scared me and prompted me to write a letter to WB. I received a very cordial answer to my questions. It led to a discussion of licensing, but the property I was interested is high-visibility and a number of large companies had already scooped up very broad licenses.
I still believe there is a place for a small-scale niche or artisan license. I'm all for giving the license-holder their due. I believe it's fair that they be remunerated for their development, marketing, and releasing of a brand. However, I also think it's fair that you receive the benefit of your effort in creating a "generic latex suit." WB knows the market for such things is small, and they just don't have a process in place to benefit from it. I think it will take a shake-up such as we've seen with the newspaper industry and their advertising model before small-scale license ideas are investigated.
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