Marvel sued over Avenger's BluRay Case

cboath said:
The article implies that they had to get permission to use the case in the movie....uh? really? Never heard that before. Shoot on a city street, you have to get the cities permission, but you don't have to get permission from all the automakers who's cars or in the background or from the one who made the one the star drives. These days they put out bids to the makers to see who'll cough up the bucks to see what car the star drives, but they're not paying everyone who has an item in the flick.

It's a dumb one on disney/marvel's part, no doubt. Still, unless they have plans to make a plastic blu-ray cover case themselves, I'm not sure how they're harmed by this. Sounds like a simple, gimme some money or else suit.
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It's an overblown case of product placement. Just like if you want the star to be drinking a can of Coca-Cola - either pay coke for their usage, or you have to hide the label. Since the case design is pretty distinctive, and prominently shown in the movie, they had to get permission from the manufacturer to use it.

Same thing for cars that would be easily identifiable by manufacturer logos (Ford's blue oval, Chevy's bowtie, etc.). They usually have a few choices in mind, then approach the manufacturers, to see if they'll let them use their cars. That's why Bumblebee turned into a Camaro, in the the transformers movies. VW didn't want their vehicle associated with a "war" movie (which, considering the origins of their company, is outstandingly histerical).

As far as background cars in movies, there are automotive leasing companies, that do nothing but provide background cars. Usually, all identifiable tags have been removed, exactly for that purpose. I have a friend of the family that provides 40's, 50's and 60's eras cars to local filming locations
 
Somewhere in china a factory owner is laughing his butt off because he just made a fortune off Disney/Marvel for making knockoffs and getting paid even if they aren't used. My question is even if marvel tries to release these dvd sets can they be stopped by US customs and destroyed like they do all knockoffs?
 
cboath said:
The article implies that they had to get permission to use the case in the movie....uh? really? Never heard that before. Shoot on a city street, you have to get the cities permission, but you don't have to get permission from all the automakers who's cars or in the background or from the one who made the one the star drives.
...
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Today the art department has to clear the rights to almost all things that have a distinctive design and are featured up close and in the mid ground of an image. This includes furniture and props such as this suitcase. They probably won´t have paid for it, but as has bee said they will have cleared the rights to show it up close in the movie.

Totally paranoid, it seems, but I know this first hand from colleagues who work on a lot of U.S. movies as props buyers/Set decs that are shot over here in Germany. This was something completely new to us over here in Germany, the most we usually have to clear is the use of artwork such as photographs or graphics. But there has been an incident where a designer sued a production company over the use of furniture a few years back IIRC, and well, there are a few sue-happy folks out there ;)

...
These days they put out bids to the makers to see who'll cough up the bucks to see what car the star drives, but they're not paying everyone who has an item in the flick.
...
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Totally depends and that´s not the norm, since not all movies are car-centric. And it definitely only works for blockbuster movies. Audi for example did this for MInority Report, iirc.
 
Gigatron said:
It's an overblown case of product placement. Just like if you want the star to be drinking a can of Coca-Cola - either pay coke for their usage, or you have to hide the label. Since the case design is pretty distinctive, and prominently shown in the movie, they had to get permission from the manufacturer to use it.

Same thing for cars that would be easily identifiable by manufacturer logos (Ford's blue oval, Chevy's bowtie, etc.). They usually have a few choices in mind, then approach the manufacturers, to see if they'll let them use their cars. That's why Bumblebee turned into a Camaro, in the the transformers movies. VW didn't want their vehicle associated with a "war" movie (which, considering the origins of their company, is outstandingly histerical).

As far as background cars in movies, there are automotive leasing companies, that do nothing but provide background cars. Usually, all identifiable tags have been removed, exactly for that purpose. I have a friend of the family that provides 40's, 50's and 60's eras cars to local filming locations
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The can of coke thing is the opposite. They usually hid the label because coke (or whoever) won't pay advertising rates. Least that's how i've always heard it.

I never heard the deal with transformers. I'd heard the studio just put it up to auction, he who pays the most gets their cars featured in the movie.
 
cboath said:
The can of coke thing is the opposite. They usually hid the label because coke (or whoever) won't pay advertising rates. Least that's how i've always heard it.

I never heard the deal with transformers. I'd heard the studio just put it up to auction, he who pays the most gets their cars featured in the movie.
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In the case of the Coke example, with a larger, more well known product, it's usually the production that pays the license holder, for the use of the product. Smaller, unknown brands will generally see the opportunity of advertising, and offer to pay the production to use their product.

For instance, I've been trying to build a brand, for a particular cookie, that I created. If I wanted to get national attention, I could approach a production company and offer them money to prominently display my cookie. Coca-Cola, on the other hand, could say "if you want your star to drink a Coke, fork over some cash, or go talk to some third-rate soda company". Even people who can't read, could identify a Coca-Cola can, just by sight. They don't need to pay someone to advertise their product. They spend enough on advertising, per year, to take care of that, themselves.


As far as VW, Chevy and the Transformers, I thought that was a pretty well known story. Bay, Hasbro and whoever else was involved in the licensing aspect, approached VW to use a new Beetle (as bumblebbe was a beetle in the cartoons). VW said no thanks, then they went around to other manufacturers. I wouldn't doubt that Chevy wasn't the first one they approached. A car company would have to be stupid to say no to the possible advertising aspect, not to mention the money from marketing.

-Fred
 
I believe that it's brand pays production companies...

It's advertising..

Some major companies have paid the company I work for to have their brands included in our product.. even just for a short while..
 
Well, this sucks, Marvel Sued for Pirating Briefcase for DVDs

Marvel Is Getting Sued Over Their Avengers DVD Briefcase Set

by Jill Pantozzi | 4:02 pm, August 4th, 2012

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I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t mess with Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. but a German luggage company is about to step up to the main man in a big way. The company, Rimowa GmbH, is suing Marvel and owner Disney’s Buena Vista Home Entertainment. Why? See that magnificent DVD case above? That’s one of Rimowa GmbH’s designs. We know that for sure because they allowed Marvel to let Samuel L. Jackson carry it in The Avengers. What they didn’t do was allow Marvel to mass produce and sell it. Oops.
I was honestly a little shocked when I first saw this story. This doesn’t seem like the type of thing that would get by Disney’s lawyers. But let’s take a look at the details we know so far.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney/Marvel and Rimowa will head “into federal court in California over itsattaché case products, which are prized by the company ‘for being impervious to the elements and being virtually indestructible.’” They offer it in a few different sizes and it can run anywhere from $650-$750. Here’s what the real deal looks like.
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Rimowa says they have no problem with how their Topas attaché case was used in The Avengers, they gave permission for that. ”However, Marvel did not obtain any license or authorization from Rimowa to make replica copies of the cases for any purpose,” says the plaintiff in the new lawsuit. Marvel is currently advertising and taking pre-orders for this set they call Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase One — Avengers Assembled Box Set. We previously showed you the stylized art that is meant to go along with each of the included films.
“Images of the replica briefcase on Marvel’s advertising materials, and fan video from Marvel’s product display at this year’s Comic-Con convention, show the plastic ‘replica case’ to be a close copy of Rimowa’s Topas attaché case in every respect but quality,” states the complaint from Rimowa, “from the proportions and coloring, to the style of the handle and latches, and, of course, in the use of the trademarked parallel ridges around the body of the case.”
Without seeing copies of their original contract I can’t say for sure but this seems like a really big mistake on Marvel’s part. Will Rimowa block the selling of this set until the litigation is done or make a deal that allows Marvel to go ahead with the set as planned? Time will tell but I know at least a few Marvel Universe fans who are going to be disappointed if they can’t pretend to be Nick Fury.
 
usconcept said:
I believe that it's brand pays production companies...

It's advertising..

Some major companies have paid the company I work for to have their brands included in our product.. even just for a short while..
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Not to derail the thread, but this is getting really bad on tv shows.
 
NormanF said:
Not to derail the thread, but this is getting really bad on tv shows.
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Agreed.... I thought I was watching a car commercial instead of Breaking Bad last night.

Back on topic.....someone in the legal department must have thought "who would eff with the Mouse?"
 
Re: Well, this sucks, Marvel Sued for Pirating Briefcase for DVDs

tsk tsk Marvel!
 
Re: Well, this sucks, Marvel Sued for Pirating Briefcase for DVDs

I love it when someone gets to legitimately "stick it to the man".
 
usconcept said:
Have you seen the recent episodes of Bones.. where they spend 30 seconds explaining the prius and letting it park for them...?
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Did you watch Eureka? There was one season where they were getting new cars for the city and Jo went over all the features of some car. Or the episode that was 'sponsored' by a deodorant stick and it was prominently displayed and used in an episode where the town got really hot. I wanted to vomit from the pushing of products. :darnkids
 
Kerr Avon said:
Did you watch Eureka? There was one season where they were getting new cars for the city and Jo went over all the features of some car. Or the episode that was 'sponsored' by a deodorant stick and it was prominently displayed and used in an episode where the town got really hot. I wanted to vomit from the pushing of products. :darnkids
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Nope! Don't watch it but lol!
 
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