Pop Culture line of Models?

[Takama]

Ok i like to Collect peoples work. and i love the ability to Commission people to make me a new Model. So i came up with this idea for a line.

How about a line that is nothing but Pop Culture Or Awsomebro Depictions of Dinosaurs?  Meaning the main focus of the line will feature Dinosaurs based on animals from Pop Culture without any scientific backing?

I would do Animals from the Jurassic Park Franchise, as well as some Video-games, and TV shows like Primevil.

Obviously this will not be for those who are into accuracy but at least i would be making it clear that these are not to be taken as serious replications of Dinosaurs

[amargasaurus cazaui]

Sounds like if you just change your name to Papo or Rebor..or insert name, you are on your way lol.

[E.D.G.E. (PainterRex)]

I love this idea so much. I have put it out there enough times! I would think more animals from inaccurately reconstructed art. Like the way we used to make them look! A Knightian Tyrannosaurus and Agauthamus would be amazing! I also would like to see the first couple reconstructions of stegosaurus! All the way up to the 80s and 90s. However, they would need high or near-high detail, since there are plenty of poorly made inaccurate models. I hope you go forward with this idea! (P.S. and if you do, pm me for some logos for your line! )

[DinoLord]

I like the idea, provided that the sculpts are faithful replicas of whatever series inspiration is being taken from instead of just generalized 'awesomebro' depictions. There are already plenty of companies (Rebor) doing the latter, and I feel such figures occupy a purgatory where they're neither accurate enough to satisfy accuracy-minded collectors nor close enough to their pop culture inspiration to inspire fans of that movie/franchise (the Rebor T. rex for example fits this description for me). Maybe you could avoid copyright issues by having the models sold unpainted (hence leaving it up to the customer to have a full-on replica of the pop culture depiction).

[Takama]

FYI this is just an idea i got while reading Jurassic Park the Book for the Second time in my life.    I would make the animals based exactly on the creatures that appeared in media, and only diffrence would be the color.   

Ideas that come to mind are

Velociraptors from  the you know what Franchise

T.Rex from the Jurassic Park Franchise

Allosaurus from Land of the Lost(2009 movie)

Giganotosaurus from Dino Crisis 2

[Newt]

Tread carefully! What you are talking about is copyright infringement. There is a history of IP owners ignoring small-scale infringements, but that is their choice; they have the legal right to defend their copyrights, and should they choose to do so, you will be in a heap of trouble.

[SBell]

Given how angry people got over GeoWorld borrowing images from the Internet--to say nothing of Papo's JP inspirations, etc--there is so much that could go wrong. Expensively.

Most of those designs belong to estates, institutions or even, still, the artists.

Creating a line of them would require a lot of licensing fees.

As for any ensuing lawsuits...well, this thread exists now--and it's been made clear that the idea is to use the designs of other people. It's in the public record. It would be hard to deny infringement.

[Kayakasaurus]

Sounds like if you just change your name to Papo or Rebor..or insert name, you are on your way lol.

Great example of companies doing this without trouble. No one is going to sue a small scale endeavor like this, and there's nothing to sue for. JP Velociraptors are simply an outdated interpretation of Utahraptor, there's nothing claimable there. A better example would be of JPs frill on Dilophosaurus because it adds something new and original. Does that stop everyone from adding frills to Dilophosaur toys?? Of course not. Do we see Disney suing Schleich for their Carnotaurus? No, because it's just a bad interpretation of a dinosaur that anyone could do. You can't trademark a red Carnotaurus with a big head and feet, just like you can't trademark eyebrows on a T Rex. Indominus Rex is a different story as it's a made up creature with many original attributes.

Papo and Rebor already have great JP models that would be impossible to beat with their production standards and price, so I'd stick with those.

[SBell]

Sounds like if you just change your name to Papo or Rebor..or insert name, you are on your way lol.

Great example of companies doing this without trouble. No one is going to sue a small scale endeavor like this, and there's nothing to sue for. JP Velociraptors are simply an outdated interpretation of Utahraptor, there's nothing claimable there. A better example would be of JPs frill on Dilophosaurus because it adds something new and original. Does that stop everyone from adding frills to Dilophosaur toys?? Of course not. Do we see Disney suing Schleich for their Carnotaurus? No, because it's just a bad interpretation of a dinosaur that anyone could do. You can't trademark a red Carnotaurus with a big head and feet, just like you can't trademark eyebrows on a T Rex. Indominus Rex is a different story as it's a made up creature with many original attributes.

Papo and Rebor already have great JP models that would be impossible to beat with their production standards and price, so I'd stick with those.

But, in a literal sense, those companies have never explicitly claimed to be basing any of their designs on other media--even if they are obviously inspired by it. This line is blatantly wanting to take the designs of existing properties and make a product for financial gain--that creates some very shaky legal tangles.

[E.D.G.E. (PainterRex)]

FYI this is just an idea i got while reading Jurassic Park the Book for the Second time in my life.    I would make the animals based exactly on the creatures that appeared in media, and only diffrence would be the color.   

Ideas that come to mind are

Velociraptors from  the you know what Franchise

T.Rex from the Jurassic Park Franchise

Allosaurus from Land of the Lost(2009 movie)

Giganotosaurus from Dino Crisis 2

Since there is a problem with the licensing, I would think ones based off of old interpretations and then calling it Pop culture would do great.
Like the old squatting stegosaurus, the general theropod shape seen in harryhausen movies, etc. But then also introduce ones more recent and loosely based off of the jp, etc. creatures.

[Kayakasaurus]

Sounds like if you just change your name to Papo or Rebor..or insert name, you are on your way lol.

Great example of companies doing this without trouble. No one is going to sue a small scale endeavor like this, and there's nothing to sue for. JP Velociraptors are simply an outdated interpretation of Utahraptor, there's nothing claimable there. A better example would be of JPs frill on Dilophosaurus because it adds something new and original. Does that stop everyone from adding frills to Dilophosaur toys?? Of course not. Do we see Disney suing Schleich for their Carnotaurus? No, because it's just a bad interpretation of a dinosaur that anyone could do. You can't trademark a red Carnotaurus with a big head and feet, just like you can't trademark eyebrows on a T Rex. Indominus Rex is a different story as it's a made up creature with many original attributes.

Papo and Rebor already have great JP models that would be impossible to beat with their production standards and price, so I'd stick with those.

But, in a literal sense, those companies have never explicitly claimed to be basing any of their designs on other media--even if they are obviously inspired by it. This line is blatantly wanting to take the designs of existing properties and make a product for financial gain--that creates some very shaky legal tangles.

Like I said, this is a small endeavor, wouldn't be worth a 1/10 of the trouble and lawyer fees. Not to mention hurting their brand which is embedded in pop culture and fan art. And again, you can't sue someone for selling art based of your work when your work is a widely held interpretation of T. rex etc. in the general public, even if it is admitted they are based off of JP. Now if it was a bigger company like say Sideshow, they could license JP if they wanted to use terms like "replica" "movie" and "JP" together. From my understanding, the movie is the inspiration behind this line, not part of advertising, but in the same fashion as Papo, just exclusive pop culture interpretations.

As evident by Takamas statement:

Velociraptors from  the you know what Franchise

The fact that pop culture "Raptors" are based off of JP is an unspoken truth companies like Papo know. Takama also said the paint would be different so they aren't based off of the JP characters, if you can call them that.

[Newt]

This isn't about what's sensible, it's about what's legal. As Takama has already publicly expressed his intention to base these models on existing IPs, he has no leg to stand on should this go to court - unlike Papo, which could claim any resemblance is accidental. Of course, even that would not deter these companies should they choose to go after him; big companies know that those with shallower pockets cannot afford to be tied up in court even if they are legally in the right, so just the threat of a lawsuit is enough to shut them down.

Chances are high that no company would go after Takama, but not absolute. It's happened before. There are some real horror stories in the world of fanart and copyright, where IP holders have used inordinate amounts of muscle on small-time copyright infringers. Disney is particularly notorious for this, but they're not the only ones.

[Takama]

Guys is was just and idea. And i not evena sure if i would mass produce it.   

I can pay someone to make one of a Kind Sculpts for me if I wanted to.