Forum - View topicTales Of The Industry - How To Torpedo Your Own License
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Greed1914
 Posts: 4427 |
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Exactly. One thing the contributor mentioned was that word could spread pretty easily that this was someone who couldn't control the client. The Japanese companies could have said that it was this person's responsibility to explain when and how press releases worked. That last line made it pretty clear that there were still consequences in the form of refusing to work with the NA company ever again. Things didn't go nearly as badly as they could have, but I wouldn't say that they worked out well enough to give away many details. |
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Mr. Oshawott
 Posts: 6773 |
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It goes to show how even the smallest mistakes can lead to colossal disasters in no time flat. Any sane company would make sure that no unconfirmed business deal ends up being leaked out into public view.
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leafy sea dragon
 Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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Well, except for people who don't know anything about business or contracts, or are particularly immature. There's the Juju incident from Skullgirls, for instance. That character had to be removed from the game and they can't make mention of it anymore because the person who designed her violated his NDA in the loudest possible way and was found to be impossible to contain. Basically, imagine him as an excited 9-year-old boy who just got to see his favorite game company from the inside and the people who work for it. As I intend to get into a field involving licensed products, I worry about my mom getting involved. She is such a person who has never done a business deal in her life or had a position of leadership, and if she finds out I'm working on a licensed product, she will get cranky if she doesn't find out what it is before anyone else, the idea being that I shouldn't have to hide anything from my family. (I can trust her to keep her mouth shut if I tell her not to tell it to anyone else, but it's a chance I cannot afford to take. And I have family members who literally cannot keep a secret. They don't know what an NDA is, and even if they did, they wouldn't know why it's such a big deal.)
A startup has to stand out in some way to get themselves some footing in whatever field they're in. Licensors might not want to take chances, but most customers won't either. They're not going to switch brands to something unproven unless that unproven brand provides something very good that none of their competitors can offer, or can offer it with greater quality, quantity, and/or value than their competitors.
Yeah, I can imagine that scenario with someone with zero knowledge in licensing. Another possibility is that they misinterpreted the negotiations, thinking that something was a finalized deal when they actually weren't. This happened with startup company Skit-B and their Predator license: Founder Kevin Kulek, who had never done or studied business before, was convinced he was licensed to make Predator-themed products when he actually wasn't. He referred to Skit-B as a "non-profit company," thinking it meant "a company that had not yet produced profits" and got permission to make products from 20th Century Fox to be shown off at conventions and expos. When Fox's lawyers found out Kulek was selling them, or at least attempting to sell them, they gave him a ceast and desist notice telling him to remove all references to Predator from his site, which he did--but continued to make and sell Predator products. When some fans did some investigating of their own (including asking those attorneys from Fox) and found that no real license had taken place, they told him he wasn't allowed to sell them. Only then did he stop his operations. That being said, I have no idea how much is fact and how much is fiction. This is a story I had been following pretty closely as it blew up, but Kulek is a known liar, and he is undoubtedly trying to be his own spin doctor. Hence, it's difficult to tell where he is being extremely naïve and where he's just lying to try to get himself out of trouble. (He is now effectively blacklisted from licensing and is now hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.) |
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14761 |
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I think it's intentional; they knew what they were doing, and more having to do with this part of the story:
They wanted to show their restless investors that they have something substantial ASAP, so the investors wouldn't withdraw their funding. So instead of waiting for the Japanese to finalize goodness how long, they took the preemptive step to release the press release, screw the etiquette, betting that the Japanese wouldn't back out. |
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Cptn_Taylor
Posts: 925 |
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Trust is not the work I would use speaking of japanese licensors. They're paranoid and like to micromanage everything even to the point of blowing tiny innocent things out of proportion. In fact the Internet has made things much more difficult for companies in the US and Europe. Dealing with them is like having your favorite mother in law always looking over your shoulder 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks per year. Not something I would wish even to my enemies. I could never be in the anime business because I would tell them (the japanese licensors) to "f*ck off" at the first sign of them saying "but this and that and the little R is .002 mm too much to the left of this image etc...". |
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Brian_FTP
 Posts: 88 |
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Wow. That's one heck of a story.
I love these articles. Please keep 'em coming! |
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mangamuscle
Posts: 2658 Location: Mexico |
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There is another possibility, they might have believed that the japanese would not find out. They must know for a fact that most japanese can't speak english, so it is easy to assume they only read japanese newsfeeds. But you only need one employee that does know english and kaboom, the cat is out of the box. |
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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 7580 Location: Wales |
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There was BOST, who were right off the line at the simulcast gig but sadly didn't last long. (can't be them in the article as it was solely an anime site, kept going for a couple of seasons, and had a presence in Japan) |
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Greed1914
Posts: 4427 |
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I could see that happening pretty easily. I'm an attorney, so a constant part of the job is waiting for the other side or a judge to get back to me on something, and some clients get so impatient that they at least contemplate taking action themselves, or end up doing so unbeknownst to me. Clients don't always listen when you tell them that all they can do is be patient. |
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leafy sea dragon
Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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Or in this case, the investors. They might not necessarily be in the know about how licensing works and can pull out on a whim. I can see why the client would get nervous like that--there was a real chance a key investor or two could lose patience and call it quits. Heck, this is a very real and all-too-common problem with crowdfunding projects, where backers pull out because the product is taking too long to make, even if the creators are releasing regular updates.
The Neptune Pine, for instance, is the first smart watch to be waterproof, causing it to be delayed twice: Once because the manufacturers didn't have the materials necessary to waterproof the device, and again because the FCC was unprepared for it and had to invent new safety tests for it. As a result, three quarters of the original backers pulled out during these delays (which in turn caused the Pine to be delayed a third time as they lost so much money from it). I'd guess that the person who submitted this story has come across investors like that before and thus knows how to deal with them; the best thing for the client would've been to ask what to do. |
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BadNewsBlues
Posts: 5920 |
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Shouldn't it be aging? |
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omiya
 Posts: 1827 Location: Adelaide, South Australia |
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The Australian Oxford Dictionary lists ageing as the primary spelling and aging as an alternative. |
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Polycell
 Posts: 4623 |
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Gotta love them spelling differences between proper English and Imperial English. It gets even better when you realize it applies to measurements as well.
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leafy sea dragon
Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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You don't think the FCC would ever be unprepared for something?
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Buzz201
Posts: 266 |
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It's not difficult -re is a measurement (e.g. centimetre), -er is a device used to measure (e.g. multimeter) . It's confectioneries where the real trouble arises. Trust me you don't want to have to get into the whole cookie/biscuit/scone thing... |
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