Marvel Should Keep A Tighter Leash On Its Lawyers
from the yikes dept
On Tuesday, Mike Arrington of TechCrunch took a straw poll on Twitter and decided to set up a screening of the new movie Iron Man, based on the comic. By Wednesday morning the details were set. He had rented out the Metreon by calling the "Group Sales" phone number on the Iron Man website, and paid for 600 seats for the showing. He posted the info to his blog, and asked people to pay $1 per seat in order to hold the spot (and to avoid no-shows). All this was perfectly reasonable. And then... a lawyer from Marvel Comics sent Arrington a threatening cease-and-desist letter demanding that he pull down the information about the show, claiming that Arrington wasn't authorized to set up such a showing. Again, the whole thing was arranged by Arrington by calling the "Group Sales" line on the Iron Man website. All of the tickets were paid for. It's hard to see what Marvel can possibly be complaining about. Also, I know for a fact that Arrington's event is hardly the only such event... because I got invited to a different one (also tomorrow, though at a different time and location and organized by a different group) and have a ticket on my desk for the show.
As a guess, perhaps Marvel is upset that Arrington made his an open invite system. The other showings I'm aware of are all private invite-only showings. But, even if that's true, it's rather ridiculous for Marvel to be complaining, and this is giving the company a ton of totally unnecessary bad press for an event that was generating plenty of enthusiasm and excitement for the movie. It appears to be yet another case where a lawyer is complaining because he can, and not because it's a good business move. As of right now, AMC Theatres, which sold Arrington the tickets, is standing behind the showing, and hopefully someone higher up at Marvel is figuring out what a ridiculous move this is, and will apologize by morning.
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by Anonymous Coward on Apr 29th, 2008 @ 11:37pm
What a Retard - For that, I'm not going to see the movie -
- Eat my Left NUT MARVEL!
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Michael Arrington by Igor The Troll on Apr 30th, 2008 @ 12:37am
Can the lawyer be some guy or a friend of some guy who is a blogger and Michael pissed him off?
We all know of Valleywag and Mashable Mike's party encounter.
Oh, the famous Strawberry Shake!
Maybe Mike needs to learn how to be a bit more humble and stop thinking of other bloggers as Trolls.
Good Karma works fantastic!
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dear troll: don't player hate, don't hesitate, just commentate. by dave mcclure on Apr 30th, 2008 @ 1:33am
>>Maybe Mike needs to learn how to be a bit more humble and stop thinking of other bloggers as Trolls...
... said the Troll.
cough.
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Not to worry by PRatzo on Apr 30th, 2008 @ 1:44am
I was planning on downloading the movie from TPB anyway.
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Bit Torrent FTW by bobbknight on Apr 30th, 2008 @ 3:02am
Nope I'm not going to the theater to see this now.
Who needs to watch a coked out pederast any ways.
Being found in a small boys bed blitzed out of his gourd, for shame, for shame.
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by Anonymous Coward on Apr 30th, 2008 @ 3:29am
like Stark. Not Techcrunch.
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Re: Not to worry by Anonymous Coward on Apr 30th, 2008 @ 4:19am
Same here....but if it is good, I usually try to catch it in the theatre.
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by Anonymous Coward on Apr 30th, 2008 @ 5:34am
Looks like this lawyer got his degree from a ad in a comic book.
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Re: by tarzanboy on Apr 30th, 2008 @ 5:54am
Right ...you're gonna skip the movie because some lawyer is an ass?
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the whole story by Insider on Apr 30th, 2008 @ 7:05am
There is a lot he isnt saying, mervel isnt in the wrong
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Re: Re: by interval on Apr 30th, 2008 @ 7:34am
I'm not going to see because it also stars Gweneth Paltrow. The same actress/idiot who moved to France after calling the American people idiots. France can have her, and I save $10.
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Re: the whole story by lar3ry on Apr 30th, 2008 @ 7:48am
All right. I'll bite. What isn't he saying? And who is this "Mervel," anyway?
From the look of the C&D, it appears that this whole thing is pointless.
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Re: Re: Re: by PaulT on Apr 30th, 2008 @ 8:11am
I wonder if you realise that actually proves a large part of her point?
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Re: Re: Re: by BlowURmindBowel on Apr 30th, 2008 @ 8:21am
And she was incorrect how?
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Re: Re: Not to worry by BlowURmindBowel on Apr 30th, 2008 @ 8:26am
y?
I think theaters have pretty much run their course, I have a home theater that I would rather experience any given movie in. Theaters are waaaay overpriced and generally pointless nowadays...
I've had too many experiences with stupid tween girls jabbering about nothing through a whole movie...
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Re: Re: Re: Re: by BlowURmindBowel on Apr 30th, 2008 @ 8:40am
Oh, and I presume you hate Johnny Depp for having a similar opinion (and place of residence)?
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Re: Re: Re: by tubes on Apr 30th, 2008 @ 9:40am
I live in America & I completely agree with her most Americans are idiots.
If I had the same money she has I would move too.
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Re: Re: by Anonymous Coward on Apr 30th, 2008 @ 10:00am
>"Right ...you're gonna skip the movie because some lawyer is an ass?"
Um, actually I'm going to skip the movie because it looks kinda sorta... how do you say? Oh yes: STUPID.
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iron man, marvel, comics, asses by oregonnerd on Apr 30th, 2008 @ 10:56am
Marvel: comic book publisher. I read them in between books.
Americans as idiots: we have Bush as president, and Windows Vista as the most widely-used OS. Yup, we're idiots.
The comic was a blow-off on earlier ones--and Gwyneth Paltrow is the spittin' image of a welsh princess if I ever saw one. I'll no doubt see the movie.
Comics as stupid...um. Duh. They never pretended to be classroom material (although in an interesting psychosociological way they are).
--Glenn
8]
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: by JS Beckerist on Apr 30th, 2008 @ 11:07am
I share feelings about the Baldwins (who hail from near my hometown.) While I would never listen to any of their advice on parenting, voting or ANYTHING to do with Hillary, I think 30 Rock is one of the funniest shows on TV right now.
Hate the player, not the game.
Besides, I got GTA4 so I'll wait until FXG or AXXO gets a hold of Iron man first anyway ;) ...or not.
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Re: iron man...defense by JS Beckerist on Apr 30th, 2008 @ 11:21am
A: Marvel, yeah...not much literary substance but you have to admit those artists are talented!
B: Americans, Bush, whatever, he'll be gone in a few months and as for Vista? Everyone I know that used Vista has since reverted to XP and everyone I know that currently uses XP has no plans to upgrade. Blame Dell, or HP. Not Americans for that.
C: Comics are just another form of entertainment. No need to hate, just ignore it if it's not your cup o' tea!
By the way, saying any single nationality as "stupid" goes about as far as saying any single ANYTHING is stupid. Feel free to throw me into any box you like, just don't be surprised if I (or any one of us) happens to change your mind.
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Marvel literary substance by PRMan on Apr 30th, 2008 @ 11:53am
Some very good writers have gotten their start in the comics world, including Frank Miller (Daredevil comics, Sin City, 300)...
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Re: Re: Re: by Sean on Apr 30th, 2008 @ 12:37pm
Well you are only helping prove how right she was.
Someone said something bad about us, using her very freedom of speech, and you will hold it against her. Must be wonderful going through life painfully stupid.
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Re: Re: Re: by tubes on Apr 30th, 2008 @ 12:55pm
I guess you're waiting for the next installment of Harry Potter or something closer to your level like the remake of Troll. Go back under your bridge or even your mother's basement!!!!!
Did you even hear of Iron Man before? Actually Iron Man looks like one of the best superhero movies made so far. I have been waiting for this movie for almost 10 years (And I'm glad they waited 10 years) when they first said they were planning on making it & from the previews it looks like I won't be disappointed one bit.
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Lawyers by Anonymous Coward on Apr 30th, 2008 @ 1:09pm
I wonder how it works as a practical matter. Does Marvel retain the services of a lawyer who makes it part of their day doing google searches for trademark marvel terms?
Does the lawyer check out each result, eagerly hoping that they'll find something that they can justify suing over? If that's how it works, no wonder that they launch so many frivolous suits. And I'm sure this is entirely separate from the creative/productive side of the company; they no doubt hate the lawyers as much as everybody else.
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by Increasing Stupidity One Step at a Time on Apr 30th, 2008 @ 2:03pm
So, let me get this straight. A guy buys all the tickets for a showing of the movie. Tickets which are publicly available. Then this guy offers his community a seat, which he has paid for already, and Marvel says this is verboten?
I'm sorry, this is IP rights run amok.
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Re: by John Duncan Yoyo on Apr 30th, 2008 @ 7:43pm
They used an in house guy- Matt Murdoch and he really doesn't understand film being blind and all.
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by tim stevens on May 1st, 2008 @ 5:30am
F-em. Just torrent the thing and avoid the nasty theater experience totally.
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open event? by jeremy on May 1st, 2008 @ 2:10pm
what about all the radio stations GIVING AWAY free tickets to pre-showings, are those not open showings?
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Um, yes by John on May 1st, 2008 @ 4:17pm
>"Right ...you're gonna skip the movie because some lawyer is an ass?"
Um, yes.
It's time to send a message to companies who let their lawyers run free. I agree that Marvel may need to enforce their copyright when it needs to, but going after a guy who used their own website is just wrong.
Maybe if we start a protest, Marvel will stop using lawyers like these.
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Get Real - Lawyer IDIOTS! by Get Real! on May 1st, 2008 @ 6:11pm
This lawyer must be really bored with his job at Marvel.
So he decides to go around getting bad press from Marvels affciandos and friends. What a piece fo shit!
He must be another Creative ex-employee VP
Here is one guy who is trying to create hype for IronMan which will bring so much more returns in the long run and an asshole of a fu*k lawyer whose head is up some asshole.
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