Toho's Latest Godzilla Effort: Lawsuits

[briizilla]

[Legion]

[briizilla]

[Baradagi]

Anyone see the new commercial for AutoTrader.com which has a giant man attacking a city with Blue Oyster Cult's Godzilla theme playing in the background?

[kiryugoji04]

Yes! Just over a week ago now. I laughed and immediately thought of this thread. XD

[planetxleader]

I was visiting family this weekend and heard the Blue Oyster Cult song coming out of the TV from the other room. I got up to see it and had a good laugh; I wonder if this falls under Toho's guidelines for a suit?

[gojira_fan]

[gforever]

I heard the Autotrader commercial a few times on my commute to work. I was like, that song sounds so familiar, and a quick "Go Go GODZILLA!" at the end. I haven't seen the commercial on TV but seeing it online was great! So yea, is Toho also going to sue them for using this song?

[swfreakjpb]

[Kaijufan]

[we77964]

[Gabbara Davis, Jr.]

Toho has always been litigious when it comes to protecting the Godzilla trademark. Back in the 1980's I was working with the largest NY comic con organizer (Great Eastern) to bring the first official, Toho-sanctioned convention to the US. We were negotiating with both Toho and Saperstein. At the time I took a lot of flack from folks because my approach was to NEGOTIATE with Toho, rather than just hold conventions without their permission. Knowing Toho's tendency to sue, rather than negotiate, everyone was either terrified of them, or confrontational. I am sure a lot of you remember that era, when "Toho" was seen as a bad word.

I still have the hand written note written to me by J. D. Lees telling me a convention was impossible, and how he didn't think there was a market for one anyway. (Later, of course, Lees went on to launch G-Con. Whether Lees was trying to stifle competing cons, or he really had a quick change of heart, will never be known for sure. In any event, Great Eastern went under, G-Con was a success, and the fandom came out better for it.)

I remember talking to a few folks in Toho and the US fandom, and at the time Toho was threatening anything with a "ZILLA" on the end of it. They were also losing those suits, but for fans it sent a chilling message.This was also around the same time that Warner Bros. was suing fans for having Batman fan websites, or writing Batman related fan fiction.

To some degree, this trademark lunacy has calmed down. But Toho has a long tradition of being very, very, very protective of its mark.

[gojira_fan]

[Joezilla]

[Cookie]

I saw it. I guess Toho actually won the case then? btw, that japanese chick is still on it..lol

[swfreakjpb]

[shin-goji]

I was cackling hysterically when I saw they reshot it with a robot.

Respect the Powah of Toho!!!

[shin-goji]

I cackled out loud when I saw the robot got subbed in.

Respect the Powah of Toho!!!!!!

[indianeric]

[Brick Side]

[angilas]

[walshiam]

[zibbazabba]

Story on Toho's lawyers and Godzilla:

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/1 ... error.html

[Robert Saint John]

Already posted . It's new and topical enough that I'm going to close this thread so we can continue the discussion over there, especially with the Wird article adding fuel to the fire.

http://www.clubtokyo.org/discuss/viewtopic.php?t=15171