Posts Tagged ‘11th hour’

Browncoat favorite artist and legend 11th Hour, she of the guerrilla marketing posters for Firefly, the alternate DVD cover for Serenity, cover and interior design for the award-winning Serenity role-playing game, and creator of the Serenity-inspired T-shirt designs that were attacked by Universal-FOX as being infringing before they came to an agreement (coincidentally after a firestorm of fan outrage erupted, as well as some wise words from cooler heads higher up), has finally come to her new home: Quantum Mechanix, where she can now create licensed work and show Universal how it's done.

First up,  "Serenity In Flight":

The t-shirt combines both Eastern and Western-influenced design elements into a mandala with our girl Serenity featured prominently in the center. The design also includes the four Chinese characters which represent the phrase "Never Give Up" down the right side. It comes on a black 6.1 ounce, 100-percent cotton Gildan t-shirt, offering the same high quality QMx t-shirts have become famous for. It is available in men's sizes small to 3XL and women's sizes small to 2XL. (Note: all shirt sizes are available while supplies last.)

11th's work is truly amazing, inspired by the 'verse without simplyaping what's been done before. I love everything she's done and I hope to see many more designs coming.

Bouncing back from the recent unpleasantries, 11th Hour Art has added new designs, new colors, and new holiday items to her Cafepress site.

Be sure to check out these wonderful Chinese-Western-Retro-Futuristic inspired ornaments, clothing, tiles, bags, and more, Chinese characters for the words "Prosperity, "Serenity," "Joy", "Merry Christmas," "Happy New Year," and "Firefly," all in the brilliant colors that identify 11th Hour Art.

1th Hour happily (and tiredly) reported that she received e-mail from Universal saying that "Universal's law firm has been authorized to conclude the matter."

"They have accepted the representations in my letter, and will not pursue any financial demands. The sales number I reported for the shirts relating to the design in question were de minimis, and my compliance with the cease and desist, and my agreement to permanently cease and desist (referencing the movie 'Serenity' in my Cafe Press shop) has satisfied this matter."

This is incredibly good news for 11th and for all the other Browncoats out there — like, say, me — who have been anxiously waiting to see how this turned out. Dunno if it was the Browncoat reaction, or the mainstream blogging attention, or b!x's Browncoat Invoice, or just common sense from somebody at Universal, but I'm very glad to see the matter has been resolved and her somewhat reduced shop can continue.

It has not, however, been dropped. I think it's a safe bet to assume that C&D letters will continue against T-shirt shops that use the Serenity logo, character likenesses, or that reference the movie in their promotional wording. I urge you to read 11th's post about it at the OB (if you're not registered, why not?) because she goes into more detail about the exact nature of the complaints. Watch yourself, folks. It's possible to keep playing in the 'verse, you'll just have to be more circumspect about it.

As you may be aware, recently Universal's licensing arm has been contacting Serenity fans who sell Serenity-inspired merchandise with requests to cease and desist. This has caused some uproar among the fan base, and I thought I'd take a moment to explain our concerns.

It's not that we don't understand that you must take steps to protect your intellectual property. We do, or most of us do. And we understand that not only do you have the right, you have a duty to do so or you would be doing a disservice both to your company and to the companies who have paid for licenses to produce official merchandise.

The problem many of us are having is with the method used.

A few weeks ago the owner of bluesunshirts.com was contacted by FOX and asked to remove his merchandise by a specified date. He did so. There was some grumbling amongst the forums but there was never really a question of whether he should comply or not. A simple request, and he shut down.

This week the Browncoat known as 11th Hour Art received a Cease and Desist notice from CafePress letting her know that Universal objected to portions of her store and she immediately began making the requested changes. Then e-mail from ther law firm representing Universal Studios Licensing LLLC arrived, giving her 72 hours to produce all shirts and other goods from the store, any promotional materials which refer to Serenity, copies of complete sales records for the past year, and remit $8,750 as a retroactive blanket license fee. She was also informed she could be held liable for attorney’s fees, treble damages, statutory damages, and punitive damages, and $150,000 statutory damages fee per infringed work for cases of willful copyright infringement. This despite the fact that while she referenced the movie in her promotional copy, she sold her own artistic designs that did not use logos, character likenesses, or images from the movie.

Many of the fans, myself included, are disturbed by this move, not because of the legal aspects but because of the serious lack of understanding it displays between Universal and its fans, particularly one who has worked harder than most at successfully and creatively promoting Serenity. I sincerely hope that the action against 11th Hour will be resolved amicably to the satisfaction of all involved, but right now people who have been spending large portions of their time acting as unpaid marketers for your intellectual property — the very same people who are the biggest audience for any licensed material — are talking about organizing letter writing campaigns and boycotts.

I'm not suggesting you stop protecting your property, not at all. But I would like to suggest that picking off respected fans one at a time with a bazooka is not the way to go about it, especially since the official movie site's encouragement of fan-based viral marketing left the issue a little fuzzy in the minds of many fans. The answer lies in open communication. I think you would have gotten a much better reaction by sending a letter to the major Firefly/Serenity fan sites and forums with something like this:

"Hi! Great to see so many people still love this movie as much as we do. And we think you'll be pleasantly surprised at the new official items we have coming along.

But we've noticed a number of Browncoats selling unlicensed Serenity merchandise and we have to ask that you cease offering any items containing trademarked logos, screenshots, or character likenesses from the film by such and such a date. Shops and websites continuing to sell items as described after that date will be contacted by our legal department. I'm sure you understand that while we welcome fan-based measures to increase awareness of Serenity, we can't condone unofficial merchandise that infringes on our copyrights and may lessen the value of commercial licenses.

We appreciate all you've done and hopefully will continue to do to keep Serenity in the air."

I'm sure you'd word it better than that — at least more legally-sounding — but the point would be that it's simple, direct, and it would get us working with you to increase the value of the franchise, something we all want. We'd be disappointed, but we're also all eager for new licensed material to come out. Plus we'd be deliriously happy that we were still being included, that we were still part of the whole thing.

When Serenity was being marketed there was constant encouragement from Universal for innovative viral marketing by fans, and that sort of interactivity drove us to new heights of resourcefulness and dedication. By keeping us in the loop and continuing to communicate openly we'd get the word out for you and save you the time and hassle of drafting individual letters for each shop by shutting ourselves down first.

We understand your position, we really do. But it appears obvious that you don't understand us, and that makes a difference. A large part of why this property and its licenses remain valuable is due to the efforts of the fans. Just talk to us. We'll listen. You don't have to yell.

Thank you,

C. A. Bridges

Lot of panicking going on right now, and rightfully so. After years of the careful and unspoken "we won't notice fan-made stuff as long as it doesn't compete with our own merchandise, should we ever get around to making any" attitude from FOX and Universal, a conflict has arisen and a heavy hand is making itself known. No longer will fans get away with their own Serenity logo T-shirts or barely-Photoshopped crewmember designs. It's not worth the hassle and Universal is well within their rights to block such things, even though in the real world I suspect this will end up costing them a lot in good will and fan backlash.

So, they can take our ship and take our crew and leave us to buy whatever licensed items are left over. But, and this is an important but, they can't take the 'verse from us.

I see it as a challenge. Can we move on and create artwork and graphic designs that represent what Serenity means to us without actually referencing the movie or its characters? I think we can.

Let's make our own crews, our own worlds. The juxtaposition of the old west and space is not copyrighted. Nor are courtesans in futuristic settings, beat up spaceships, pretty captains, crazy telepaths, cliche-breaking funny drama, or even the Papyrus font (well, not the free version, anyway). Don't make a poster of Mal. Make a poster he'd hang up, instead. Show us the glory and freedom of flying through the black but use your own ship design. Can't use Blue Sun? Fine. Invent their competitor.

Such designs will not sell as easily as Serenity stuff does, obviously. No built-in advertising, no already-known symbols and catch-phrases. They won't help promote the show or the movie as well. And for many of us, such creations simply won't be as satisfying because we fell in love with this ship, with these people.

But I don't want this recent legal action to mean I'll never see any more 11th Hour artwork ever again. Running this site I've gotten to see the work of many insanely talented people, and I want more. Let's go find it.

And you know what? I bet it'll be cooler, funnier, and better than whatever Universal finally produces.

As mentioned previously, Universal LLLC is starting to crack down on fan wares. 11th Hour received a pretty blunt notice that she is struggling to comply with, and I'm posting this as a separate entry to try and keep focused on her specific case rather than the larger issue behind it.

Here's her post about it at the OB, which includes language from the notice. Anyone with knowledge of intellectual property law, please contact her as soon as possible. And on a more personal note, she could use some support from the rest of us. 11th Hour has been brightening our corner of the 'verse since there's been a 'verse, I hate that she was the one drew the next bullet.

Notices from the Universal legal department have popped up for some CafePress Browncoats, and they're not all cease and desist orders. CP is aware of this and at the moment, searches at CP for "firefly" or "serenity" bring up 0 results. Odds are good that with the recent growth in licensed versy stuff the legal people are cracking down more, possibly at urging from the license holders. Dunno.

But that means it's time to check again and make sure you're not using any official logos, character or ship likenesses, reproductions of movie graphics, or other potential copyright infringements. You shouldn't be anyway, per CafePress' own rules, but still.

Also not a good time to yell at them. Won't do any good, and might make things worse. Remember, Universal has every right to protect their intellectual property and they have a duty, as they see it, to protect the interests of companies that have paid hefty fees to make official products.

Although it would be really interesting, just for fun, to tally up how much each of us has worked, hour by hour, year by year, to promote increased awareness and sales of their intellectual property. Maybe submit a bill for PR and marketing services rendered.

Just sayin'.

Edited to add: I've trimmed some of my CafePress listings here already. If your site is linked on SerenityStuff and you'd like to lay low for awhile (or disappear completely), please let me know and I'll pull it.