566 replies to this topic

[MrBlud]

They changed their Facebook profile picture to a new "under construction" graphic.

 

Intrigue abounds!

[Jenny]

http://transformersclub.com/

 

There's also this

[CORVUS]

Verra eenterestink!

[Chip]

I'm following BotCon now on Twitter specifically so I can unfollow them if it turns out that Fun Pub is involved. Feels weird.

Edited by Chip, 31 January 2020 - 09:53 PM.

[Jenny]

I'm following BotCon now on Twitter specifically so I can unfollow them if it turns out that Fun Pub is involved. Feels weird.

Fun Pub can't be involved because the company liquidated back in 2018

 

I have to assume this is some kind of archival thing.

Edited by Jenny, 31 January 2020 - 09:59 PM.

[Chris McFeely]

With no further word of Hascon, I could easily believe Hasbro's bringing BotCon convention back (via a new liscencee or by themselves) and has acquired the domain and Twitter to go along with it. Just hope it doesn't mean a return of Fun Pub's excesses, and allows us to continue getting focused, high-quality, affordable, accessible exclusives like the Refraktor team, and media that doesn't feel like the inmates running the asylum.

Edited by Chris McFeely, 31 January 2020 - 10:37 PM.

[Echowarrior]

There's hope for a revival then. Nice.

[Sabrblade]

http://transformersclub.com/

 

There's also this

 

Heh, and just a few days ago that link was dead.

[Primal Sabbath]

I'm so excited by this!!!

[Bed Bugs]

 

I'm following BotCon now on Twitter specifically so I can unfollow them if it turns out that Fun Pub is involved. Feels weird.

Fun Pub can't be involved because the company liquidated back in 2018

 

I have to assume this is some kind of archival thing.

 

Fun Pub wasn't liquidated, they just sold their inventory because they were legally required to with their license expiring.  They did not go bankrupt.  They basically just became dormant for a few years, still existing, but not doing anything.  If you check the Trademark information, they still own Botcon.  So it's very likely they are still involved unless they sold the trademark back to Hasbro and the sale of the trademark has not yet been updated on the United States Trademark website.

Attached Thumbnails

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Edited by Bed Bugs, 01 February 2020 - 01:27 AM.

[D Buster Prime]

Interesting is the current status of the Botcon trademark. Seems like an Examiner at the USPTO is not too fond of it:

http://ttabvue.uspto...e/v?qs=87958992

Basically, the current Examiner does not care that it has existed as a trademark for years, and now wants to undo it.

Also interesting, I don't see any record of the name being re-assigned from FunPub to Hasbro.

Edited by D Buster Prime, 01 February 2020 - 01:38 AM.

[Sprocket]

Just hope it doesn't mean a return of Fun Pub's excesses, and allows us to continue getting focused, high-quality, affordable, accessible exclusives like the Refraktor team, and media that doesn't feel like the inmates running the asylum.

 

Inmates like our own Greg, Trent, Dave, and Jesse?

Edited by Sprocket, 01 February 2020 - 02:09 AM.

[Zodberg]

YES EXACTLY THEM.

I miss Botcon and want it back.
But also understand why it ended when it did. It feels like for everything they did right, they had something go wrong for reasons they would eventually explain want their fault but still it added up.

[Jim S]

Interesting is the current status of the Botcon trademark. Seems like an Examiner at the USPTO is not too fond of it:

http://ttabvue.uspto...e/v?qs=87958992

Basically, the current Examiner does not care that it has existed as a trademark for years, and now wants to undo it.

Also interesting, I don't see any record of the name being re-assigned from FunPub to Hasbro.

That could just indicate the reality of the trademark starting to go dormant. Not so dormant though for FP to let it go uncontested if they've enlisted a team of lawyers. (And also websites and whatnot.)

Edited by Jim S, 01 February 2020 - 04:36 AM.

[D Buster Prime]

Interesting is the current status of the Botcon trademark. Seems like an Examiner at the USPTO is not too fond of it:http://ttabvue.uspto...e/v?qs=87958992
Basically, the current Examiner does not care that it has existed as a trademark for years, and now wants to undo it.
Also interesting, I don't see any record of the name being re-assigned from FunPub to Hasbro.

That could just indicate the reality of the trademark starting to go dormant. Not so dormant though for FP to let it go uncontested if they've enlisted a team of lawyers. (And also websites and whatnot.)

The Examiner's action has nothing to do with the mark going dormant (which it hasn't). The Examiner just believes the name "Botcon" is too descriptive to be a proper trademark for a robot convention.

The Examiner is not completely off base, but there are other considerations, given that Comic-Con, for example, has survived as a trademark, for reasons that may be just as applicable to Botcon.

The decision is currently under appeal, which was just filed a couple months ago.

[Chip]

Interesting is the current status of the Botcon trademark. Seems like an Examiner at the USPTO is not too fond of it:

http://ttabvue.uspto...e/v?qs=87958992

Basically, the current Examiner does not care that it has existed as a trademark for years, and now wants to undo it.

Also interesting, I don't see any record of the name being re-assigned from FunPub to Hasbro.

The USPTO argues that the name is "merely descriptive", meaning just "roBOT CONvention". The most viable counterargument, that it is and has always been also based on "AutoBOT DeceptiCON, is one that Fun Pub dare not make because they don't own those trademarks.

So was Hasbro just waiting for this process to end?

[haywire]

Just hope it doesn't mean a return of Fun Pub's excesses, and allows us to continue getting focused, high-quality, affordable, accessible exclusives like the Refraktor team, and media that doesn't feel like the inmates running the asylum.

 
Inmates like our own Greg, Trent, Dave, and Jesse?

Not replying to Sprockets post, per se, but quoted since he was naming names:

Personally, I dont think its fair to put the blame for FunPub's failings on the guys actually providing the content. Whether you liked what they came up with or not, they were the ones providing the value for the money. Personally, I liked a lot of the fiction when I was a member, but I know it was not to everyone's taste.

In my opinion, FunPub's issue was Brian's inability to fix known problems until they became a Big Deal, at which point they had to put out fires, instead of putting resources into actually making the club and the Con better from the get-go.

Anyway, I will be interested to see what comes of these new developments.

Edited by haywire, 01 February 2020 - 08:45 AM.

[Thylacine 2000]

the guys writing the robot profiles weren't the same ones making Ching Chong jokes and posing the exclusive toys in real-world massacre sites

[SG Roadbuster]

the guys writing the robot profiles weren't the same ones making Ching Chong jokes and posing the exclusive toys in real-world massacre sites

I'm sorry, what?

[NotVeryKnightly]

real-world massacre sites

What, like, Cambodian forced labor camps?