8 replies to this topic

[Bond... Raybond]

I got Crate Blanche on Friday but not got around to reading it yet (I know, I know - trust me I am looking forward to it ). I was reading through the copyright page (yes, I'm sad, but this trivial stuff appeals to me ) when I noticed the following:

"James Bond and 007 are trademarks of Danjaq, LLC, used under licence by Ian Fleming Publications Ltd."

Hang on! IFP (those who own the literary copyright) have to license the right to write a Bond novel from people who merely have the film rights to the character? There's no use of the gun logo symbol which is something that Danjaq owns. Nor does this message does appear at the front of the Penguin edition of Devil May Care.

Anyone care to shed some light on this?

[zencat]

You'll also notice that now on the Young Bond books. I don't know. Something went down after 2008.

http://www.thebookbo...young-bond.html

[marktmurphy]

That is quite interesting actually, yeah. So the guys who took the licence out are now the holders? I suppose you could say they easily have the greater stake in Bond nowadays and get the most use from the name; in fact the name is now more associated with what they do with it than the original novels.

[Simon]

How strange.

Is there a fight to be had in the future along the lines of who owns and/or created the Bond theme tune?

[Bond... Raybond]

That is quite interesting actually, yeah. So the guys who took the licence out are now the holders? I suppose you could say they easily have the greater stake in Bond nowadays and get the most use from the name; in fact the name is now more associated with what they do with it than the original novels.

I suppose the queston becomes: when (or if) did IFP sell their rights in the Bond character to Danjaq? Just because Danjaq makes more money from, and has more public influence on, the Bond Character would not grant them total rights to the Bond character. They would only get that if they were given them, or more likely bought them. Did IFP go through a hard time and sold their rights to the character for some extra cash?

[George88]

May explain what we've been told by the moderators here about the attitude towards fan fiction recently and the approaches they have had about it.

[Dustin]

I suppose it would actually make sense for IFP to sell the character to Eon and only reserve themselves the rights to publish new original books (as well as republish the backlist). That's all IFP was ever able to do anyway so why not go the whole distance? I suspect it's perhaps a bit like those terms the Star Trek/Star Wars original novels are published under by Bantam or whoever handles that business now. If Eon was willing to buy the character rights, why not? It probably gives them additional options, theatre productions, musicals, theme parks, all possible future developments in games experiences and so on. The literary exploitation remains only a small sideline of the chain. And should questions about the trademark falling into the public domain arise it's much easier to show a continued use of the character by the films and games than a series of books of varying quality that's not necessarily released regularly and may even see the original source material out of print again.

Edited by Dustin, 30 May 2011 - 01:11 PM.

[Jim]

And should questions about the trademark falling into the public domain arise it's much easier to show a continued use of the character by the films and games than a series of books of varying quality that's not necessarily released regularly and may even see the original source material out of print again.

Quite.

[marktmurphy]

That is quite interesting actually, yeah. So the guys who took the licence out are now the holders? I suppose you could say they easily have the greater stake in Bond nowadays and get the most use from the name; in fact the name is now more associated with what they do with it than the original novels.

I suppose the queston becomes: when (or if) did IFP sell their rights in the Bond character to Danjaq? Just because Danjaq makes more money from, and has more public influence on, the Bond Character would not grant them total rights to the Bond character.

It can work like that sometimes (the BBC now own the copyright for a Police Box, for example- no longer the police!), but I agree in this case it seems unlikely because IFP have never let the grass grow fallow enough for Eon to appear the only people getting use out of 007.

They would only get that if they were given them, or more likely bought them. Did IFP go through a hard time and sold their rights to the character for some extra cash?

Must have, yeah. Or as above, a clever way of defending the rights indefinitely.