http://hooniverse.com/2012/06/05/hot-wheels-give-a-scale-model-middle-finger-to-icon/
Hooniverse said:
ICON is the go-to company when you want a bespoke example of a beloved machine from the past. Currently, the company is best known for its excellent interpretation of the old school Bronco and FJ Cruiser. ICON also produced the oh-so-Hoon-lusty Business Coupe. The quality of the company’s work is stunning, and the vehicles are quite expensive as a result. In fact, news of their latest venture just popped up on our radar. It shouldn’t be a surprise then that Hot Wheels saw fit to turn the ICON FJ Series into a scale-model toy.
There’s a problem though, they never spoke to ICON about the project.
Article contains a newsletter post from ICON that basically says Mattel brushed them off and dared them to sue because they are so much bigger than ICON. Dick move, Mattel.
Pathetic.
And the in-real-life toy looks horrible. As do most Hot Wheels versions of real cars.
JThw8
UberDork
6/5/12 7:38 p.m.
Is Icon paying royalties to Toyota? If not then sorry especially on a miniaturized, low detail version such as a hot wheel how you say its a Toyota or an Icon?
No argument, the promo photo was used and they are owed something for that, but not a percentage of each toy because the toy is an FJ40
BAMF
Reader
6/7/12 8:53 a.m.
Directly lifting one of Icon's photos for the Hot Wheels graphic is a pretty slimy move. Then again, most of the big companies rip off design and art from unaffiliated creatives all the time.
Probably wasn't intentional. Someone probably googled "jumping FJ40" and found the image to touch up for a promo rendering type thing. Before this story, I had never heard of ICON, and zippy chance I would have been able to tell you that was their truck.
If ICON didn't have anything on the website saying their photos can't be used without permission, I bet they do now.
This day and age......its the internet, IMO its public domain. If someone uses your image and you don't like it, ask them to take it down (and usually they do, just as they did here). I don't think ICON is owed a thing. If anything, only a simple apology so they can stop being butthurt about it. That's my opinion.
failboat wrote:
Probably wasn't intentional. Someone probably googled "jumping FJ40" and found the image to touch up for a promo rendering type thing. Before this story, I had never heard of ICON, and zippy chance I would have been able to tell you that was their truck.
If that's the case, it would be a very bad policy for a company to have. It's pretty much a standing invitation to a lawsuit. You want to make dead sure it's a public domain image before you do this. There are a couple public domain images on the DIYAutoTune site that were harvested from Wikimedia - you'll note some of them appear with permissions notices that the owner required, as we were very careful to follow the terms and conditions on each photo.
This day and age......its the internet, IMO its public domain. If someone uses your image and you don't like it, ask them to take it down (and usually they do, just as they did here). I don't think ICON is owed a thing. If anything, only a simple apology so they can stop being butthurt about it. That's my opinion.
In your opinion, yes. In the eyes of the law, no. A copyright violator still owes damages. And if the copyright violator is someone with deep pockets like Hot Wheels, having a policy of grabbing copyrighted images online and using them for their own advertising and packaging is a positively brain dead idea. Sure, they can afford good lawyers, but they can also afford hefty statutory and punitive damages if they lose. You don't want to hang a bunch of lawsuit targets on your corporate office's windows and encourage people to take potshots at them.
Thats all well and good, but is Dos Equis is suing everyone that ever used the internet? They should be. This image HAS to be copyrighted.
I think they're laughing all the way to the bank, that ad campaign has netted them more brand awareness than they ever could have hoped. Every time someone re-uses that image they're just compounding the returns for Dos Equis.
tuna55
UltraDork
6/7/12 12:10 p.m.
Story was told really one-sided. Read it carefully. Mattel used the image for a day or something and then took it down - they haven't sold any yet, and they aren't using the ICON name anywhere - big deal.
This was the follow up article with the response from Hot Wheels/Mattel
http://hooniverse.com/2012/06/06/hot-wheels-responds-to-the-claims-from-icon/
I have never heard of ICON but their website made me jizz in my pants. 
T.J.
PowerDork
6/7/12 9:53 p.m.
I think I saw them on TV once. Forget what show. I'll take a bronco please with the coyote.
failboat wrote:
Thats all well and good, but is Dos Equis is suing everyone that ever used the internet? They should be. This image HAS to be copyrighted.
Most of that would fall directly into parody, and the big distinction is you're not trying to make money with it.
I saw one of those ICON FJ's up in NC. Really neat. 
But no way would I pay what they want for it, sorry.
ICON is very careful not to identify their replica as a Toyota. It does not use the Toyota drivetrain etc and has 'aluminum body panels'. The Bronco is based on a restored OE body shell and is not identified as a 'new' or 'reproduction' vehicle, only 'restored'. The flat fender is identified as a Willys (who is conveniently out of business). So they have covered their butts.
Given that they are trading on the image those three vehicles have with the buying public, it seems sort of hypocritical for them to flip out over Hot Wheels borrowing an image. But maybe that's just me.
