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Marvel Should Keep A Tighter Leash On Its Lawyers

from the yikes dept

Tue, Apr 29th 2008 11:25pm — Mike Masnick

On Tuesday, Mike Arrington of TechCrunch took a straw poll on Twitter and decided to set up a screening of the new movie Iron Man, based on the comic. By Wednesday morning the details were set. He had rented out the Metreon by calling the "Group Sales" phone number on the Iron Man website, and paid for 600 seats for the showing. He posted the info to his blog, and asked people to pay $1 per seat in order to hold the spot (and to avoid no-shows). All this was perfectly reasonable. And then... a lawyer from Marvel Comics sent Arrington a threatening cease-and-desist letter demanding that he pull down the information about the show, claiming that Arrington wasn't authorized to set up such a showing. Again, the whole thing was arranged by Arrington by calling the "Group Sales" line on the Iron Man website. All of the tickets were paid for. It's hard to see what Marvel can possibly be complaining about. Also, I know for a fact that Arrington's event is hardly the only such event... because I got invited to a different one (also tomorrow, though at a different time and location and organized by a different group) and have a ticket on my desk for the show.

As a guess, perhaps Marvel is upset that Arrington made his an open invite system. The other showings I'm aware of are all private invite-only showings. But, even if that's true, it's rather ridiculous for Marvel to be complaining, and this is giving the company a ton of totally unnecessary bad press for an event that was generating plenty of enthusiasm and excitement for the movie. It appears to be yet another case where a lawyer is complaining because he can, and not because it's a good business move. As of right now, AMC Theatres, which sold Arrington the tickets, is standing behind the showing, and hopefully someone higher up at Marvel is figuring out what a ridiculous move this is, and will apologize by morning.

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Filed Under: comics, iron man, lawyers, movie screening, movies
Companies: marvel comics

33 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 29 Apr 2008 @ 11:37pm

What a Retard - For that, I'm not going to see the movie -

- Eat my Left NUT MARVEL!
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Igor The Troll, 30 Apr 2008 @ 12:37am

Michael Arrington
Can the lawyer be some guy or a friend of some guy who is a blogger and Michael pissed him off?

We all know of Valleywag and Mashable Mike's party encounter.
Oh, the famous Strawberry Shake!

Maybe Mike needs to learn how to be a bit more humble and stop thinking of other bloggers as Trolls.

Good Karma works fantastic!
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dave mcclure, 30 Apr 2008 @ 1:33am

dear troll: don't player hate, don't hesitate, just commentate.
>>Maybe Mike needs to learn how to be a bit more humble and stop thinking of other bloggers as Trolls...

... said the Troll.

cough.
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PRatzo, 30 Apr 2008 @ 1:44am

Not to worry
I was planning on downloading the movie from TPB anyway.
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bobbknight, 30 Apr 2008 @ 3:02am

Bit Torrent FTW
Nope I'm not going to the theater to see this now.
Who needs to watch a coked out pederast any ways.
Being found in a small boys bed blitzed out of his gourd, for shame, for shame.
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Apr 2008 @ 3:29am

like Stark. Not Techcrunch.
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Apr 2008 @ 4:19am

Re: Not to worry
Same here....but if it is good, I usually try to catch it in the theatre.
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Apr 2008 @ 5:34am

Looks like this lawyer got his degree from a ad in a comic book.
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tarzanboy, 30 Apr 2008 @ 5:54am

Re:
Right ...you're gonna skip the movie because some lawyer is an ass?
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Insider, 30 Apr 2008 @ 7:05am

the whole story
There is a lot he isnt saying, mervel isnt in the wrong
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interval, 30 Apr 2008 @ 7:34am

Re: Re:
I'm not going to see because it also stars Gweneth Paltrow. The same actress/idiot who moved to France after calling the American people idiots. France can have her, and I save $10.
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lar3ry, 30 Apr 2008 @ 7:48am

Re: the whole story
All right. I'll bite. What isn't he saying? And who is this "Mervel," anyway?

From the look of the C&D, it appears that this whole thing is pointless.
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PaulT (profile), 30 Apr 2008 @ 8:11am

Re: Re: Re:
I wonder if you realise that actually proves a large part of her point?
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BlowURmindBowel, 30 Apr 2008 @ 8:21am

Re: Re: Re:
And she was incorrect how?
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BlowURmindBowel, 30 Apr 2008 @ 8:26am

Re: Re: Not to worry
y?

I think theaters have pretty much run their course, I have a home theater that I would rather experience any given movie in. Theaters are waaaay overpriced and generally pointless nowadays...

I've had too many experiences with stupid tween girls jabbering about nothing through a whole movie...
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BlowURmindBowel, 30 Apr 2008 @ 8:40am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
Oh, and I presume you hate Johnny Depp for having a similar opinion (and place of residence)?
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tubes, 30 Apr 2008 @ 9:40am

Re: Re: Re:
I live in America & I completely agree with her most Americans are idiots.
If I had the same money she has I would move too.
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Apr 2008 @ 10:00am

Re: Re:
>"Right ...you're gonna skip the movie because some lawyer is an ass?"

Um, actually I'm going to skip the movie because it looks kinda sorta... how do you say? Oh yes: STUPID.
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oregonnerd, 30 Apr 2008 @ 10:56am

iron man, marvel, comics, asses
Marvel: comic book publisher. I read them in between books.

Americans as idiots: we have Bush as president, and Windows Vista as the most widely-used OS. Yup, we're idiots.

The comic was a blow-off on earlier ones--and Gwyneth Paltrow is the spittin' image of a welsh princess if I ever saw one. I'll no doubt see the movie.

Comics as stupid...um. Duh. They never pretended to be classroom material (although in an interesting psychosociological way they are).
--Glenn
8]
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JS Beckerist, 30 Apr 2008 @ 11:07am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
I share feelings about the Baldwins (who hail from near my hometown.) While I would never listen to any of their advice on parenting, voting or ANYTHING to do with Hillary, I think 30 Rock is one of the funniest shows on TV right now.

Hate the player, not the game.

Besides, I got GTA4 so I'll wait until FXG or AXXO gets a hold of Iron man first anyway ;) ...or not.
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JS Beckerist, 30 Apr 2008 @ 11:21am

Re: iron man...defense
A: Marvel, yeah...not much literary substance but you have to admit those artists are talented!

B: Americans, Bush, whatever, he'll be gone in a few months and as for Vista? Everyone I know that used Vista has since reverted to XP and everyone I know that currently uses XP has no plans to upgrade. Blame Dell, or HP. Not Americans for that.

C: Comics are just another form of entertainment. No need to hate, just ignore it if it's not your cup o' tea!

By the way, saying any single nationality as "stupid" goes about as far as saying any single ANYTHING is stupid. Feel free to throw me into any box you like, just don't be surprised if I (or any one of us) happens to change your mind.
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PRMan, 30 Apr 2008 @ 11:53am

Marvel literary substance
Some very good writers have gotten their start in the comics world, including Frank Miller (Daredevil comics, Sin City, 300)...
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Sean, 30 Apr 2008 @ 12:37pm

Re: Re: Re:
Well you are only helping prove how right she was.

Someone said something bad about us, using her very freedom of speech, and you will hold it against her. Must be wonderful going through life painfully stupid.
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tubes, 30 Apr 2008 @ 12:55pm

Re: Re: Re:
I guess you're waiting for the next installment of Harry Potter or something closer to your level like the remake of Troll. Go back under your bridge or even your mother's basement!!!!!

Did you even hear of Iron Man before? Actually Iron Man looks like one of the best superhero movies made so far. I have been waiting for this movie for almost 10 years (And I'm glad they waited 10 years) when they first said they were planning on making it & from the previews it looks like I won't be disappointed one bit.
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Apr 2008 @ 1:09pm

Lawyers
I wonder how it works as a practical matter. Does Marvel retain the services of a lawyer who makes it part of their day doing google searches for trademark marvel terms?

Does the lawyer check out each result, eagerly hoping that they'll find something that they can justify suing over? If that's how it works, no wonder that they launch so many frivolous suits. And I'm sure this is entirely separate from the creative/productive side of the company; they no doubt hate the lawyers as much as everybody else.
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Increasing Stupidity One Step at a Time, 30 Apr 2008 @ 2:03pm

So, let me get this straight. A guy buys all the tickets for a showing of the movie. Tickets which are publicly available. Then this guy offers his community a seat, which he has paid for already, and Marvel says this is verboten?

I'm sorry, this is IP rights run amok.
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John Duncan Yoyo, 30 Apr 2008 @ 7:43pm

Re:
They used an in house guy- Matt Murdoch and he really doesn't understand film being blind and all.
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tim stevens, 1 May 2008 @ 5:30am

F-em. Just torrent the thing and avoid the nasty theater experience totally.
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jeremy, 1 May 2008 @ 2:10pm

open event?
what about all the radio stations GIVING AWAY free tickets to pre-showings, are those not open showings?
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John (profile), 1 May 2008 @ 4:17pm

Um, yes
>"Right ...you're gonna skip the movie because some lawyer is an ass?"

Um, yes.
It's time to send a message to companies who let their lawyers run free. I agree that Marvel may need to enforce their copyright when it needs to, but going after a guy who used their own website is just wrong.

Maybe if we start a protest, Marvel will stop using lawyers like these.
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Get Real!, 1 May 2008 @ 6:11pm

Get Real - Lawyer IDIOTS!
This lawyer must be really bored with his job at Marvel.

So he decides to go around getting bad press from Marvels affciandos and friends. What a piece fo shit!

He must be another Creative ex-employee VP

Here is one guy who is trying to create hype for IronMan which will bring so much more returns in the long run and an asshole of a fu*k lawyer whose head is up some asshole.
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derlo, 22 Oct 2008 @ 1:03pm

new file engine search!
I surfed all the web till found the best searcher. Films, picts, mp3’s, videos and lots more at http://newfileengine.com/
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spiderman, 30 Jul 2009 @ 2:28pm

Marvel game called Mugen
Did anyone know that there was a Marvel Comics based game called Mugen? Its a free game and features Spiderman, X-men, The Avengers and more. There is like Spidermna, Venom, Carnage, Armored Spiderman, Symbiote Spiderman and too many more to mention. You can ploay as the good guys or the bad guys. Anyhow, I thought this would be a relevant post and get some more people into playing Mugen since you can create your own Marvel characters or modify the existing ones.
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