First I’d like to apologize for the incredible gap in blogs, I assure you that I was truly trapped at the Post Office for the last four months.
Regardless, Jayne’s Hat! For those of you familiar with the subject skip ahead to the next paragraph. Firefly was a short lived space western series on Fox which Universal funded a feature film Serenity. The show never did well in the ratings or the box office but has a rabid fan base, called Browncoats, that have propelled the franchise into being very lucrative in DVD sales. On this show a character named Jayne Cobb, played by Adam Baldwin whom some of you might remember as Animal Mother from the film Full Metal Jacket. Jayne receives a hand knit hat from his mother and wears it in the show. The hat in total had only minutes of screen time but became the official symbol of the Browncoat fan community. It was something you could wear in everyday situations, but still broadcast to other fans in the know your devotion to Firefly.
So what’s all the hubbub? For years crafty Browncoats have been making and selling these hats. Most as a labor of love with their profits mainly being sunk back into materials and such. Being time consuming as any knitting project is, the truth of the matter is that nobody was getting rich off this enterprise.
That is until thinkgeek decided to license the hat from Fox and start selling them on their website. Since thinkgeek is too big to attempt this without the standard cadre of lawyers needed in Hollywood, they were deployed from the lawyer pits with most haste to partner with a licensed manufacturer.
The Browncoats had no problem with the website producing the hats even if it was for profit and the evil entity Fox was involved. The hats were really more of a quiet, DIY fan thing and the real fans would keep it that way.
That is until a barrage of C&D letters started raining from the heavens. Small mom and pop websites were being shut down by Fox for copyright infringement. Enraged Browncoats blew up twitter and reddit. Fox had cancelled the show after only airing it for four months, and for over ten years cared little of the fans making these hats.
So here is where thinkgeek screwed the pooch. When the outrage turned back on them they were quick to poorly spin the situation. They explained that their website received many requests to sell this hat and because it had to be licensed there was nothing they could do as it was Fox and not them enforcing the C&D.
This is false. There is no way thinkgeek’s BOD went forward with this plan without knowing full well that the Fox lawyers would be set loose to punish the innocent, the guilty, and any bystanders who gave them the pig eye.
Reeling from the onslaught of Browncoat ire and bad karma, the hammer was brought down when Firefly star Nathan Fillion entered the fray. As the star of the hit tv show, Castle, the former Firefly captain sided with his Browncoat loyalists much to thinkgeek’s chagrin.
The resulting fallout has been evolving in the past few days. Thinkgeek was left with one option, they punted. Instead of blindly saying “what can we do” and keep on cashing checks they reached a middle ground. All profits from the hat’s sales are being donated to Can’t Stop The Serenity. This is a charity in support of raising awareness for equality. Fillion retweeted thinkgeek’s new policy and promptly broke the Internet.
Now that order has been restored to the universe, thinkgeek can slink back home licking their wounds, Nathan Fillion is free to go back to solving crimes and being awesome, and the Browncoats can stand down for the time being.
As for Fox, they couldn’t give two shits about any of this as long as they get their dirty, dirty money. Otherwise the lawyers are going to make you drink from the fire hose.
So if there was a point to make, I’ve forgotten it. But as long as there is happiness and joy in the world, rest assured there are a team of lawyers ready to beat it to death with their briefcases.
Ceterum censeo Hollywood esse delendam.
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