Doctor Who Faces Legal Threat From Son of Tardis Creator

[FoxKitsune]

So no move was made on the family's part to preserve the copyright...
The BBC sorted out their own over thirty years ago...
I guess you could say the guy wasn't *puts on sunglasses* in TIME!

 

[srpilha]

So this guy's basically a patent troll?

Because he's patently trolling.

ooh, ICWUDT. Noice.

 

[Shaidz]

""It is by no means my wish to deprive legions of Doctor Who fans (of whom I was never one) of any aspect of their favorite children's program," Coburn said. "The only ends I wish to accomplish, by whatever lawful means present themselves, involve bringing about the public recognition that should by rights always have been his due, of my father James Anthony Coburn's seminal contribution to Doctor Who, and proper lawful recompense to his surviving estate.""

MY ASS! He saw an opportunity to make some $$ and went for it, this is not about recognition, its about how much money he can screw out of the BBC. If the widow didn't see the need to do this, why should he. It was his FATHERS thing, why should he get the money, he has no more right to it than I do to Daleks(even though my late father built them for the original series).

 

[Albino Boo]

"It is by no means my wish to deprive legions of Doctor Who fans (of whom I was never one) of any aspect of their favorite children's program,"

Couldn't resist slipping in that little jibe eh? I'm with Fix-the-spade on this, while I'm no expert I'd be very surprised if Tony Colburn (the father) didn't sign away his rights to the work as part of his contract with the BBC, I mean that's how it normally works right?

Not to take the piss, well actually yeah I am, but since the Tardis looks exactly like a blue Police box, shouldn't whomever designed the actual real life blue Police boxes be suing the BBC and this twonks father's estate for ripping off HIS ideas? After all Tony Coburn didn't invent the police box, he just stole the visual design and made it into this "magical" time traveling whatsit.

Its not that clear cut. Terry Nation, the creator of the daleks, owned the name Dalek but not what they looked like. Another writer owns the Sontaran name but not the image. So, it is possible that Coburn may own the name Tardis but not what it looks like. I think they big problem is that BBC registered the trademark in the 80s and the then supposed rights holder did not contest it. That fact that Stef Coburn wasn't the putative owner then is irrelevant.

 

[FalloutJack]

nar I aint that dude

just an aussie that thinks that a pommy show about a dude with a broken lightsabre who live in an old phone box is lame.

he is like a poor mans danger mouse

I preferred BananaMan. But anyway, no dissing the scarf. Or the bowtie. Or the fez, although you may shoot the fez. Point is, your mileage will decidedly vary but you don't get to get irritable about it.

So no move was made on the family's part to preserve the copyright...
The BBC sorted out their own over thirty years ago...
I guess you could say the guy wasn't *puts on sunglasses* in TIME!

[HEADING=1]YEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!![/HEADING]

 

[ForumSafari]

But he doesn't own it, it was made for a TV show so the TV show owns the rights to it. That's how it works in other media when you either sell the rights to something to a project or make something under contract for the project. He was being paid by the BBC to make Doctor Who so they should be automatic rights holders.

 

[Sir Shockwave]

I doubt he's ever watched it. And DW is probably not for kids: Mutilation, disturbing imagery, constant death and violence, technobabble that would rot the average Chippy-child's brains, ect.

Depends if you saw anything before Moffat took over as editor X3

OT: I'm under the opinion that he's suing over the use of the name, not over using a Blue Police Box. That said, I can't see many courts holding up this case if it goes that far.

 

[Buizel91]

"It is by no means my wish to deprive legions of Doctor Who fans (of whom I was never one) of any aspect of their favorite children's program," Coburn said.

Is this actually considered a children's show in Britain? Most people I know who watch it are well into their 20s or 30s. This guy is doing a lousy job of pretending he's not a complete tool.

It's not considered a children's program, it's considered a family show. And yeah, I don't think this guy really cares about his father's honour.


Yeah. That's all I can see, here.

Should of posted the song as well!


OT Yeh this guy has lost already, no way is he going to see a penny.

 

[Lovely Mixture]

Normal people: I would like my father to be acknowledged for his contribution, could you add his name to the credits?

This guy: I would like to paid for my father's contribution of which I had nothing to do.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

To be fair, I'd be pretty annoyed if a relative of mine had conceived of a central element in an extremely popular show and wasn't credited for it. But I don't think that's where he's coming from.

 

[frobalt]

Couldn't resist slipping in that little jibe eh?

Is it a jibe? I thought Doctor Who was aimed largely at kids. Is this like when wrestling fans get offended their show is called fake?

I think the best way to realise how Doctor Who is a family show and not a kids show is to watch The Sarah Jane Adventures and compare the 2.

They're both set in the same universe and have similar formats. The Doctor even shows up on 2 occasions.

 

[Albino Boo]

Is this actually considered a children's show in Britain? Most people I know who watch it are well into their 20s or 30s. This guy is doing a lousy job of pretending he's not a complete tool.

Dr Who started when there was only 2 TV channels to watch in the UK. The show has gone out, for the most part, between 5-8 pm on a Saturday. All this means the a show, even today, in primetime has to pick an audience between 7-70 years old. The smaller British population does not allow for niche programs to go out in prime time and get a cost per viewer that is sustainable. Hence the revail setups with a Doctor for the mums to look at and the assistant being for the dads.

 

[likalaruku]

This reminds me of a podcast where two guys were talking about how f**ked-up it is that you have to pay the decedents of Martin Luther King to use his full speech in anything because it should be public domain, charging for a speech about freedom is ironic, 7 none of them were actually involved in the speech.

 

[Genocidicles]

I detest Dr Who and I can still see this guy is a fucking ****.

This is all the proof we need that copyright law is a bunch of shit and needs to be done away with. If you didn't create the thing in question, then why the fuck should you be able to profit from it?

 

[Vareoth]

His dad must be so proud of his money-grubbing son...

i hope he wins and gets the money. its not like the BBC cant afford it anyway. they should just buy him out... or get rid of the silly kids show.. I am sick of the scarf wearing pansy being on my tv

I disagree with you, you silly man, and I will kindly ask you to remove yourself from the premises.

 

[dantoddd]

Copyright are property which belonged to the creator and passed one to his/her successors. If this was about a piece of real estate or a business, i bet none of you would be up in arms against this. IMO, there is nothing douchy about this. Its not like BBC can't afford to pay the kid.

 

[Frankster]

The cheek of that fella :/

At least he isn't giving any bs about being a doctor who fan and admits it's purely for the money.

 

[Entitled]

Copyright are property which belonged to the creator and passed one to his/her successors.

No, copyrights are a government-granted monopoly over the market of a piece of information, given to specific artists with the intent of incentivizing creative industries to a certain extent.

That the copyright lobby likes to refer to said monopolistic regulations as an "intellectual property", is just an informal, unprofessional figure of speech, an analogy, and has no more legal relevance to property ownership laws, than the phrase "job hunting" has to hunting regulations or "character assassination" has to laws against assassinations.

 

[webkilla]

So wait, let me get this straight...

The writer for the first doctor who story's son wants money for... what?

I'm assuming that this writer fellow got paid back in his days for his services. This looks like silly lawsuit with no foundation in reality

 

[Flunk]

This is one of the reasons I disagree with the idea of inherited copyright. His father (supposedly) created the idea, why does this guy have any right to anything? Copyright should enter the public domain after the creator's death.