there's no way Hasbro lost the copyright to...

[popstar]

Bushwoolies!??..really?

Now that doesn't make much sense to me. Who would buy that copyright??

[Bright Glow]

So the ruror is true to the Hasbro lost the copyright of the G1 My little pony characters?

[ladymoondancer]

My understanding is that they didn't lose the copyright to anything. They wanted to trademark the characters they used, which was a long, involved process. Or something.

I'm vague on the details. But they definitely still have the ability to use, for example, the name Firefly. (There's a G.I. Joe character named Firefly who they've sold recently. G.I. Joe is also a Hasbro product.)

[Al1701]

Well, Hasbro actually did lose the rights to the TV show to Disney of all companies when Disney bought out marvel productions. That's how My Little Pony Tales came to be as it was a Disney venture, not a Hasbro venture. The rights have actually changed hands a few times over the past twenty years.

However, Hasbro currently owns full rights to the G1 television show and all the content within. In 2008, Hasbro bought back their 80's shows and every news release I've seen on it specifically mentions My Little Pony. However, they've done nothing with it. While the original Transformers and G.I. Joe have both been released on DVD since then and air on the Hub, the original My Little Pony has not.

As for the characters, my guess is they did not want to go through the process of registering all the trademarks over again at once. It would be very long, very involved, and very expensive. They might have also not seen the point of bringing back old characters for a new continuity. Would the show have been better if Rarity had been called Glory? Fans might say yes, but Hasbro execs wouldn't see the point.

Then there's the theory that someone in Hasbro media just has it out for My Little Pony. That's why Friendship is magic on in the early afternoon on weekdays (and was randomly moved to a half hour early with no fanfare) and put against shows like Pokemon on the weekends.

I guess you can say it's complicated and we don't know the whole picture.

[Bright Glow]

Well I don't understand why Hasbro only two episodes with G3 Rarity.

[popstar]

Hm..that makes a lot of sense, and I didn't even know FiM was being shown at the same time Pokemon was, but I don't think it's somebody that dislikes MLP that's putting them in that time slot..or maybe it is? Who knows!

BrightGlow, I'm confused by your question..hehe

You're talking about pink Rarity??

[Bright Glow]

yup from the Runaway Rainbow and the Come back Lily Lightly

[Zero]

Are you refering to the G1-G3 cartoon and toys? or just the cartoon?
beacuse if this rumor is true then Diseny would techanly own the G1 Transformers too, as that was also produced by Marvel Productions also.
Alot of what Hasbro did back in the 80s pretty much belonged to Diseny if this is the case, however the rights for the shows would of been fought for.

The top 3 Transformers, MLP and GI Joe would of still been Hasbro products, since they still held the rights to them and STILL hold the rights to these there even today, you think Hasbro would be stupid enough to allow those three cashcows be to owed by Diseny with out the means to get them back? nope

[ladymoondancer]

There's a difference between owning the rights to the cartoon and owning the rights to the toyline. The actual cartoons were not made by Hasbro--they were made by Sunbow/Marvel, under license from Hasbro. The SHOW belonged to Marvel, My Little Pony in general (the toys) belonged to Hasbro. So it does make sense that Marvel being sold to Disney would result in MLP Tales being made by Disney.

I think Kid Rhino owned the rights to the original MLP, TF, and GI Joe shows at one point--they were the ones who produced the MLP boxed set.