History Main / ScrewedByTheLawyers

* Due to Creator/{{Universal}}'s exclusive licensing contract with Creator/MarvelComics a decade before Creator/{{Disney}}'s acquisition of Marvel, Disney is severely limited in the Marvel-themed attractions they can build at [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks their parks]] in [[Ride/WaltDisneyWorld Orlando]] and Japan, as [[Ride/UniversalStudios Universal's theme parks]] in both areas have built Marvel theming first. Disney is only able to use the characters Universal didn't use such as Film/{{Doctor Strange|2016}} and the Film/{{Guardians of the Galaxy|2014}}. This is why when Disney built a new ''Ride/AvengersCAMPUS'' area (''Stark Expo'' in Hong Kong) for their theme parks in the early 2020s, the Orlando and Japan parks were left out of the mix. Even in [[Ride/{{Disneyland}} Anaheim]], the word "Marvel" cannot actually be used anywhere in the parks as the contract also prevents Disney from using the "Marvel" name ''anywhere'' in the United States and Japan.

* Due to Creator/{{Universal}}'s exclusive licensing contract with Creator/MarvelComics a decade before Creator/{{Disney}}'s acquisition of Marvel, Disney is severely limited in the Marvel-themed attractions they can build at [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks their parks]] in [[Ride/WaltDisneyWorld Orlando]] and Japan, as [[Ride/UniversalStudios Universal's theme parks]] in both areas have built Marvel theming first. Disney is only able to use the characters Universal didn't use such as Film/{{Doctor Strange|2016}} and the Film/{{Guardians of the Galaxy|2014}}. This is why when Disney built a new ''Ride/AvengersCAMPUS'' area (''Stark Expo'' in Hong Kong) for their theme parks in the early 2020s, the Orlando and Japan parks were left out of the mix. Even in [[Ride/{{Disneyland}} Anaheim]], the word "Marvel" cannot actually be used anywhere in the parks.

When it comes to mainstream media, this situation tends to feel more myopic on the part of the owner of the intellectual property in question, as it would make more sense to license a popular and profitable work rather than shut it down (unless they're DoingItForTheArt, of course). On the other hand, NewMedia tends to get hit by this more often due to the universal presence of FanWorks online and their tendency to be helmed by independent creators who really ''can't'' afford any licensing deals; though even then the sheer ubiquity of it means any particular work is unlikely to be a big enough deal to be worth suing unless it's really ''that'' popular.

** The site had a game based on the See 'n Say toy where a main character would speak if the pointer landed on the corresponding picture. The game was revamped in 2007 to a generic toy with buttons making the characters say the same lines. According to some sources, Mattel sent the Brothers Chaps a cease-and-desist order over the game, resulting in the change. Even the Homestar Runner Wiki was requested to scrub all references to the original version. Prior to Adobe ending support for Flash, the original See 'n Say game could be accessed as a secret page. Playthroughs have since been uploaded to [=YouTube=].

UsefulNotes/{{Copyright}} and UsefulNotes/{{Trademark}} law have gotten in the way of or forced cancellation for many works. No matter how promising, popular or profitable a show is, it's still apt to get canceled if it would be ''illegal'' to keep broadcasting.

When it comes to mainstream media, this situation tends to feel more myopic on the part of the owner of the intellectual property in question, as it would make more sense to license a popular and profitable work rather than shut it down (unless they're DoingItForTheArt, of course). On the other hand, NewMedia tends to get hit by this harder due to the universal presence of FanWorks online, and they tend to be helmed by independent creators who really ''can't'' afford any licensing deals. That being said, the sheer ubiquity means that oftentimes creators can get away with it so long as they don't make ''too'' much money.

UsefulNotes/{{Copyright}} and UsefulNotes/{{Trademark}} law have gotten in the way of or forced cancellation for many works. No matter how promising, popular or profitable a show is, it's still apt to get canceled if it would be ''illegal'' to keep broadcasting. This can be prone to myopic moments on the part of the owner of the intellectual property in question, since if it's that profitable, it makes sense to license the work rather than shut it down, unless of course the artist is DoingItForTheArt.

[[Website/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]] refers to this as the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_anticommons tragedy of the anticommons,]] where the existence of competing rights holders--not just in copyright, but also in patent law,[[note]]Where it's a very serious problem, since technology is iterative; many companies are highly annoyed by the "patent thicket" keeping them from developing new software and (especially) new smartphones, since so much is patented and they can't build on current without stepping on a patent or two or two hundred. However, no company has an incentive to end the thicket, since they regard their patents as leverage against others. Then there are the patent trolls who buy up patents solely to start lawsuits.[[/note]] land ownership,[[note]]Most often when someone has a big project and needs to buy up a bunch of lots, giving landowners an incentive to hold out for a higher payday[[/note]] leasing rights and other areas--frustrates achieving a socially desirable outcome. To further complicate matters, organizations of all kinds try as hard as possible to [[DisneyOwnsThisTrope blur the lines between copyrights, patents, and trademarks in their favor]].

** A variety of parodies were vetoed from the get-go, mainly due to reasoning from the original creators. Of note are a variety of ''Creator/{{Disney}}'' and ''Franchise/StarWars'' parody ideas, which never saw the light of day officially.

* Universal themselves got into a similar situation after acquiring Creator/DreamWorksAnimation in April 2016. While they are free to use [=DreamWorks=]' main franchises in all three of their American resorts, as well as their Japan and Singapore parks, Universal can't use them in countries where [=DreamWorks=] had licensed them to other park operators prior to the acquisition, including Australia, Russia, Dubai and China, where other companies have the licenses[[note]]On a side note, ''WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}}'' nearly got stuck into this limbo in America since Ride/SeaWorld initially had the rights to the characters, but they let the license for those characters lapse months before Universal took over [=DreamWorks=][[/note]]. Similarly, the 1964 [[Creator/RankinBassProductions Rankin/Bass]] likeness of [[WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer1964 Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer]], whose special is now owned by Universal through [=DreamWorks=], was licensed out to Ride/SeaWorld by [=DreamWorks=] in November 2015, a few months before Universal purchased the studio, so don't expect him to appear in Universal's American parks anytime soon (though he ''might'' be allowed in the Japan and Singapore parks, if Universal is willing to pay royalties to The Rudolph Company).

* ''[[WebAnimation/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers SMG4]] '': [[WebAnimation/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64BloopersTheLawsuitArc The Lawsuit Arc]] is basically an InUniverse example of this trope, which also a serves as DefiedTrope in RealLife. where Nintendo, spearheaded by Lawyer Kong, is out to remove all non-Nintendo characters from the Mushroom kingdom and revert it to back its pre-[=SMG4=] state, eventually leading to a firewall being erected that keeps all {{Original Character}}s out [[spoiler: and a DMCA being signed that (temporarily) kills off such characters]]. Ultimately, Shigeru Miyamoto decides to let [=SMG4=]'s channel remain the way it is, but [=SMG4=], [=SMG3=], Fishy Boopkins, and Bob are all redesigned to look less like Nintendo characters.

* ''WebAnimation/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers'': [[WebAnimation/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64BloopersTheLawsuitArc The Lawsuit Arc]] is basically an InUniverse example of this trope, where Nintendo, spearheaded by Lawyer Kong, is out to remove all non-Nintendo characters from the Mushroom kingdom and revert it to back its pre-[=SMG4=] state, eventually leading to a firewall being erected that keeps all {{Original Character}}s out [[spoiler: and a DMCA being signed that (temporarily) kills off such characters]]. Ultimately, [[spoiler: Shigeru Miyamoto decides to let [=SMG4=]'s channel remain the way it is, but [=SMG4=], [=SMG3=], Fishy Boopkins, and Bob are all redesigned to look less like Nintendo characters]].

* ''Literature/TheBoxcarChildren'': '''And How!''' Not only did original author Gertrude Chandler Warner [[https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8123179/gertrude-chandler-warner never marry or have children]], but by the time of her 1979 death she had outlived not only her parents but also both of her siblings [[https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/193152303/frances-lester-hersey and even those]] [[https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/116960986/john-anthony_carpenter-warner siblings' spouses.]][[note]]1971, 1975 and 1978 respectively for Frances, John and Marion/Mayo.[[/note]] As the sole child (living or otherwise) among all three siblings, Gertrude's entire estate -- including the Boxcar Children IP -- was left to nephew David Brett Warner (John's son). Naturally, publisher Albert Whitman wasted no time buying out the series for an unknown sum -- and then sat on the franchise for over a decade before relaunching it as [[FollowTheLeader basically a Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys clone for younger readers.]] To add insult to injury, Gertrude Chandler Warner [[https://www.boxcarchildren.com/books/?taxonomy=series&term=the-boxcar-children-mysteries is still the sole name listed on the covers]] despite the Warner family having completely died off and thus having zero creative input whatsoever.[[note]]David Brett [[https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/116960985/david-brett-warner died in 1999 at 72]], [[HistoryRepeats himself unmarried with no children.]][[/note]]

* ''Comicstrip/{{Garfield}}'' had a short run of ''Believe it, or don't'' gags until PAWS Inc. got a cease-and-desist letter from the [[Franchise/RipleysBelieveItOrNot Robert Ripley]] estate.

* Due to Creator/{{Universal}}'s exclusive licensing contract with Creator/MarvelComics a decade before Creator/{{Disney}}'s acquisition of Marvel, Disney is severely limited in the Marvel-themed attractions they can build at [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks their parks]] in [[Ride/WaltDisneyWorld Orlando]] and Japan, as [[Ride/UniversalStudios Universal's theme parks]] in both areas have built Marvel theming first. Disney is only able to use the characters Universal didn't use such as Film/{{Doctor Strange|2016}} and the Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy. This is why when Disney built a new ''Ride/AvengersCAMPUS'' area (''Stark Expo'' in Hong Kong) for their theme parks in the early 2020s, the Orlando and Japan parks were left out of the mix. Even in [[Ride/{{Disneyland}} Anaheim]], the word "Marvel" cannot actually be used anywhere in the parks.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* The phrase "Customer Notice: *Insert name of company*, the owner of this channel has forced *insert name of cable or satellite provider* to suspend it despite our repeated requests to keep it available to you" often pops up on certain television systems in the event of a contractual negotiation dispute between the channel owners and television providers providing the systems in question. Notable disputes that led to these kinds of messages include the December 2009 blackout of Creator/{{Fox}}-owned channels from Time Warner Cable (now Spectrum)[[note]]Fox would pull similar stunts with Dish Network and Cablevision within the next year, which would seriously bite them in the ass when the network entered a major DorkAge not long afterward[[/note]] and the July 2012 blackout of Creator/{{Viacom}}-owned networks from [=DirecTV=].

[[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]] refers to this as the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_anticommons tragedy of the anticommons,]] where the existence of competing rights holders--not just in copyright, but also in patent law,[[note]]Where it's a very serious problem, since technology is iterative; many companies are highly annoyed by the "patent thicket" keeping them from developing new software and (especially) new smartphones, since so much is patented and they can't build on current without stepping on a patent or two or two hundred. However, no company has an incentive to end the thicket, since they regard their patents as leverage against others. Then there are the patent trolls who buy up patents solely to start lawsuits.[[/note]] land ownership,[[note]]Most often when someone has a big project and needs to buy up a bunch of lots, giving landowners an incentive to hold out for a higher payday[[/note]] leasing rights and other areas--frustrates achieving a socially desirable outcome. To further complicate matters, organizations of all kinds try as hard as possible to [[DisneyOwnsThisTrope blur the lines between copyrights, patents, and trademarks in their favor]].

* ''Literature/TheBoxcarChildren'': '''And How!''' Not only did original author Gertrude Chandler Warner [[https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8123179/gertrude-chandler-warner never marry or have children]], but by the time of her 1979 death she had outlived not only her parents but also both of her siblings [[https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/193152303/frances-lester-hersey and even those]] [[https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/116960986/john-anthony_carpenter-warner siblings' spouses.]][[note]]1971, 1975 and 1978 respectively for Frances, John and Marion/Mayo.)[[/note]] As the sole child (living or otherwise) among all three siblings, Gertrude's entire estate -- including the Boxcar Children IP -- was left to nephew David Brett Warner (John's son). Naturally, publisher Albert Whitman wasted no time buying out the series for an unknown sum -- and then sat on the franchise for over a decade before relaunching it as [[FollowTheLeader basically a Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys clone for younger readers.]] To add insult to injury, Gertrude Chandler Warner [[https://www.boxcarchildren.com/books/?taxonomy=series&term=the-boxcar-children-mysteries is still the sole name listed on the covers]] despite the Warner family having completely died off and thus having zero creative input whatsoever.[[note]]David Brett [[https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/116960985/david-brett-warner died in 1999 at 72]], [[HistoryRepeats himself unmarried with no children.]][[/note]]

[[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]] refers to this as the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_anticommons tragedy of the anticommons,]] where the existence of competing rights holders--not just in copyright, but also in patent law,[[note]]Where it's a very serious problem, since technology is iterative; many companies are highly annoyed by the "patent thicket" keeping them from developing new software and (especially) new smartphones, since so much is patented and they can't build on current without stepping on a patent or two or two hundred. However, no company has an incentive to end the thicket, since they regard their patents as leverage against others. Then there are the patent trolls who buy up patents solely to start lawsuits.[[/note]] land ownership,[[note]]Most often when someone has a big project and needs to buy up a bunch of lots, giving landowners an incentive to hold out for a higher payday[[/note]] leasing rights and other areas--frustrates achieving a socially desirable outcome. To further complicate matters, organizations of all kinds try as hard as possible to [[DisneyOwnsThisTrope blur the lines between copyrights, patents, and trademarks in their favour]].

* The regular game on ''Radio/ImSorryIHaventAClue'' called "Pick-up Song" - where a song is played in live, a panellist starts singing along to it whilst the music is faded down, and the panellist continues singing ''a cappella'' with the aim being to be as close as possible to the original song when the sound comes back on - is the main reason why the show will never be released in full, and the game was omitted from the compilation releases until recently. (During the COVID-19 pandemic, when the show switched to using virtual audiences, this trope also resulted in said game being rested, since it would involve playing the songs on a live-streamed event.)

* In TheFifties and TheSixties, the Airfix model company pioneered merchandising tie-in rights to then-popular TV shows, releasing figure sets based on shows like ''Series/TheAdventuresOfRobinHood'', ''Franchise/{{Tarzan}}'' and ''Series/TheHighChaparral''. Scroll forward thirty years and even though the original TV shows were long gone hazy memories, French company Heller Models (who had bought the rights to Airfix figure sets after the parent company's demise) were forced to market these sets with generic names like ''Mediaeval Archers'' and ''Jungle Adventures'', because they had only bought the moulds - copyright in the TV show names remained with the TV producers who had only licensed the rights to Airfix.

* ''Literature/TheBoxcarChildren'':
'''And How!''' Not only did original author Gertrude Chandler Warner [[https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8123179/gertrude-chandler-warner never marry or have children]], but by the time of her 1979 death she had outlived not only her parents but also both of her siblings [[https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/193152303/frances-lester-hersey and even those]] [[https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/116960986/john-anthony_carpenter-warner siblings' spouses.]][[note]]1971, 1975 and 1978 respectively for Frances, John and Marion/Mayo.)[[/note]] As the sole child (living or otherwise) among all three siblings, Gertrude's entire estate -- including the Boxcar Children IP -- was left to nephew David Brett Warner (John's son). Naturally, publisher Albert Whitman wasted no time buying out the series for an unknown sum -- and then sat on the franchise for over a decade before relaunching it as [[FollowTheLeader basically a Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys clone for younger readers.]] To add insult to injury, Gertrude Chandler Warner [[https://www.boxcarchildren.com/books/?taxonomy=series&term=the-boxcar-children-mysteries is still the sole name listed on the covers]] despite the Warner family having completely died off and thus having zero creative input whatsoever.[[note]]David Brett [[https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/116960985/david-brett-warner died in 1999 at 72]], [[HistoryRepeats himself unmarried with no children.]][[/note]]

* ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'' not only took certain character names from the Maori language, it apparently tried to ''trademark'' them so that it held the rights to words from Maori language. Due to threats of legal action from some Maori tribal groups, Lego changed tack and altered the spelling of the names. This is odd, since trademarks are contextual. For example, Creator/DCComics has a trademark on Franchise/TheFlash, and that is a perfectly valid trademark, but that doesn't mean that they've trademarked the word ''flash'' and that you can't use it anywhere with any meaning. Most likely the Maori groups' complaint was not about the trademark itself.

* Due to Creator/{{Universal}}'s exclusive licensing contract with Creator/MarvelComics a decade before Creator/{{Disney}}'s acquisition of Marvel, Disney is severely limited in the Marvel-themed attractions they can build at [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks their parks]] in [[Ride/WaltDisneyWorld Orlando]] and Japan, as [[Ride/UniversalStudios Universal's theme parks]] in both areas have built Marvel theming first. Disney is only able to use the characters Universal didn't use such as Film/{{Doctor Strange|2016}} and the Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy. This is why when Disney announced a new "Avengers Campus" area ("Stark Expo" in Hong Kong) for their theme parks to open in 2021, the Orlando and Japan parks were left out of the mix. Even in [[Ride/{{Disneyland}} Anaheim]], the word "Marvel" cannot actually be used anywhere in the parks.

* Fittingly, it was lawyers who ended up putting an end to "[[PowerStable The Beat Down Clan]]" when Hernandez joined the group only for [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]] (who had not checked beforehand to see if they could legally put him on their program) to find itself unable to use any footage of him on their program due to an existing contract Hernandez had with Wrestling/LuchaUnderground.

UsefulNotes/{{Copyright}} and UsefulNotes/{{Trademark}} law have gotten in the way of or forced cancellation for many works. No matter how promising, popular or profitable a show is, it's still apt to get canceled if it would be ''illegal'' to keep broadcasting. This can be prone to WhatAnIdiot moments on the part of the owner of the intellectual property in question, since if it's that profitable, it makes sense to license the work rather than shut it down, unless of course the artist is DoingItForTheArt.

* With Disney acquiring [[Creator/TwentiethCenturyStudios 20th Century Fox]] on March 20, 2019, the future of ''Ride/TheSimpsonsRide'' is very uncertain as unlike their contract with Marvel, Universal's rights to ''Simpsons'' theme park attractions are set to expire in 2028, 20 years after the attraction opened. [[ForegoneConclusion Yep, you probably know where this is headed]]. Universal also confirmed that the ''Series/AmericanHorrorStory'' haunted house for ''Theatre/HalloweenHorrorNights'' would not be returning for 2019 and beyond because of the deal.