G.I. Joe Action Figure Creator Fighting to Get the Rights Back from Hasbro
In 1964, Stanley Weston came up with the idea for a line of 12” action figures for kids that became known as G.I. Joe. It was his idea to manufacture and sell “male action figures wearing and carrying miniaturized versions of the uniforms, insignias, emblems and equipment of each of the different branches of the United States armed forces." Those included the Action Soldier (U.S. Army), Action Sailor (U.S. Navy), Action Pilot (USAF), and the Action Marine (USMC).
Weston, who is now 82, has hired entertainment attorney Bert Fields to represent him in trying to get the rights back to G.I. Joe. Over the years, G.I. Joe has been through several different toy phases, animated series, and a franchise of crappy live-action movies. I grew up on the '80s version of the action figures and cartoon series, which I still love. Then in the '90s they re-introduced the 12” figures that were also awesome.
I’m not sure what Weston will do with G.I. Joe if he gets the rights back, but as long as it stops Paramount Pictures from making G.I. Joe 3, that’s all that matters. Maybe he’ll give the rights to a filmmaker that will actually know what to do with the franchise, which is valued at $100 million.
As far as the lawsuit goes, THR explains what is going on:
Weston has served a notice of termination to Hasbro, which acquired rights to "G.I. Joe" some years back through a predecessor company. He's seeking to exploit a mid-1970s change in copyright law that allows authors or their heirs to grab back rights after 35 years from assignees. These termination rights have come up often in the music industry; Here, it would termination copyrights associated with a toy and derivative works.
This lawsuit does have some precedent.
In 2013, the creator of "He-Man" and the Masters of the Universe characters took on Mattel in a similar lawsuit with the prospect of termination looming. Mattel eventually won the case after a judge found the plaintiff's creations were a work-made-for-hire. As such, the company was deemed to be the statutory author and the creator had no termination rights.
One can imagine the "G.I. Joe" lawsuit moving in the same direction as the complaint notes that Hasbro has denied Weston has any such termination right. An even stronger hint is the care taken to describe the genesis of "G.I. Joe." Who "commissioned" the work? Did it come at the Hasbro predecessor's "instance and expense" or Weston's? Did the company or Weston induce the creation and have the right to "direct and supervise"? These are some of the questions that might determine whether a California federal judge agrees to find the termination notice valid.
Weston pitched his military action figure idea to Hasbro’s Donald Levine, who was VP of research and development, He obviously liked the idea and the rest is history. According to the complaint:
"Weston had no facilities to create prototypes of his Outfitted Action Figures, but defendant did; and, when asked by Weston, defendant was willing to undertake that. Weston authorized and directed defendant to make initial drawings of his Outfitted Action Figures and then, if the initial drawings were approved, to fabricate prototypes of his Outfitted Action Figures wearing and carrying their miniaturized uniforms, insignias, emblems and equipment, as he had described them and had shown in his oaktag presentation.
"Levine told Weston that, if Weston approved what defendant made, he was sure defendant would want to buy the rights from Weston. Weston offered to pay any expense incurred by defendant in fabricating the prototypes, but Levine said defendant could recoup any such expense in setting the purchase price of the rights. Weston agreed, however, that, if Weston did not sell defendant the rights, Weston would reimburse defendant for any expense it incurred in making the prototype action figures. Thus, Weston assumed the entire burden of any such expense."
Weston seems to have had a heavy hand in the creation process of the military action figures, so he believes that he is the lawful author of G.I. Joe. It's hard to think that Weston will win the fight in this, as he’s going up against the giant toy company Hasbro. But, if Weston does win, he would get the rights back from Hasbro in 2020. I'm curious to know what he wants to do with the rights if he does get them back.
You can read the full complaint here.