Seuss turns into Grinch?

Seuss turns into Grinch?

by SouthernFriedInfidel | Published on November 25th, 2008, 11:17 am | Life

It seems that Louisville was planning to use the Dr. Seuss characters from "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" for part of their holiday display this year. Seuss Enterprises got wind of it and told them to knock it off.

Well, of course, these folks are correct -- all of these characters are copyright protected. So my question to Louisville would be... how much money did they lay out to put the display together, and was Seuss' people demanding THAT MUCH to license the display that the city would rather not ask for permission?

I guess by letter of the law they are correct, but I think that allowing such a thing would go a longer way in cementing brand recognition and would help to further the cultural significance of the Grinch characters. After all, the county/town wouldn't strictly be making money off the use of said characters.

They should take a page from the books of many other holders of iconic type characters and loosen the grips a little. The little bit of what amounts to free advertising goes a long way. Bad press, not so much.

Brand recognition also requires brand protection. I have no idea of the quality or authenticity of the Louisville display, but if were poorly done then it could detract form the value of the brand. Even if Seuss Enterprises decided not to charge them money, they would need to dictate the quality.

I know back when we did theater, the publishing houses on the scripts did the same thing... Even if you were going to pay royalties... but perhaps ran an ad in the paper before you did... you'd get a call from L.A.....

they wantz their munniez