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Pez goes after couple who created Museum of Pez Memorabilia
The museum's lawyer says Pez is demanding that the museum's "curators," Gary Doss and wife Nancy Yarbrough Doss, turn over all profits from the Pez shrine's 14 years in business. "I think Pez should embrace the Dosses and the museum, instead of trying to attack them," says the couple's attorney. (San Jose Mercury News)July 14, 2009 | Permalink
Comments
Shouldn't that read "Genie in mythology"? I hate the reporting of superstition as fact.
Posted by: David | Jul 14, 2009 6:17:14 AM
Opps, that copmment should be on the genie story.
Posted by: David | Jul 14, 2009 6:18:02 AM
PEZ HAS TO MAKE A BUCK SOMEHOW.
Posted by: MONKEY JERKm | Jul 14, 2009 6:20:26 AM
Now I know WHY I've never knowingly eaten any of their damn candy. The combination of silly and mean-spirited is really, really unattractive.
Posted by: Pete | Jul 14, 2009 6:44:13 AM
jealous candy makers
Posted by: MidtownCoog | Jul 14, 2009 6:52:33 AM
Though IANAL, I'm pretty sure that if you've allowed them to be in business for 14 years, that you've lost the opportunity to sue them now, but even beyond that, do you think there are significant profits to be had for a Pez museum? Pez is suing for what, $1.85?
Posted by: Drake Timbershaft | Jul 14, 2009 6:53:38 AM
Darn it. I can't read the article. Oh well.
I understand both sides of this situation.
Every museum features products/people from the past. So I have one question. If Pez wins the case, does that mean all museums have to clear rights with every company/person they feature? What about wax museums? Do the wax folks have to get permission from all the famous people they put into their creations?
I also have to question whether this couple has the right to profit off of this company's creations.
This is a tough one.
Posted by: twerp | Jul 14, 2009 7:00:43 AM
Did anyone see the story in the sidebar about the three foot long spitting worm?
Posted by: Biker Trash Princess | Jul 14, 2009 7:02:57 AM
Is this less about the museum as a whole and more about the "world's largest Pez dispenser" that the couple had built as part of their exhibit? If so, then I can see where this could be a case of trademark infringement, i.e. manufacturing a "product" (it does dispense, for a fee) without a license.
Posted by: noodleman | Jul 14, 2009 7:08:59 AM
Yep, looks like they were okay with the museum (the part with authentic products), but not OK with the copyright infringement (the counterfeit PEZ snowman). My understanding is that if they don't protest the infringement, they may lose the right to fight other violators.
Posted by: Sigh | Jul 14, 2009 7:17:35 AM
Pez should be making nice with these folks because their museum is a great marketing tool! Especially since the entire Pez brand image is built upon whimsy and childish silliness.
Instead, it's going after the museum owners like a Dickensian villain, complete with a squad of lawyers. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Pez's management must have gotten a stupidity transplant, or maybe their heads are as full of air as their products.
Posted by: Phranqlin | Jul 14, 2009 7:20:40 AM
twerp, actually the wax museums (well, Madame Tussaud's, anyway) do have the get the permission of living people they include in their museums. But considering it's considered to be an honor, most people willingly oblige. In fact, to make sure they've gotten every detail as specific as possible, people go sit for fittings and measurements.
Posted by: d'ep | Jul 14, 2009 7:30:37 AM
Next thing you know, Pez will be suing all the drugies that keep their pills in a Pez dispenser...good luck!
Posted by: jojo | Jul 14, 2009 8:13:04 AM
Does anyone even like the Pez candy? Imo even a sugar cube tastes better.
Posted by: outofsalt | Jul 14, 2009 9:47:54 AM
I love Pez candy!
Posted by: twerp | Jul 14, 2009 10:24:56 AM
Personally, I am sick of uber billionaires getting angry at regular folks who they claim 'are stealing their profits'. We hear this garbage from musicians, television, movies, corporations now Pez. Have you ever noticed that people who do actual good things never get cranked when someone copies them?
I can see it now, the doctor that successfully cures cancer or AIDS and turns around and says, if you do the same thing on your patient as I did on mine I will sue.
What these people should do if they get too much pressure is make as much noise as they can about these PEZ leaches and make sure that no one buys their product.
Screw Pez.
Posted by: joel | Jul 14, 2009 11:44:23 AM
Geez change the name to the "world's largest replica of a Pez dispenser" and sue them back.
Posted by: David | Jul 14, 2009 8:17:44 PM
I would have called it a "Zep dispenser" instead. Unfortunately that sounds like it might be some kind of industrial hand soap.
Posted by: TheRestlessMouse | Jul 15, 2009 6:17:18 AM
Personally, I am sick of scum who steal other peoples ideas and leech off of the hard work of others. We hear the whiners about how they are justified in taking others content -- but we are talking about songs and movies here, not their daily bread. People who do good things -do- get cranked when people steal from them.
Yep, I think the corporation that finds the cure for aids should be able to profit from it. Without the profit, few people would pursue the cure -- most would have to get paying jobs, instead. Payment is how we show the importance of something -- how we fractionally allocate the resources and effort of the world to a particular activity.
Don't like PEZ: don't buy it. I don't. I am not going to copy their clever (if dated) design as a sign of protest or social justice, neither.
Posted by: Sigh | Jul 15, 2009 7:46:45 AM
Pez should also try to sue that one guy who has to feed himself but pushing food into the whole in his throat.
Posted by: thing1 | Jul 16, 2009 12:27:45 PM
Okay, I was curious; thanks! Sort of am partial to Neccos myself (except for the clove ones).
Posted by: outofsalt | Jul 16, 2009 3:16:57 PM
