New look Phanatic

I doubt that'll change much. Still the best mascot in sports.

Can you imagine if those people won the lawsuit and the Phanatic became a Dodgers fan? That would cause more outrage than the Betts deal

Cedrique said:

Can you imagine if those people won the lawsuit and the Phanatic became a Dodgers fan? That would cause more outrage than the Betts deal

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no mlb team would buy it in my opinion....theyd take they little muppet rights and have him hawking ed meds on late night infommercials

tabascojet said:

no mlb team would buy it in my opinion....theyd take they little muppet rights and have him hawking ed meds on late night infommercials

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that might actually be funny if they won and decided to give up on the baseball thing and just have him do random shit like do some wrestling events, maybe show up at a Bernie Sanders rally, some live webcam ****.....

Sparhawk said:

So, this is in response to the legal hijinks currently going on.

If that's the case, are these changes enough for them to state that these are two completely separate characters?
I mean, it's still the Phanatic.
Would a couple of color/scheme changes be enough to satisfy a lawsuit that says the Phillies stole the original concept?

It still looks like the Phanatic.

Just don't understand the reasoning for the change.

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The Legalities Surrounding the Phillie Phanatic | Uni Watch

So what’s the copyright issue with the Phillie Phanatic?

Briefly, designers Wayde Harrison and Bonnie Erickson (let’s call them H&E) are claiming they are sole owners of the Phanatic copyright, that they licensed their design to the Phillies in 1984, and that they are now reclaiming their copyright in accordance with the 35-year sunset provision in the law, which kicks in this June. The Phillies negotiated for another license but H&E refused the team’s initial offer, so the Phillies took them to court claiming they are co-owners, among other things.

What is the “sunset provision” in copyright law?

Usually, the leverage belongs to the buyers of creative work, not with the creators. Think of all the teams that offer a free jersey (or “exposure”) to fans who design a new logo or uniform. Why pay a creator a lot of money when there is so much competition? So the law allows creators to claw back their rights to renegotiate after 35 years, when they would have more leverage. The idea is, if their creation takes off and is worth millions, creators deserve more than a few thousand dollars. Importantly, this right of the creators is inalienable, meaning the creators cannot contract this away in the initial agreement.

Well, are the Phillies co-creators of the Phanatic?

That’s yet to be determined. The Phillies have a tough case to prove. If a court decides this at all, it’ll be all about the documents. Discovery of those documents is still ongoing.

The Phillies tried a bit of a redesign of the Phanatic this winter, but I don’t see too much here from a legal standpoint. The law embraces common sense. Will you find anyone who looks at the new Phanatic and thinks, “unrecognizable”? We at Uni Watch love looking at the small stuff, but I think we can all agree the changes are not that significant.

The slight change of eyes and shaking a tail feather of a slightly different color are not significant enough changes for the Phillies to claim that they are not infringing the copyright. The Phillies are not going to use this Phanatic on June 16 without a new agreement — that would risk copyright infringement.

So what do the changes accomplish? The Phillies may hope the court will now consider them as co-creators, but that’s a dubious argument in my opinion. If the changes have to do with the lawsuit, then it’s probably about the negotiations. The Phillies might be trying to get some leverage by sending a warning shot that they could move on if necessary. The Phillies can also say at negotiations that maybe they will win the Hail Mary and get guidelines from the judge on how to move forward with the Phanatic without infringing H&E’s copyright.

They never say how much money they are asking for. That might sway my opinion. If it is a couple million I'm thinking "just give it to them, you paid that much for Laynce Nix to be a shitty 5th outfielder for 2 years".

If it's 30 million I'm thinking "WTF, you created a muppet costume. The Phillies hired the guys who gave it personality and put it in front of 30,000 people on any given night"

Cedrique said:

They never say how much money they are asking for. That might sway my opinion. If it is a couple million I'm thinking "just give it to them, you paid that much for Laynce Nix to be a shitty 5th outfielder for 2 years".

If it's 30 million I'm thinking "WTF, you created a muppet costume. The Phillies hired the guys who gave it personality and put it in front of 30,000 people on any given night"

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from that same link above

So what’s going to happen?

The current license ends on June 15. If there is no deal, the Phillies risk copyright infringement if they continue to use the Phanatic. The Phillies would likely prevent H&E shopping their design of the Phanatic anywhere else. So, without a deal, the Phanatic might be shelved altogether.

But I don’t think that will happen. I think a settlement is extremely likely. There are too many good reasons to settle and too many financially catastrophic consequences for both parties if there isn’t one. It’s just about how much money the Phillies will pay. But neither side is in much rush until that June 15 deadline. Since the Phillies don’t play on that date, I would anticipate some kind of “signing” ceremony with the Phanatic on either June 14 (when the Phils play the A’s) or June 16th (Marlins). That would be fun!

ill said:

from that same link above

So what’s going to happen?

The current license ends on June 15. If there is no deal, the Phillies risk copyright infringement if they continue to use the Phanatic. The Phillies would likely prevent H&E shopping their design of the Phanatic anywhere else. So, without a deal, the Phanatic might be shelved altogether.

But I don’t think that will happen. I think a settlement is extremely likely. There are too many good reasons to settle and too many financially catastrophic consequences for both parties if there isn’t one. It’s just about how much money the Phillies will pay. But neither side is in much rush until that June 15 deadline. Since the Phillies don’t play on that date, I would anticipate some kind of “signing” ceremony with the Phanatic on either June 14 (when the Phils play the A’s) or June 16th (Marlins). That would be fun!

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phanatic may need to consult youpee on this on how to transition to a new team smoothly....

ill said:

from that same link above

So what’s going to happen?

The current license ends on June 15. If there is no deal, the Phillies risk copyright infringement if they continue to use the Phanatic. The Phillies would likely prevent H&E shopping their design of the Phanatic anywhere else. So, without a deal, the Phanatic might be shelved altogether.

But I don’t think that will happen. I think a settlement is extremely likely. There are too many good reasons to settle and too many financially catastrophic consequences for both parties if there isn’t one. It’s just about how much money the Phillies will pay. But neither side is in much rush until that June 15 deadline. Since the Phillies don’t play on that date, I would anticipate some kind of “signing” ceremony with the Phanatic on either June 14 (when the Phils play the A’s) or June 16th (Marlins). That would be fun!

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Are those the same A's that were in Philly 100 years ago? Maybe he's been a secret A's fan and he's going to jump ship.

On a side note, I'm impressed someone came up with a website devoted to uniforms. Personally I don't care but I noticed there are a lot of threads on here talking about all the different variations of uniforms, especially when one of them changes.

Cedrique said:

Are those the same A's that were in Philly 100 years ago? Maybe he's been a secret A's fan and he's going to jump ship.

On a side note, I'm impressed someone came up with a website devoted to uniforms. Personally I don't care but I noticed there are a lot of threads on here talking about all the different variations of uniforms, especially when one of them changes.

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Paul Lukas used to write for ESPN, but his articles only came out every so often. That's when I started reading him...not sure how I found my way to his blog though.

He gets wrapped around the axle on a lot of things, but most of his posts are pretty fun if you are into the little details.

Cedrique said:

They never say how much money they are asking for. That might sway my opinion. If it is a couple million I'm thinking "just give it to them, you paid that much for Laynce Nix to be a shitty 5th outfielder for 2 years".

If it's 30 million I'm thinking "WTF, you created a muppet costume. The Phillies hired the guys who gave it personality and put it in front of 30,000 people on any given night"

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After they gave Laynce $2.5 million to hit .211/.270/.331 in 263 plate appearances from 2012-2013, the Phillies traded for Jayson Nix on two separate occasions, in 2014 and then again in 2015 (both times they traded away cash considerations to acquire Jayson).

I'm with you- if they can give ~$3.5 million to the Nix Bro's, then they should definitely be able to shell out a couple mil for the Phanatic. But knowing how cheap John $$$ Middletown is, I could see him getting rid of the Phanatic and introducing some lame mime character as the new mascot (probably Jayke Nix, who hated baseball but always loved the circus)

Moar gritty.....bet he would look great in green or philly blue

California Creme Puffs said:

After they gave Laynce $2.5 million to hit .211/.270/.331 in 263 plate appearances from 2012-2013, the Phillies traded for Jayson Nix on two separate occasions, in 2014 and then again in 2015 (both times they traded away cash considerations to acquire Jayson).

I'm with you- if they can give ~$3.5 million to the Nix Bro's, then they should definitely be able to shell out a couple mil for the Phanatic. But knowing how cheap John $$$ Middletown is, I could see him getting rid of the Phanatic and introducing some lame mime character as the new mascot (probably Jayke Nix, who hated baseball but always loved the circus)

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My first thought was that if it came down to it they could use some of the talent that was recently laid off from Brigantine Castle. But then some guy in another thread informed me that it closed in 1984. Where the fuck did the time go?

Cedrique said:

My first thought was that if it came down to it they could use some of the talent that was recently laid off from Brigantine Castle. But then some guy in another thread informed me that it closed in 1984. Where the fuck did the time go?

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Drinking in Atlantic City at Trump’s Taj Mahal will do that to you.

Cedrique said:

My first thought was that if it came down to it they could use some of the talent that was recently laid off from Brigantine Castle. But then some guy in another thread informed me that it closed in 1984. Where the fuck did the time go?

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See jvett's post^

jvett77 said:

Drinking in Atlantic City at Trump’s Taj Mahal will do that to you.

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Someone had to take over when Leonard Tose passed on......

If they lose the Phanatic maybe they should just go with this guy. He can ride the 4 wheeler and do all the stuff the Phanatic does.

Cedrique said:

If they lose the Phanatic maybe they should just go with this guy. He can ride the 4 wheeler and do all the stuff the Phanatic does.

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do you remember when the Phanatic drove a 3-wheeler?

does he still ramp off the pitcher's mound like he did back in the 80's?

ill said:

do you remember when the Phanatic drove a 3-wheeler?

does he still ramp off the pitcher's mound like he did back in the 80's?

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I don't know about the regular season....but I remember him jumping the mound at a spring training game a few years back. Then he drove over, kidnapped a Hooters girl (they play the ball girls at those games) and made tracks behind the wall.

Love that fucker!