Dead
The holders of the Power Rangers copyright have made some interesting moves lately. At Halloween time last year SCG Power Rangers LLC charged a costume company with copyright infringement for making costumes that looked like the Rangers’ costumes. Underdog Endeavors, the guys what made the costumes, settled out of court by agreeing to give SCG all profits they made from the costumes. I guess SCG is still riding high from that victory ’cause they just filed another suit.
Power Hoodiez, the seen above sweaters that were being sold for $85 USD’s, got slapped with a lawsuit by SCG for infringing on their copyright. According to THR:
“SCG says that the defendant (who couldn’t be reached for comment) never got permission to use Power Rangers IP in connection with sweatshirts, that the merchandise has created confusion in the marketplace as to its source, and wants to punish the defendant for willful violations of copyright and trademark law.”
But Power Hoodiez didn’t just make Power Ranger hoodies. The hoodies’ color scheme was entirely customizable says i09:
“Looking for gold lining? An all-metallic jacket? Your hoodie can be as flashy or as (relatively) sedate as you’d like.”
SCG must be really hard up for money if they are pursuing this lawsuit. Yes the sweaters do bear striking resemblance to the Mighty Morphin‘ variation of their long-running franchise, but that suit design hasn’t been around in nearly two decades (unless you count the re-version which I don’t because you never go back to the 90’s. Never.). Since then there has been 16 other series, one of which is still running today. They’ve had the Rangers be ninjas and aliens and dinosaurs (again) and fucking mystics. They’ve set the Rangers loose in a post-apocalyptic setting where they drove what were essentially Transformers. Out of all that shit they can make money off of, why did they feel the need to target these guys with their hoodies?
What do you guys think about all this? Let us know in the comments or in the forums.
I think its BS. I saw this pic on tumbler and 4 hours later, I finally find your site with a name and email address only to visit the site powerhoodiez.com and find it taken down.. This would have been the greatest gift to my son. I grew up watching these guys, I personally would rock the green ranger and red ranger ones any day.. but “creates confusion”? oh eat me.. how can any one be confused ? saban made em, fox aired them, and these guys made shirts of them… who the hell is confused ??? I would counter sue for them using false information in their suit. how sad…. i guess its bad to the drawing bored to see if i can some how learn to make one.