How long does Viacom own the rights for?

[snake]

Does anyone know when they expire?

[Andrew NDB]

Pretty sure in perpetuity. They're not "leasing" them.

[CyberCubed]

Forever!!!!

[snake]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Pretty sure in perpetuity. They're not "leasing" them.

Copyright works like that?

[CyberCubed]

They bought the franchise 100% from Mirage, lock, stock, and barrel. This isn't like when 4kids got the rights to make a cartoon but Mirage still owned the franchise.

Viacom could decide to sell the franchise off in the future to some other company like Disney, WB, or whomever....but they'll probably hold onto it.

[sdp]

Or Viacom could put the franchise in their vaults and do nothing with it like they do with plenty of IPs that they own but don't see any profit (big enough for them to care). I mentioned this when Viacom bought the turtles but everyone was too excited to care, but as it becomes a possibility now I'm sure more will listen. We could theoretically see the end of the turtles after the Nick show and PD movie finish their runs and IDW can only last for so long.

[MikeandRaph87]

It owns everything with no expiration except for not owning syndication rights to the 1987 cartoon and Lionsgate holding distribution rights of the same cartoon while New Line owns distribution rights of the first three films. Why Viacom has no ask its sister CBS Corp for syndication rights is beyond me.

[snake]

Originally Posted by sdp

Or Viacom could put the franchise in their vaults and do nothing with it like they do with plenty of IPs that they own but don't see any profit (big enough for them to care). I mentioned this when Viacom bought the turtles but everyone was too excited to care, but as it becomes a possibility now I'm sure more will listen. We could theoretically see the end of the turtles after the Nick show and PD movie finish their runs and IDW can only last for so long.

That's what I'm particuarly worried about.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by sdp

Or Viacom could put the franchise in their vaults and do nothing with it like they do with plenty of IPs that they own but don't see any profit (big enough for them to care).

I could see this happening. When it reaches a non-profitability point, simply bury it in their vault. Not sell it, of course, as that would mean someone else could come back and make it competition.

[snake]

Do you know how much a TMNT dark period would suck? I'm not talking any 2009-2011 sh*t, I mean an actual dark age.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by snake

Do you know how much a TMNT dark period would suck? I'm not talking any 2009-2011 sh*t, I mean an actual dark age.

Arguably necessary, at this point. Cleanse the palate. Let a generation forget... this.

[sdp]

That could be the best scenario for you Andrew, if TMNT fades from people's mind exept nostalgic people but Viacom has no interest in spending a lot of money marketing it for kids then they might allow someone to "experiment" with it and an adult version could come out. Ren and Stimpy had an adult cartoon later on at MTV, IIRC the quality was bad but it shows that if there's potential money to be made they don't care to "tarnish" an IP as say Disney would.

I just don't see Viacom spending as much energy into TMNT as it did when it bought the franchise, the marketing and hype they built up was huge and while this revival has made them get their investment back and more they wanted a bigger hit as they compared the acquisition to Disney's Marvel.

[snake]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Arguably necessary, at this point. Cleanse the palate. Let a generation forget... this.

If there were a guarantee that a new show/movie/comic/whatever would come along after 10-15 years I'd agree. But as long as IDW is still good, I'm happy. Hopefully it's influence can rub off on later incarnations.

[CyberCubed]

For god sakes, why are we talking about this NOW? The Nick cartoon is going on at least until the end of 2017 (and possibly longer if it gets renewed), and the IDW comic is bound to last a decade.

Come up with the doom and gloom conspiracy theories around 2018-2019 or so when the Nick show ends.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by sdp

I just don't see Viacom spending as much energy into TMNT as it did when it bought the franchise, the marketing and hype they built up was huge and while this revival has made them get their investment back and more they wanted a bigger hit as they compared the acquisition to Disney's Marvel.

True. No matter what, this can't be considered a "bad investment." They've made money, but if the profit margin shrinks to where the same resources would be better suited elsewhere for larger returns... they won't hesitate to lock up the TMNT and squat on it.

Originally Posted by snake

If there were a guarantee that a new show/movie/comic/whatever would come along after 10-15 years I'd agree. But as long as IDW is still good, I'm happy. Hopefully it's influence can rub off on later incarnations.

Oh, I'd be shocked if it was more than 5 years before something new of that scale came about.

[Wildcat]

Kinda doubt Nick would let TMNT go through a dark age. Its been consistently popular for decades and its one of the biggest franchises they own next to Spongebob I guess.

Its not like their old franchises would have kept going if Nick had not stopped them. Doug, Rugrats and such were not gonna keep going til today. They weren't super-franchises that ever "took over the world".

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Wildcat

Kinda doubt Nick would let TMNT go through a dark age.

Not an extended one. But one nonetheless. Which isn't to say it would be in entirety... I doubt they would yank IDW's deal away just to further a clandestine ice age, or deny the occasional video game or T-shirt license, things of that nature.

[IndigoErth]

A break is one thing, but if they even thought of trying to put it aside and forget about it for too long or for good, then I hope the public puts and keeps the pressure on them to do something with it, either use it or sell.

Maybe 20 years ago they could easily just wave it off, but now with social media that might never shut up about it... good luck.

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Let a generation forget... this.

Gonna have to fail at doing that, since my nephew won't have much choice but to be familiar with TMNT. Heck...I bought him a number of Halfshell Hero figures the day after he was born, just in case they're not being made anymore by the time he's old enough for them.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

A break is one thing, but if they even thought of trying to put it aside and forget about it for too long or for good, then I hope the public puts and keeps the pressure on them to do something with it, either use it or sell.

That would be good. Though the... *erm*... kinds of vocal TMNT fans there are out there in the interwebs are really not the ones they should be listening to.

[plastroncafe]

One of my favorite videos regarding copyright.

Unless they're sold, Viacom won't lose the rights to TMNT until they fall into the public domain.