EEVblog #59 - Back to the Future Flux Capacitor T-Shirt Tanty

Dave goes nuts over NBC Universal Pictures pulling his Flux Capacitor T-Shirt designs from Zazzle.

BTTF fans will be able to count all the movie references!

[dasdew]

I think this is the first time I've seen any calculus on the EEVblog, and it has Dave insulting lawyers, quoting old movie lines and telling nbc to kiss his "arse".
I love this guy.

[joe]

Copyright doesn't cover "ideas", as much as some corporations would like you to think.

[EEVblog]

The whiteboard is a joke from the movie.
There are half a dozen references to the film in the video, but I suspect most people didn't get them, you have to be a fan.

[TheOneToxic]

for an electronic engineer your arms are fucking huge :O

[ForViewingOnly]

Good to see that the T-shirts are still on the Zazzle site, so Dave must have stuck it to The Man (although they are now called "Fluxgate Condenser" T-Shirts).

[OQP]

Besides, this 'flux capacitor' is not a device that really exists or has any commercial potential.So this must be about NBC wanting to retain the sole capacity to market such t-shirts, themselves.

[Tutoelectro]

Good one Dave, I hope you get a response from them haha.

[BTTFBMW]

Fight the good fight, Dave!! I've been toying with the idea of making T-shirts bearing the image of Griff's BMW, WHICH I CURRENTLY OWN.. to sell, but not putting the title of the movie in it.. I wonder what NBC/Universal would do.

[Afrotechmods]

Alright then, find a competitor to Zazzle who does the same thing, sell the flux capacitor T shirts through them, and sell a new shirt that says "fuck NBC" as well.

[EEVblog]

My shirt does not say Flux Capacitor, it says Flux Compression

[misium]

Willingly or not, most of us live with a copyright system that gives a monopoly for up to ~200 years. That is the main problem. Copyright terms should be shortened to the much more reasonable 20 years or so, as it was originally.
If you see something that you like, tell everybody how much you like it and thus help promoting it for free, you don't even get the right to sell t-shirts with a small part of it long after it stopped being a source of income for the copyright owners.

[EEVblog]

@TheOneToxic Little known fact, I am a qualified fitness trainer too...

[Joru]

@EEVblog I had you figured for a gym rat of some sort. I do work out myself, thumbs up for more fit engineers out there!

[philbx]

Good fun stuff Dave! Your video with great movie moments that is.
Not so fun is the sad story of the 'legal chimps'. The analogy is because these types swing around websites hurling their crap
at innocent people.
BTW, You've probably seen the SPARC Cease and Desist letter to Sparkfun.
Too bad lawyers etc. are a self-protected species as I for one would like to see culling introduced :-)

[joe]

@SickKidsProductions There is no trademark on Flux Capacitor, at least in the USA, and you cannot copyright a single word or short phrase.

[BarriosGroupie]

Only Back to the Future used the phrase "fulx capacitor" and so it is connected with the film. It's like taking the title of a book and mershandising it

[LoneTech]

Copyright can cover collections of words, yes, but NOT something as short as "flux capacitor" (built from preexisting words). That could have been trademarked, but not copyrighted.

[jippenfaddoul]

Not sure how the laws are in Austrailia, or where Zazzle is based, but in the US, a lot of this stems from the DMCA. Ask Zazzle what jurisdiction this falls under, and if its US, file a DMCA counter-notification citing fair use of copyright. If not, check your local laws, as most countries have fair use statutes in copywrite law.

[williefleete]

i fricken love those movies, kudos mate

[SeamusMcNeil]

Nice one mate. Let's see if you get any response from them.
Cheers
Jim