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Lonnie Johnson Sues Hasbro

Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 9:34 am
by marauder
http://atlanta.cbslocal.com/2013/11/07/ ... 3-million/

If only Lonnie Johnson could take control of Super Soaker again. That is one heck of a lawsuit.

Re: Lonnie Johnson Sues Hasbro

Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 11:35 am
by isoaker
Oh, it's official, huh?

:cool:

Re: Lonnie Johnson Sues Hasbro

Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 11:50 am
by marauder
... so you knew about this unofficially?

Re: Lonnie Johnson Sues Hasbro

Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 12:18 pm
by HBWW
Classic corporate hubris from the likes of Hasbro. After their last few years of running the brand into the ground and suing BBT, I'd expect that they would pull something like this.

Re: Lonnie Johnson Sues Hasbro

Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 3:16 pm
by isoaker
If anything, I wonder if the users of Nerf Super Soaker can sue Hasbro for creating such poorly performing water blasters that are a disgrace to the original Super Soaker name. :goofy:

:cool:

Re: Lonnie Johnson Sues Hasbro

Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 3:41 pm
by DX
Hasbro should try this with the IRS, pay them less than owed and see what happens. I don't know what's worse, how they treat the people who design their products, or how they keep finding new ways to run said products into the ground. As much as the water magazine era lines sucked, at least they looked cool. Now what they want to release sucks and looks awful. I would love it if they just wrapped up the brand and gave it back to Lonnie Johnson. All indications are that Hasbro no longer cares. I didn't know that Johnson is still active out there and also designs Nerf guns, that's pretty cool.

Re: Lonnie Johnson Sues Hasbro

Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 5:53 pm
by the oncoming storm
I was wary at first, I thought it was a rick roll. :goofy:

Re: Lonnie Johnson Sues Hasbro

Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 10:58 pm
by scottthewaterwarrior
When I first herd this, I thought it might be because he was mad they had made the brand so bad! Too bad it wasn't for that reason, but I still feel pride at the fact that Hasbro got sued.

Would be really nice for them to give the brand back to Lonnie Johnson, I do wonder what would happen to BBT if that happened though. Personally I just want SuperSoaker to give up and die, really it is already dead, they just keep electrocuting it (no pun intended). Buzz Bee Toys has done very little to make me mad at them, but Hasbro has done much even going beyond their junky Nerf and SS guns. I really don't want Hasbro to bring SS back, I want Water Warriors to take over where the 90's CPS guns left off.

Re: Lonnie Johnson Sues Hasbro

Posted: Sat Nov 09, 2013 1:31 pm
by HBWW
From what I know of, Johnson gave the design/rights to Larami way back then, and it was done after that. All that probably really matters to him now is that he gets the royalty payments.

Although Hasbro dropping the payments makes sense, because none of their current blasters use any sort of pressure chamber. At this point, it's just a matter of the brand name which is what it has been for the past 5 years or so.

Re: Lonnie Johnson Sues Hasbro

Posted: Mon Nov 11, 2013 3:04 pm
by marauder
^Considering that point, I wonder if Nerf would be willing to drop the "Super Soaker" name in order to avoid paying Lonnie Johnson. Not sure how that would legally work out or if it would even be worth it considering their sales may drop more than the 2% or whatever in revenue they have to pay Johnson.

Re: Lonnie Johnson Sues Hasbro

Posted: Mon Nov 11, 2013 4:41 pm
by HBWW
I think the brand name is the only thing sustaining them at this point. That said, even with the Super Soaker name dropped, they still have the Nerf name behind it all, which would still be sufficient for selling their blasters (at least in the "tacticool" form factor).

Re: Lonnie Johnson Sues Hasbro

Posted: Mon Nov 11, 2013 4:48 pm
by mr. dude
It is possible to start up a lawsuit for low quality products, it's been done before anyway. Why do I know this? Apparently class is helpful after all.

Not sure how it would work in this case, but a clever lawyer can make anything happen.

Re: Lonnie Johnson Sues Hasbro

Posted: Mon Nov 11, 2013 5:39 pm
by HBWW
"Water blaster erroneously marketed as 'high performance.'"

Re: Lonnie Johnson Sues Hasbro

Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2013 8:09 am
by the oncoming storm
it would be epic fail if Hasbro lost a court case to the "irrelevant" WWN fan-base, and I like CA99's direction for one.