Once again proving that no good deed goes unpunished, those stupid dogs at Universal Studios are biting the fans that feed it. Universal has sicced its lawyers on Firefly fans demanding that they stop promoting the show and even retroactively billing them for licensing fees.
Now I don’t have a problem with a company protecting its property and trademarks, but handling your fans/customers in such a tactless fashion is not a way to encourage future sales. If some fan is selling unlicensed t-shirts, for example, there are better ways of handling it than releasing the hounds of law. But since the lawyers get paid regardless of the ill-will and bad PR they generate, then they have no incentive to help matters.
I’ve never watched a complete episode of Firefly, but I’ve heard it was a good show. It’s too bad the studio isn’t using the fan support they seem to be hell bent on crushing, to instead build Firefly into one of the great money making franchises like Star Trek and Star Wars are for their owners. There’s no secret to making money, you have to find/make something and sell it to a lot of people. Universal Studios has the something, and there seem to be a lot of people interested in it. So what’s their problem?