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April 29, 2008

Oh. My. God. Marvel Moves To Shut Down Our Iron Man Screening

Michael Arrington

235 comments »

Marvel has sent us a cease and desist letter demanding that we cancel the Iron Man event tomorrow at the AMC Metreon in San Francisco. We are not canceling the event yet - stay tuned as our lawyers work this out.

Just to be clear, we paid the full ticket price for every seat and are fully authorized to do this. This is unbelievable and stupid in so many ways, and goes right to the top of the list of moronic legal moves against us. And he even ends the note with a “please don’t print” message.

Update: Just spoke to Althoff. He’s serious. And threatening lots of further action. He mentioned “public safety.”

Update 2: Just for the record, we began the whole process by calling the group sales phone number on the official Iron Man movie site, and worked directly with Paramount on the screening.

Update 3: As of right now, AMC is telling Marvel where to stick it, and the show is still on. More in the morning.

Update 4: Goodness prevails. Event is ON.

  • Sphere It

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 29th, 2008 at 5:28 pm and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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Comments

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  1. Vinay

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:30 pm

    I don’t think today is April 1st? Its end of April !! April 30th 2008… let me wait to see the comments from people who purchased the tickets :) !

    Cheers!

  2. Chris Saad

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:30 pm

    What is the deal with these C&D. Surely there’s a better way of doing business.

  3. Mazy Kazerooni

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:30 pm

    This is ridiculous.

  4. Christian Flickinger

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:31 pm

    FAIL.

  5. TheNerd

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:31 pm

    unbelievable is right :S

  6. Chacha102

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:32 pm

    The Title fits the content

  7. Mark Hendrickson

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:32 pm

    Think Green - Save Paper - Think before you print!

  8. Stu Andrews

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:32 pm

    Wow. Marvel wrote to you! Awesome. And bad : ).

    Hope you can still screen it.

  9. Chris Thomson

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:32 pm

    Wow, this should be interesting to see how it turns out… Good luck Michael. :-)

  10. Elias Bizannes

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:33 pm

    I’m seeing so many of these of late, I feel like the lawyers must be bored.

  11. Dave C

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:33 pm

    Hulk smash puny cease & desist.

  12. rashmi

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:34 pm

    Unbelievable. You are buying tickets for 600 people for the movie, giving Iron Man so much coverage and this is the reaction? The only way I am watching that movie is if the showing tomorrow happens as planned.

  13. Jeremy Toeman

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:34 pm

    I’d actually have thought the theater would be more driven to cause a ruckus than Marvel… Another example of lawyers making the world a far better place.

  14. Brian Carter

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:34 pm

    Wonder if he’s looking for more PR by spoofing you in this way? This could bring Iron Man a lot more attention. Sure hope he understands the implications this negative PR could have for him tho.

  15. Mike Butcher

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:35 pm

    And I thought we had a lot of dumb lawyers in the UK…

  16. Vinay

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:36 pm

    @#10, LOL! Lets hope he doesn’t see your comment here and Arrington would receive yet another email asking to pull this link down :D ?

  17. Sean Blake

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:36 pm

    Crazy, you would think they would learn by now the way to handle these situations.

  18. Cliff

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:36 pm

    You left the phone number in the confidentiality notice, but censored it in the signature. :)

  19. angela

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:36 pm

    ….i saw some earlier posts wondering why spontaneous fun things like the iron man screening don’t happen in nyc. this is why…coming from an ex-new yorker now in SF. how dumb!

  20. Andrew

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:37 pm

    I think as a fuck you to Marvel you should post a torrent link to download Iron Man

  21. Andrew

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:37 pm

    Michael,

    You get the last laugh - that letter prob cost Marvel $300.

    If they don’t mind spending that money mindlessly, instead of giving it to a Children’s Hospital or something, then why should you?

    -Andrew

  22. Andrew

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:38 pm

    Or you can sue them. Think of the exposure for techcrunch:

    -All blogs will cover it
    -It’ll make the front page of every social network since it has the whole little guy stands up for other little guys
    -Who knows real news might even cover it

  23. Chacha102

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:38 pm

    21 Comments: 6 minutes.. Record

  24. Anthony

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:39 pm

    You have got to be kidding me. Just when I was so amped to watch this movie, suddenly I don’t feel like it anymore. What a bunch of snotty nosed asshole lawyers.

    Meeeeehhhhhhh….

  25. Lucia

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:40 pm

    I love that he signed his email “very truly yours”

  26. angela

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:40 pm

    NOW you should broadcast it cinema paradiso style.

  27. Alaska Miller

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:40 pm

    Depends. Is the pre-screen being conducted by Metreon (is it still Sony?) or by TechCrunch? What assurances are there to make sure the people attending aren’t going to record the movie, upload it, and subvert Marvel/Paramount? From their point of view they’re just protecting their IP.

    I hope there’s a lol-er fight.

  28. Jeff the Great

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:41 pm

    I love his sign off: “very truly yours,”

  29. Matt Schlicht

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:42 pm

    If we can’t watch it - we’re acting it out.

  30. David Hallowell

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:43 pm

    Wooooooow.

  31. TrishaLyn Fawver

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:43 pm

    I fail to see how it’s legal for them to shut the event down if you bought & paid full price for every ticket.

    I wonder if they contacted the Metreon as well since they can get in as much trouble for agreeing to host the event since the procurement of the film is in THEIR hands as you can for hosting it.

  32. Chris W.

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:44 pm

    I declare an immediate boycott on all Marvel purchases… Oh wait, I’m not 12 anymore so that won’t be a problem.

  33. Bill Brister

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:44 pm

    This is exactly the mentality of both the Movie and Music industry … technology = BAD … instead of using this for their advantage and benefit, they want to kill it quickly.

    I would send them a C&D for harassment! If I did not live in Florida - I would be there with you.

  34. jonathan zoomer

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:44 pm

    It continues to blow my mind how many ostensibly cool brands inevitably end up just being run by their lawyers….often down very uncool paths. Considering all the major decisions they make, house counsel should be the highest-paid bunch of employees at most brands.

    I get that IP law is incredibly valuable as an incentive to spur innovation, but omg it can be such a pain.

  35. Nick Gonzalez

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:44 pm

    Do they teach reading in law school or just writing C&D letters?

    Buying one movie ticket is legal.

    Buying many tickets is a crime.

  36. Wiliam

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:44 pm

    uhh, sounds like some lawyers have their panties in a wad. if you’ve paid for all tickets, like you said, WHAT THE FUCK GIVES THEM THE RIGHT TO TELL YOU WANT TO DO WITH THE TICKETS!? this reminds me of the assholes called the NFL that tried to prevent superbowl watching parties on large screens.

  37. Fiona

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:45 pm

    L for lawyers, L for losers. Is this the way to anti-viral your marketing or what?

  38. Allen Stern

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:45 pm

    Man that blows. at the startup happy event tonight i was saying how great i thought this idea was. i love how he spells “wavier”. You should get Erick to go over to his office on 5th ave and take care of the business.

  39. San

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:45 pm

    You should un-censor the email address, so we can contact him directly.

    Bloody lawyers. Wankers.

  40. David Althoff

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:45 pm

    It has come to my attention that our trademarked name “Iron Man” has been posted numerous times on your website.

    Please remove immediately all instances of “Iron Man” from your website, as you have not been authorized to use our trademark in this manner.

    Very truly yours,

    “Big Dave” AKA “The Davinator”

  41. Martin Jamieson

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:47 pm

    HaHa, Does that mean Marvel wants everyone to go and watch the movie alone? Aren’t we allowed to ask friends to come and watch it with us.

    Or is this Marvel’s attempt at embracing the Torrent community? Sending C&D’s to people going to watch their movie in the Cinema. You should have known better Mike, beers at your place would have been much more appropriate it seems :)

  42. Tim G

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:47 pm

    Dave C - Hulk smash puny cease & desist… perfect comment

  43. Charlie Key

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:48 pm

    I don’t like that is is happening, but doesn’t Marvel have rules about pre-screeners. I understand that Mike is just trying to give back but why are you surprised that a company wants to the keep the movie private until it is actually released to the public.

  44. Jeff the Great

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:48 pm

    646-742-6648

  45. Michael @ qik

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:49 pm

    Hmm, so I guess equipping random attendees with Qik cameras would be out of the question :) darn…

  46. Michael Arrington

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:50 pm

    charles - see update 2 above.

  47. Chuck Freedman

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:50 pm

    The best way to promote your movie, coming out during the first week of GTA IV’s release (yes, video games DO impact movie attendance), is not to piss off so many of the fans that would potentially rave about the movie to others.

  48. Chris W.

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:50 pm

    it’s 6848… I just called and he answered.

  49. Charlie Key

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:52 pm

    My apologies then Michael. Sucks.

  50. Keith Teare

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:52 pm

    So, this means one of 2 things.

    1. The movie sucks, and they don’t want 650 bloggers writing that 2 days before general release.

    2. The movie doesn’t suck and they have no idea what 650 positive reviews can do for their box office…. so their PR/legal/marketing people suck.

    I suggest a poll with these 2 choices.

    Keith Teare

  51. Juan Saldivar

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:53 pm

    Maybe because they don’t want spoilers Mike, they don’t want to lose audience, and take in mind the internet make information travel at light speed.

  52. Andrew

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:53 pm

    you just cost Marvel another $200 in phone calls.

    I guess ‘the public’ needs legally re-defining for blog readers…I guess it wouldn’t be true if techcrunch was a subscription service.

  53. MG Siegler

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:55 pm

    Countdown to Bitchmeme in 5…4…3…

  54. Charlie Key

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:56 pm

    I mean it does suck for 600 people. But really you are all a bunch of cry babies. You seriously are pissed because they said 600 people couldn’t see the movie 2 days ahead of time.

  55. Vinay

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:57 pm

    @#49… Good Take!

    I was wondering what would have happened if you have left the e-mail un-noticed or had it gone to SPAM :) ?

  56. dan

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:57 pm

    Did you agree to any special terms and conditions when you bought the tickets? I don’t see how they have a leg to stand on unless there was some tiny hidden copy that you agreed to inadvertently.

  57. jet

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:57 pm

    This must be a Marvel publicity stunt…a la Miley Cyrus

  58. Banyú

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:57 pm

    #28: me too.

    They are focused to children, it’s clear with this kind of threats: just work with kids.

  59. Vinay

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:58 pm

    Opps It was #50.. and not 49 as I ha previously referred!

  60. Yaser Anwar

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:59 pm

    This is absurd! Two days before the movie goes public, what more could they wish for than a top notch site like Tech Crunch doing a giveaway and bearing the necessary costs?

    Can’t believe this.

  61. Mazy Kazerooni

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:00 pm

    @Charlie Key

    It’s not about seeing the movie early. It’s about Mike throwing a fun event for his community. He’s trying to do something really cool and positive, and Marvel’s lawyers are shitting all over it.

  62. Ben Metcalfe

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:00 pm

    Oh, it’s the “remove the publicity photo of Ashton Kutcher” escapade all over again.

    To be honest, Mike, I’m surprised (in a good way) to learn you actually paid for the tickets. I assumed it was a free screening by the film’s PR team, to get bloggers interested.

    Even if you get this resolved, who wants to go watch the film now anyway? I suggest changing the screening to something else (by a different distributor) in protest.

  63. Philip Kaplan

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:00 pm

    They are very stupid.

  64. John Wooton

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:01 pm

    Are you kidding me?!? I wasn’t going to the pre-screening because I’m in the midwest, but that is absolutely ridiculous.

    It makes you want to boycott the movie!

  65. Karen

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:02 pm

    Wow. Amazing..

    @jet : a la Miley Cyrus… soon to be classic.
    @Keith Teare : I want a poll too…

  66. Shannon Clark

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:03 pm

    Of possible interest is the odd fact that the US is one of the last countries to get a release of Iron Man (according to IMDB it has release dates of April 30 in much of the world, May 1st in most other countries, and only a small handful of countries such as the US on May 2nd.

    I’m actually kinda surprised - many action/comic book films of late have had Wednesday releases (to in part I think maximize the opening weekend take).

    In any case whether this was a pre-release or post-release event I think it is beyond crazy for Marvel to stop 600 passionate fans from seeing the movie together (I would have gone to the TC screening even if tickets were $10/whatever full price is a person not $1 just for the sheer fun of seeing this year’s geek film with a full theater of fellow geeks!) Well worth it.

    And yes, it is not unlikely I would have twittered (have in fact) that I was attending, probably would have written a blog post and likely given my feedback (which given I’m likely to like this film based on everything I know about it is likely to be positive)

    Hope this can be resolved!

    Shannon

  67. David Ulevitch

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:03 pm

    Keith is right. They are afraid of what the bloggers might say about the movie… :-)

  68. Robert Seidman

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:03 pm

    Charlie, I’m not going to the movie so I’m not crying — but that doesn’t mean the Marvel People aren’t a complete bunch of chuckleheads. I mean think about it: hundreds of thousands if not over a million people very likely in the target demographic for the movie were seeing FREE promotion for the movie (they should’ve GIVEN Mike the 600 tickets).

    The only think I can come up with for them not being a bunch of chuckleheads is if the movie totally sucks and they already know that. I could see how a post about the event with a zillion comments about how the movie sucked wouldn’t be great for Marvel.

  69. Robert Scoble

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:04 pm

    It’s spreading through Twitter and FriendFeed. Dumb.

  70. Charlie Key

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:05 pm

    @Mazy Kazerooni

    No its about the blogosphere having something to bitch about. I mean its been a couple days since they have had something fun to whine about. My point is it really something to get so worked up over. Yes a mistake on Marvel’s part, but not something to declare war against Marvel for. Get over it and move on.

    “Sometime you get the bear, and sometimes the bear (lawyer) gets you.”

  71. Need A Lawyer?

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:05 pm

    I think we should definitely let Dave and Marvel know that this is bad form. What a perfect positive PR moment turned into garbage. I just went from “Wow! What a great way to promote the movie and target the tech community” to “Loser Company. Not necessary to see this movie.”

  72. dan

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:05 pm

    stupid question, but is anyone digging this?

  73. Comical

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:06 pm

    hey michael, jim breyer from accel is on the board of marvel - maybe you should boycott coverage of accel investments for a bit (including thefacebook.com)…

  74. Dave Donohue

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:07 pm

    If Marvel’s PR team has any sense at all, they’ll intervene to stop this. I’m curious to see how fast they learn about this and whether it’s via Twitter, phone, etc. - I wonder if any are TechCrunch readers?

  75. anon

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:07 pm

    Oh well, I guess the movie sucks. Seriously though, was anyone really stoked to see Robert Downey Jr. kill Taliban? America… fuck yeah.

  76. David Althoff

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:08 pm

    Please don’t call me at 646.742.6848

  77. Duncan Riley

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:12 pm

    insanity hits a new high point.

  78. Rob Mowery

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:12 pm

    Totally lame on the part of some under worked marvel attorney with too much time on his hands and needing a way to find billable hours.

    Perhaps a “Do Not Go To Opening Night” campaign can start and see how fast the message can get passed to bloggers and twitters everywhere. Thus putting a real dent in opening sales. It would be an interesting social media experiment.

    I would now rather spend my money and go see the new SpeedRacer!

    I am wondering if the word choice had been - “lets all meet at ….. to watch Iron Man”, instead of calling it a screening or having the tickets link would have still solicited such a response from Marvel?

  79. Charles Lawrence

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:14 pm

    Welp, I work 1 block from the Metreon and already paid the $1 for the movie. I will be standing outside the theater tomorrow night come hell or high water. Pardon my language, but this is the exemplary behavior of a variety of individuals collectively known as “ass bags”.

    I would also make a proposal that if Mike & Co. have to shut down the event they paid for, all of us who bought tickets need to show up on Friday night and let all the happy moviegoers know exactly what’s going on.

  80. David Althoff

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:14 pm

    Any and all emails to me from your readers at David.Althoff@marvel.com will result in your company being fine $1000 per email.

  81. Need A Lawyer?

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:16 pm

    And if you email me at dalthoff@marvel.com - please don’t print it… think green.

  82. David Althoff

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:16 pm

    You’re all “fine”! Please don’t complain about me. It hurts my feelings: General phone number, Marvel Entertainment, Inc.: 212-576-4000

  83. APer3Caper

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:18 pm

    Hey guys! I think I found David Althoff’s LinkedIn Profile. http://www.linkedin.com/pub/5/9a8/704

  84. -=apostle=-

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:18 pm

    This is one of the most boneheaded things I’ve seen in a while. Dave Althoff isn’t too bright, is he?

  85. Jason Coleman

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:18 pm

    I was thinking like Keith and Co. that this is a sure sign that the movie sucks. Same reason they got upset about the torrents of The Hulk.

    However, the Rotten Tomatoes scores are very positive so far:
    http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/iron_man/

    And I’m a sucker for comic book movies, so I’ll be sure to check this one out Friday.

  86. Howard Greenstein

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:19 pm

    Imagine the headline, “Marvel Comics pisses off core audience.” Or don’t imagine:
    http://howardgreenstein.com/bl.....ience.html

  87. AW

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:19 pm

    TechCrunch doesn’t have a timestamp of when they post, but going off the first comment it’s been less than an hour since this went up and the drama started.

    I say give Marvel PR about two hours to act on this / be alerted by postings on Twitter.

  88. Wil Schroter

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:20 pm

    Mike - same thing happened to me when I rented out the theatre for the opening of the Phantom Menace. I shot you an email to detail how we worked it out with Lucas’s people. Hope that helps.

  89. chad

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:20 pm

    wonder what color spandex their lawyers wear?

  90. atom

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:21 pm

    This is about to become the most pirated movie of all time.

  91. burbank veteran

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:22 pm

    I worked in the movie industry for 15 years, 10 of which was inside the studio lots. Yes, These people are paranoid about new movies being seen prior to the official release dates, i.e., their paranoia is not directed at you.

    My guess is that the “Group Sales” people made a mistake of selling you tickets for 4/30, 2 days before the official opening day. They probably thought they booked you in for Wednesday next week, 5/7 (?). I seriously doubt the theater even has the prints of “Iron Man” in their projection booth on 4/30.

  92. Loic

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:22 pm

    David (@80), how do you know it comes from a techcrunch’s reader ?
    Simple advise David, just stay silent until next week. By talking you make it even worse.

  93. Michael Arrington

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:23 pm

    will - thanks. did it involve knives?

  94. -=apostle=-

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:23 pm

    Lol, #83 his LinkedIn profile makes him look like a very JR. level associate there. He’s been in media less than a year. I wouldn’t worry about this kid at all.

  95. John Wooton

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:23 pm

    This has to be some record on the number of comments in the shortest amount of time…

  96. chad

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:23 pm

    @#83 too funny, he’s only been a lawyer for 4 years and has 26 connections - not exactly the legal braintrust of Marvel is he?

  97. Alan Smithee

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:23 pm

    HILARIOUS.

    David Althoff just pissed off the wrong group of people. What a bozo.

    Can’t wait to see this one make the rounds down here in LaLaLand on the agency assistant email….

    CLASSIC.

  98. mrogi

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:23 pm

    You cannot invite a bunch of people to a screener of Iron Man without permission of Marvel. What if your invited guests are a bunch of douchebags who bring camcorders to the screening? Marvel has every legal right to issue a cease and desist.

  99. David Assoff

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:24 pm

    David Assoff, can you please stop being an a**hole

  100. Loic

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:26 pm

    Is it just me or the web page http://ironmanmovie.marvel.com/groupsales/ has been removed ?

  101. Peter Gray

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:27 pm

    LOVE the ‘very truly yours’ signoff

  102. CD

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:27 pm

    @Loic, its just you

  103. D'Artagnan

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:27 pm

    It’s meaningless noise. Ignore the cnd, represent yourself in court and just move for summary dismissal. You’ll be fine.

  104. The Real Dvorak

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:29 pm

    That is totally insane, but not surprising at all. I give it 10 or 20 years before bigger companies like this finally get it. Morons.

  105. Elmer

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:29 pm

    This is hilarious. Mike, do you think you are above the law? I know you have a rep as arrogant, but are you shocked or is this just a publicity stunt?

  106. AW

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:30 pm

    #100: The site is entirely Flash based.

    I suppose handicapped people don’t watch movies anyway.

  107. Loic

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:30 pm

    Thanks CD, I guess my FF3Beta5 does not like marvel website either…

  108. Comical

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:30 pm

    not to appear too sympathetic to “public safety” Dave but he is only four years out of law school (’04 Yeshiva, according to linkedin) and as assoc. counsel is really just an order taker - go after joshua silverman or seth lehman (both listed as assoc. general counsels on linkedin) if you want to get a little higher up the legal food chain at marvel…

  109. Nathan Gilliatt

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:32 pm

    I guess the Onion was right. It’s all about the trailer.

    http://www.theonion.com/conten.....ed_video_2

    “Controversy is sweeping the fan community today, following the announcement that Paramount Pictures is planning to adapt the beloved trailer into a feature-length motion picture.”

    It’ll be in the $1 video machine soon enough.

  110. Fluter

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:33 pm

    Immortalized - http://www.callferret.com/646-742-6848.html

  111. Mazy Kazerooni

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:35 pm

    @mrogi I’m pretty sure the movie theater deals with not letting douches with camcorders in…

  112. jon

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:36 pm

    they totally messed with the wrong person / group of people.

  113. chad

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:37 pm

    3 days until the movie opens and if you do a Summize search for “Marvel” all you get is this story. If only they knew….

  114. Japanese whisky

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:41 pm

    A “wavier”! What is a “wavier”? Sounds like a new type of wavier waffle (patent pending). Are you sure this is not some sort of con job. Legal counsels are supposed to be able to spell legal words.

  115. F. Lee Bailey

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:41 pm

    Nice job David Jackoff! I’m sure your wife is proud of you this evening. Tell her you made a splash at work today.

    Sincerely,

    F. Lee Bailey

  116. alex

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:42 pm

    Sick and ridiculous. No interest in seeing the movie, sorry. Too much of a bad taste in my mouth.

  117. Strange

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:42 pm

    Someone please Twitter Marvel.

  118. Siobhan

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:43 pm

    That doesn’t surprise me at all. Marvel legal team is among the dumbest and most litigious brands out there, even by entertainment standards. Ask anyone who’s worked with their brands before and they’ll tell you, their legal was always the utmost worst. The slowest, certainly, putting every production deadline in jeopardy, because clearly they couldn’t be bothered to respect anyone else’s work or planning that went into MAKING THEM MORE MONEY, for crying out loud. They were also the rudest, nastiest legal team I’ve ever worked with.

  119. Tom B

    April 29th, 2008 at 6:45 pm

    Mr. Althoff is interesting. 30 years old, job-hopping his way up the ladder, a couple of years at Random House, a couple more at at Kate Spade and for the last few months, at Marvel. Here’s how to contact him if you want to let him know what you think of this:

    e-mail: dalthoff@marvel.com
    phone: 646-742-6648
    LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/5/9a8/704

    You might also contact Mr. Ira Rubenstein, who just joined Marvel Entertainment this month as Executive Vice President, to voice your displeasure. Ira describes his new position as follow