Cost of Confusion
'Me too' toys crimp the industry's creativity
By Randall Horn -- Gifts and Dec, 6/1/2009 12:00:00 AM
I created the first Zobmondo!! "Would You Rather" Game back when I was in business school. Instead of taking a high paying corporate job, I decided to try my hand at the entrepreneurial dream and started Zobmondo!! Entertainment to market and distribute my game to retailers.
I showed up at the 1998 Toy Fair with 5,000 copies, pre-printed and ready to sell. That year, I personally made nearly 5,000 phone calls to independent toy and game shops around the country from the bedroom of my apartment. If a store wouldn't buy a full case of six games, I'd sell them three—or sometimes just one. I was my only employee for 8 years.
More than a decade later, at this year's Toy Fair, I had people coming up to me asking me about the new "Would You Rather" game that was prominently displayed in another company's booth. I even had an experienced game inventor ask me, "Did you see the new "Would You Rather" game? Does that company have a licensing deal with Zobmonodo!!?"
The answer to both questions is no, but the fact that people asked made me reflect on the impact of this type of behavior on the toy and game industry.
Stifling small toymakers
Whether legal or not, confusingly similar toy and game products hurt our industry because they cannibalize each other. And a small company which finds its product splitting sales with another confusingly similar product may find itself quickly out of business.
The entrepreneur takes huge risk and puts in years of commitment for the chance that it might eventually pay off. If this already slim chance of eventual success is reduced because another company launches a confusingly similar product, then what incentive does the entrepreneur have to try in the first place? This is especially an issue since most inventors and entrepreneurs don't have the financial means to defend their rights legally. It creates an environment where fewer and fewer entrepreneurs are willing to take the risk because they know that other companies can—and will—just come in and launch products to profit from the goodwill that they have built over years and years of effort.
This leads to a vicious downward spiral that leads to fewer entrepreneurial and small toy companies, which in turn results in fewer places for the inventor to pitch ideas and, eventually, fewer toy and game inventors, fewer new ideas, and fewer innovative toy and game products actually making it to market. That hurts us all—big company and small company alike.
We as an industry need to reject this practice. It hurts our business because it squelches the innovation that is so critical to even the largest companies. Buyers, manufacturers, consumers, inventors and industry professionals must say "enough is enough."
In the meantime, Zobmondo!! Entertainment will continue to pursue all legal action as necessary to protect the goodwill we have developed over the past 10 years in the toy industry with our games.
We would love your feedback!
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