The initial fan reaction in 2001 to letting fandom select the "popular" name for the Anthropomorphic Literature & Arts of the Year Awards indicated that they would probably get saddled with a name for some fan-favorite Furry character. The Felix Awards or the Kimba Awards or the Pogo Awards or the Animaniacs Awards, or something similar. We (the ConFurence's Awards Committee, which later became the ALAA) realized that this would create a couple of potential problems.
One, that it would imply that we were supporting a claim that whichever character the Awards were named after was the favorite character of Furry fandom. We did not want the awards to get involved in a "my favorite Furry character is more popular than your favorite Furry character" debate.
Two, and more importantly, these were all the names of copyrighted characters. Technically, we would be required to contact the copyright holder -- the animation studio, or newspaper syndicate, or cartoonist, or cartoonist's estate -- for permission to name the awards after that character. We might get charged an unaffordable licensing fee. We might get refused permission. Even if we used the name without permission, gambling that the awards were so small that they would not be noticed (which was contrary to our hope that the awards would grow until they were meaningful), there was the risk that we might get a cease and desist order from some legal department in the future, forcing us to change the established name of the awards.
It seemed safer and simpler to create an original, non-copyrighted popular name from the beginning.
The initial fan reaction in 2001 to letting fandom select the "popular" name for the Anthropomorphic Literature & Arts of the Year Awards indicated that they would probably get saddled with a name for some fan-favorite Furry character. The Felix Awards or the Kimba Awards or the Pogo Awards or the Animaniacs Awards, or something similar. We (the ConFurence's Awards Committee, which later became the ALAA) realized that this would create a couple of potential problems.
One, that it would imply that we were supporting a claim that whichever character the Awards were named after was the favorite character of Furry fandom. We did not want the awards to get involved in a "my favorite Furry character is more popular than your favorite Furry character" debate.
Two, and more importantly, these were all the names of copyrighted characters. Technically, we would be required to contact the copyright holder -- the animation studio, or newspaper syndicate, or cartoonist, or cartoonist's estate -- for permission to name the awards after that character. We might get charged an unaffordable licensing fee. We might get refused permission. Even if we used the name without permission, gambling that the awards were so small that they would not be noticed (which was contrary to our hope that the awards would grow until they were meaningful), there was the risk that we might get a cease and desist order from some legal department in the future, forcing us to change the established name of the awards.
It seemed safer and simpler to create an original, non-copyrighted popular name from the beginning.
Fred Patten