SONY MAKE BELIEVE was STOLEN from me! SONY STOLE MY 'INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY'. Sony's advertising department stole something from me, without recognition or acknowledgement, and without payment. I was the English guy who invented the phrase ‘Sony Make Believe’. I do not work for Sony, and I have no connection with Sony. I was a teacher in the UK (now retired) who used to come up with ideas like this at home and occasionally comes up with bright ideas for logos, slogans etc, to promote creativity in my Design teaching with 15 and 16 year old Graphic Design pupils, to encourage them to think ‘outside the box’. ‘Sony Make Believe’ is an idea I had which I discussed many times with my pupils BEFORE I sent my offer to Sony, and also during the years since I invented it. I really was the person who came up with this tagline / slogan and sent it to Sony’s advertising department. I own the copyright to the addition of the words ‘Make Believe’ to the word ‘Sony’ as an advertising slogan. ‘Sony Make Believe….’ was a play on words, which, coloquially spoken, sounds like ‘It’s only Make Believe…’. In the UK, parents will recognise this as a phrase which they will have used with their younger children after watching scary television programs. I felt that it was a good tagline for such a fantastic company producing high quality AV equipment. When I sent it to Sony, I offered them the rights to the slogan for 100 UK pounds. They never responded, but about a year later they started using it as their global marketing campaign. They simply put a dot in it, to make the phrase ‘Sony Make.Believe’, made a big deal about the DOT representing ‘Sony’ and somehow relating it to the internet… So it is VERY slightly different. I am SURE that a court would find in MY favour about this being MY intellectual property. If Sony delved deep enough into their records, they will find the evidence of my contact. I told them that if they paid me what I asked for the UK copyright, I would put the money into my school’s funds for my pupils’ benefit. I was sure that the Sony corporation was unaware that one of its employees had conveniently 'forgotten' to tell them where the idea came from, and were unaware of its origin. But someone in the Advertising department DID know and put Sony’s reputation at risk by not doing the right thing here. Corporate theft is plain and simple theft. I was just a guy who had an idea. If you’ve ever tried to get in touch with a company or their Head Office, you will know how difficult it actually is to make contact with the top people. But it IS difficult, and the chain of communication may be difficult for Sony to trace. But trace it they should. This does sound a bit like the story of David and Goliath. But this short story is actually about one employee who didn’t ‘do the right thing’ and passed off my work as their own, probably to gain prestige and promotion, and about an internationally renowned company who ought to now feel a little embarrassed, rather than trying to bring the might of the legal establishment down on this claimant’s head. We were talking of 100 UK pounds contribution to a school’s Funds here, not industrial sabotage. That 100 UK pounds would have been accepted as a gesture of goodwill. It wouldn’t even have paid for one of Sony’s lawyers to write me one single letter. And funnily enough, the motto of my school was ‘Tenez le Droit’ or ‘Do the Right Thing’. Sony never paid up, and what is more, by the time I reached the Head of Sony (UK) his secretary stopped me getting any closer. So I decided that because I had nothing to lose, whenever there was anyone to listen, I would tell the story, in person or on the internet.
I wonder if anyone can access any of the email trail in question? Wouldn't that just be poetic justice!
If Sony are listening, my email address at the time that I contacted them was ictmanager@hotmail.com, so I have no hesitation in giving it here. As I have now retired from teaching, I have dispensed with that email address and I now use dmb1253@hotmail.com.
C'mon, Sony, do the right thing. Only the price for the rights to my slogan now I have completed my teaching career is now £650,000, to be paid to me privately, and which I have been advised is a drop in the ocean for such a widely used tagline.
