Anyone who knows anything about the cult series Firefly knows Jayne Cobb. Anyone who knows Jayne Cobb knows that in the episode ‘The Message’ Jayne is revealed to be sending money earned by his mercenary activities home to his mother, so she could care for a sick child named Mattie. In the same episode, he proudly sported an orange and yellow knit cap with earflaps and an orange pom-pom. Yeah, a tuque, eh? He wore it because his mother made it for him, to “keep him warm” as he traveled through space. Jayne thought the hat was quite stylin, though his fellow shipmates gently mocked him about it. Adam Baldwin, who played Cobb, auctioned the original hat for charity, fetching $4,707.57 USD!
Now, like any cult show, geeky dork swag is king. So, to keep the demand at bay, people began knitting hats to sell on ETSY, and sites like THINKGEEK offer replicas. Of course, the home knitted replicas are not officially licensed, and now the FOX network is planning to go after these knitting fools, armed with lawyers and seeking damages. Because, you know, they deserve some compensation for cancelling Firefly when it was just starting to earn respectable numbers, so they could fill the space with ‘American Eyesore’ or some damn reality show. It seems a company named Ripple Junction bought the licensing rights to sell the hat, and they don’t want none of them die-hard fans who knit to edge them out.
Not surprisingly, the Browncoats are pissed. All over the internet, virtual pitchforks were drawn, and 64 bit torches lit to go after these monsters!
Well, I’m sure FOX figures they didn’t anger any real viewer numbers, like the American Idol zombies, so what do they care, right? Perhaps Ripple Junction might be a bit more worried.
We will see…