Dr Luke McDonagh Quoted in The New York Times on Intellectual Property and Merchandising

Dr Luke McDonagh was quoted in a recent New York Times article: "A Labubu Movie Is Coming, the Latest to Bring a Toy to the Big Screen”.

Dr McDonagh discussed the phenomenon of creating film spin-offs from popular toys, such as Lego and Barbie. This is an inversion of the previous commercial entertainment model, in which the development of a creative copyright work, such as a movie (e.g. "Star Wars"), led to character merchandising and toy sales enabled by trademark law. However, where "Star Wars" started as a movie and became a major merchandising success, that model has been turned on its head:

'“Now you come up first with the merchandise and then you retrofit some sort of cinematic universe or some television show around the toys,” said Luke McDonagh, Associate Professor at the London School of Economics who researches intellectual property law. “‘The Lego Movie’ helped break the mould,” Dr. McDonagh said, partly because the toys were already well-loved and well-known among multiple generations... A successful movie could add more legitimacy and popularity to the toys, Dr. McDonagh said. “The idea of a Labubu movie seems like a joke right now, but maybe it will be a creative triumph.”’

The complete article is available here