Acquiring IP license from Tapas anyone knows how it goes?

Akuma 2023-04-19 13:11:49 UTC #1

I was thinking of making figurines for a specific manhwa so I emailed press@tapas.io in which I just get the typical response of "Hello, Thanks for showing interest in Tapas. Our PR correspondent will review your inquiry and reply to you shortly." But I get no reply even a "no we aren't interested". I was wondering if this is a bot response, am I emailing to the wrong email? Has anyone done this, (if you succeeded would you mind telling me how you did it?) Any advice?

darthmongoose 2023-04-19 13:46:36 UTC #2

The Press email is for journalists and similar. It's probably not the place to contact regarding getting the license to make merch.

If it's for a comic that's on Tapas, Tapas may only be licensed to host the webcomic version of it anyway; the rights might still lie with the comic's creator. Your first task should be looking up who has the rights, and then researching the appropriate person to contact. Tapas has a corporate site that lists the staff by their roles, and they also have a LinkedIn page for that info, and if it's made by a comics person, you might be able to find a website or social media page to contact them.

Akuma 2023-04-20 00:53:19 UTC #3

Apologies for the late reply, I tried to email Redice but there's no response and I have tried looking at the artist or author but no response. Which was why I ended up here asking Tapas if I could ask, so I guest the best option would be to go to LinkedIn page and look for an appropriate email corresponding to their department in Tapas?

Katzalcoatl 2023-04-20 01:19:38 UTC #4

Many of the times you need a specific contact to reach the person who can grant you permission. Big company contacts available to the public are more like general support or PR groups that may look at your resume.

When you contact those mails you don't really get a response outside the typical "this mail is for support only I can't tell you that information". This means you need to know such contacts beforehand but they are not available to the public since it is private information.

If you can find the author's social media you might get some sort of response but I still doubt it will be easy to establish some sort of contact if they aren't active. Wish you the best of luck.

Akuma 2023-04-20 05:29:04 UTC #5

I thought of that too, people stated it might be best to hire an IP lawyer. Which would cost $8000 with an additional of $400 if you want a written contract, this just for the acquisition of license. (Which isn't even guaranteed if you'd get the license or not). So I bothered some companies who have done it and they have stated that it's better if you could find a way to get around the lawyer part as some tend to drag it out and it's weirdly enough not a requirement (granted they are a japanese figurine manufacturer and I'm asking for a korean license). I tried messaging the CEO on one other company not a tapas exclusive in which I was told that she didn't have the power to green light it. Which leads to me think only distributors like Tapas, Webtoon, Lezhin, Toomics, etc gives the green light. So it's pretty rough honestly, hey at least it would be great if they stated "this mail is for support only I can't tell you that information". But I get no response at all, when I email studios. Thoughts or advice?

darthmongoose 2023-04-20 05:36:04 UTC #6

Actually... Question: Do you have an existing business selling figurines? Can you show us your website or social media profiles for that business?

Katzalcoatl 2023-04-20 06:40:32 UTC #7

If you have a figure selling business attaching images and your business card might help. I don't think you need a lawyer until you need to sign the contract to get the IP license. As for who has the rights, if the manhwa doesn't say "Tapas Exclusive" then they don't have the rights.

They are only allowed to distribute the manhwa. All stories have an author tagued or mentioned in the credits.

I still beleive you will have better luck trying to find said author and asking them directly who has the IP of the series/characters. After all an author always knows if they kept the IP or if they sold such rights (not always some authors don't read their contracts until its too late).

Akuma 2023-04-20 08:57:07 UTC #8

We did, but there's no response from Redice and I just get the typical what seems like a bot response from Tapas. Granted it seems to be a press email so my bad on that. But it's a tapas exclusive manhwa from redice studio so I was wondering if there's a way to contact them as redice isn't really responding whether I email in korean or in english which leads me to tapas as the only source.

Akuma 2023-04-20 08:59:23 UTC #9

We're a startup so in terms of experience in selling figurines we have none. With regards to creating 3D figurines we have experience since we made the models and it sold. It's just that some of us left the company and decided to start a different type of 3d figurine manufacturer company.

Akuma 2023-04-20 09:01:21 UTC #10

darthmongoose 2023-04-20 09:23:37 UTC #11

Okay, well, that's probably the problem then. Get a website. It doesn't need to be complicated, but just something that looks professional, shows your company logo, examples of what you make, lists a business address and links to social media accounts.

Make sure you have appropriate [name]@[businessname].com email addresses to email from, with email footers with your logo, links to the site and stuff. Have a linkedin page, have social media accounts for your business.

People aren't going to take you seriously if you don't seem like a legit business when approaching them.

Katzalcoatl 2023-04-20 09:45:46 UTC #12

You can tag me instead in your edit if you forgot (for future reference).

Continuing on with the topic I just wanted to add that if it is a Tapas Exclusive then there is no need to contact Redice they likely lost all IP rights. Contacting Tapas is the right move (just need to find the right mail) but you need to follow everything darthmongoose said above my post to be taken seriously.

Edit---
If you already tried this place to contact tapas https://help.tapas.io/hc/en-us/articles/115002674288-Contact-us you might want to ask on their discord server I'm sure an admin may be able to provide you with a bit more info than us.

Akuma 2023-04-20 13:06:18 UTC #13

Oh I see, thanks. This is the https://discord.com/invite/tapascommunity discord right?