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Post by Ryan on Jan 28, 2007 18:53:37 GMT
Just shortly before Christmas, I was contacted by a lovely lady called Robyn Miller, who like us, is a life-long fan of Thomas and his friends, as well as the Rev. Awdry's work in general. Robyn owned a shop in South Australia called the Thomas Shop which ran from 1997 to 2002, a store selling only Thomas related products, which resulted in a five year legal battle with the rights owners with her eventual loss against the compnany at the High Court ruling. Needless to say, the legal battle took its toll on Robyn, who now suffers from bi-polar disorder on account of the stress and toll of the legal proceedings. But Robyn hasn't allowed the whole thing to keep her down. She has set up her own website, which was the purpose of her contacting me, to highlight her support of our feelings toward the ongoing struggle between the Awdry Family and Rights Holders. She hopes that through her writings, she will be able to make a difference, and I'll be affiliating with her site to help with the promotion of both the Thomas/Awdry issues and general Mental Health awareness. All support toward Robyn's website and campaign is welcomed and appreciated. Mental illness is something I've peripherally grown up with, ( I've never suffered from mental illness) mainly because my mum's a Psychiatric nurse, my Grandad and my Gran also worked with people with learning difficulties or mental illness. That and I'm studying Psychology (partly) at Uni. thomasonline.com.au
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Post by Old Square Wheels on Jan 28, 2007 21:21:15 GMT
Oh my goodness.....I've actually BEEN to that shop. It was quite an interesting place, and the lady was quite helpful, giving me information of the then upcoming Magic Railroad film. Of course, back then I had no idea of any of the copyright issues surrounding the franchise and such. It's a shame how these events have affected her. *sighs* Some people.....
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Post by Aidan on Jan 28, 2007 21:31:06 GMT
She seems quite interesting. Perhaps she might be interested in joining SiF.
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Post by CPK on Jan 28, 2007 22:30:31 GMT
I think I saw her in a brief documentary on a video David showed me once....... it was on BBC2 years ago.
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Post by The Old Bean on Jan 29, 2007 1:46:31 GMT
I remember seeing this on A Current Affair or 60 Minutes - that's what you get these days...
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2007 15:04:46 GMT
This sounds pretty typical of Gulline, apparently for Days Out With Thomas they demand that they get 50% of the takings whilst the event is being held. Other companies are notorious for doing this, some friends of mine who sail the Laser Dinghy class setup a website at www.laserfleet.com. A few weeks later they were told that in no uncertain terms could they use the laser logo. It had to be removed even though it was advertising their product without any desire for a profit. Although due to constant hacking the website has now folded. Corporate Law is extremely harsh and if someone makes a forged TTTE model for example and sells it as Thomas, you can see why they do it. Unfortunately there are those who are honest and get caught up in minor incidents that the law doesn't protect them from and the companies want to set an example against to show how big they are.
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Post by stuart7 on Jan 29, 2007 16:40:31 GMT
I've just viewed the website, and have deep sympathy for Robyn Miller. I hope we can all band together and end this legal battle once and for all. It's gone on for too long.
Stuart
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SRapi
Main Line Engine
Pronounced: Ess-Are-Ay-Pie.
Posts: 1,543
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Post by SRapi on Sept 14, 2015 15:45:27 GMT
This thread has not been dusted in a long time, was curious to check in on the situation.
It's a very sad situation. I had no idea that stress could lead to the development of bi-polar disorder. According to her LinkedIn page, she seems to work with the Mental Illness Fellowship South Australia. Other than that, I don't know anything new. Does anyone know how Robyn's doing or how the legal issues settled? It's been so long I assume she's moved on with her life, but I am curious to know how things went.
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