#CalderdaleRising BIG Raffle

#CalderdaleRising BIG Raffle

Silly Billy’s is happy to announce that it is taking part in the Calderdale Rising Big Raffle.  Silly Billy’s is donating a Lego Ninjago Masters of Spinjitsu 70737 Set to the cause.
The raffle is being organised by Hebden Bridge Antiques Center and printing kindly organised by The Print Bureau

There are a lot of really good prizes available from an E-Type Jaguar Experience to a Hamper from Hebden’s finest Deli, Pennine Provisions and many many more in between. Prizes are coming in thick and fast so here is the list so far, and there may well be more to add. If you want Raffle Tickets then you can get them from myself, Robert Williams, or Silly Billy’s Pop Up Shop, when we are there, or if you are further afield we will post you the raffle tickets free of charge, simply get in touch via email, facebook, phone or any other method.

Calderdale Rising Raffle
Calderdale Rising BIG Raffle

Here is a not definitive list of prizes offered so far:

·         A Pamper Package for 2 worth £200 from the Banyan Tree, Hebden Bridge
·         £120 (2 hour) Tattoo Gift Voucher from Squid Shock Tattoo, Sowerby Bridge
·         £80 doormat from The Afghan Rug Shop, Hebden Bridge
·         £50 voucher to spend at The Bookcase, Hebden Bridge
·         £50 voucher to spend at Element, Hebden Bridge
·         £50 voucher to spend at Spirals, Hebden Bridge
·         £50 voucher for use on the Evanmore website
·         £50 voucher for use at Circle of Friends, Hebden Bridge
·         £50 voucher for jewellery to spend at The Workshop, Hebden Bridge
·         £50 Jewellery voucher to spend at NC Jewellers, Hebden Bridge
·         A hamper of soap and candle goodies to the value of £50 from Yorkshire Soap, Hebden Bridge
·         A Lego Ninjago Masters of Spinjitsu 70737 Set RRP £39.99 from Silly Billy’s, Hebden Bridge
·         £25 meal vouchers for The Stubbing Wharf, Hebden Bridge and The Shoulder of Mutton, Mytholmroyd
·         2 x £25 Gift Vouchers from the Bicycle Den, Hebden Bridge
·         4 x Wine & Chocolate gift boxes worth £20 from Pennine Wine and Cheese, Hebden Bridge
·         £20 voucher to spend at Brocante, Hebden Bridge
·         £20 voucher to spend at Homely Abode, Luddenden Foot
·         A folding saw horse worth £20 from Bonsalls, Hebden Bridge
·         2 x £10 Something Sweet Gift Vouchers
·         A food hamper from Pennine Provisions, Hebden Bridge
·         A mixed case of beer from Drink? & Bridestones, Hebden Bridge
·         Candle Gift Baskets & a Free Aura, Spirit or Past life Reading Gift voucher from Down 2 Earth, Hebden Bridge
·         A Brew Tea Co. loose leaf teapot with a box of loose leaf tea from Valentine’s, Hebden Bridge
·         Half Day E-Type Jaguar Experience
·         A Photoshoot from Studio C, Todmorden worth £125 with disk images and print ?
·         Blazing Saddles has a surprise
·         Signed Team Sky cycling jersey

The Draw Will be at 3pm on Saturday 6th February

The crowdfunding campaign which we are a part of ends on 12th February so if you could share the campaign that would be great.

#calderdalerising
#hebdenrising

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The battle to stop people from copying shapes – BBC News

Attempts to trademark the shapes of Kit Kats and London taxis have failed, opening the door for rivals to imitate them. So how come other products get to protect their distinctive shapes?

You know what a four-finger KitKat looks like. A quartet of slim wafer biscuits, linked together by their chocolate coating. Have a break, etc.

And even if you’ve never visited the city, it’s likely you’ll recognise the bulbous contours of a London black cab, which are every bit as much a symbol of the UK capital as Big Ben (although they do ply their trade in some other British cities).

But at the High Court this week, Mr Justice Arnold ruled that neither’s shape is distinctive enough to trademark.

The London Taxi Company, manufacturer of the traditional hackney carriage, had taken action against the makers of the Metrocab, a new hybrid-powered taxi, saying its design had been “substantially copied” from its own.

Image copyright iStock/Alamy
Image caption London Taxi Company took legal action against Frazer-Nash, which makes the Metrocab (right)

But the judge dismissed the claim, opening the way for the Metrocab model to appear on London’s streets over the next few years.

Likewise Nestle was denied the right to trademark its four-fingered KitKat in the UK when the court agreed with confectionery rivals Cadbury that its shape was not distinctive enough for consumers to identify all such bars as KitKats.

The existence of a similar bar produced in Norway since 1937 called Kvikk Lunsj (meaning “quick lunch”), which is available in some UK shops, did not help Nestle’s case. The Swiss company says it will appeal.

It’s rare for a three-dimensional object to be granted trademark status, but not unheard of. The shape of a four-finger KitKat may not be judged distinctive enough to qualify as a trademark, but those of Toblerone and Nestle’s Walnut Whip are.

Coca-Cola first received the status for the contours of its bottle from the US Patent and Trademark Office as far back as 1960.

Image copyright iStock

There can be huge benefits for firms that are granted trademark status. Unlike patents, which expire after 20 years, a trademark can potentially last forever – thus effectively conferring a long-term monopoly on a particular shape.

So how exactly do you go about getting one?

Firstly, the law requires that the shape is sufficiently distinctive, says Luke McDonagh, an expert in intellectual property law at City University London.

The point of this is to allow consumer to distinguish between different products – “the idea being that consumers would immediately recognise the shape itself and associate it with a particular brand, apart from any logos or brand name packaging”.

The shape of toasters, for instance, has been judged “devoid of any distinctive character”. A toaster is just a toaster. But a Toblerone is a Toblerone. It’s not always an easy distinction to make, but “people know an elephant when they see one”, says Iain Connor, partner in the intellectual property team at law firm Pinsent Masons.

In 2012 Lindt lost an attempt to trademark its chocolate bunnies because a European court ruled “the combination of the shape, the colours and the pleated ribbon with a small bell are not sufficiently different” from the wrapping of other chocolate rabbits.

Image copyright EPA

In the KitKat case, Nestle cited a survey in which 90% of people shown a picture of the chocolate, without any names or symbols attached to it, mentioned KitKat. But Mr Justice Arnold ruled that the consumer relied “only on the word mark KitKat” and other branding to identify it – the chocolate being sold wrapped in packaging.

Likewise, in the black cab ruling, the same judge said the taxi was “merely a variation of the typical shape of a car” and “devoid of inherent distinctive character”.

There’s a second requirement. A trademark must not effectively give a technical monopoly to one company.

According to the Trade Marks Act 1994 – which implements the EU Trade Marks Directive – the shape must not be required to achieve a technical result, arise from the nature of the product itself, or give the product substantial value.

For instance, in a 2002 case, Philips tried to prevent Remington from marketing a three-headed shaver, which Philips said was its trademark. But the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that the three-headed shaver was necessary to achieve a technical result, thus could not be protected – as a trademark would effectively give Philips the monopoly on producing that type of shaver.

A similar decision was made by the CJEU in 2010 in relation to the Lego bricks. The court ruled against them being protected, on the basis that this would prevent other companies from manufacturing a basic building toy.

Image copyright iStock

However, in 2015 the court ruled that Lego people (known as mini-figures) were distinctive and their purpose was a human shape, not a technical function. In other words, they were more than just bricks, and thus should be protected.

Another recent case concerned Rubik’s Cubes, which are registered as a trademark in the UK by a company called Seven Towns Limited (STL). A rival toy manufacturer argued trademarking the design gave STL a monopoly.

But the CJEU decided the cube’s distinctive black separating lines were an aesthetic feature, not a technical one, as it would be possible to create a puzzle that did the same job without them.

Image copyright Alamy

Nonetheless, the bar for securing a trademark for a shape is “very high” because courts are wary of granting technical monopolies, says Connor.

“What the KitKat and black cab cases show is how difficult it is to gain protection for a three-dimensional shape,” says McDonagh. While this can result in a challenge for designers, the purpose – in theory – is to protect consumers. Regardless of whether or not you can identify a popular chocolate-covered wafer snack at 100 paces.


More from the Magazine

Last year, manufacturer Nestle argued their four-fingered version of the chocolate-covered wafer snack should become a trademark in the UK, possibly preventing similar products being made. Justin Parkinson looked at the arguments for and against.

Who, What, Why: Can the KitKat shape be a trademark?

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35374128

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#CalderdaleRising BIG Raffle

#CalderdaleRising BIG Raffle

Silly Billy‘s is happy to announce that it is taking part in the Calderdale Rising Big Raffle.  Silly Billy‘s is donating a Lego Ninjago Masters of Spinjitsu 70737 Set to the cause.
The raffle is being organised by Hebden Bridge Antiques Center and printing kindly organised by The Print Bureau

There are a lot of really good prizes available from an E-Type Jaguar Experience to a Hamper from Hebden’s finest Deli, Pennine Provisions and many many more in between. Prizes are coming in thick and fast so here is the list so far, and there may well be more to add. If you want Raffle Tickets then you can get them from myself, Robert Williams, or Silly Billy’s Pop Up Shop, when we are there, or if you are further afield we will post you the raffle tickets free of charge, simply get in touch via email, facebook, phone or any other method.

Calderdale Rising Raffle

Calderdale Rising BIG Raffle

Here is a not definitive list of prizes offered so far:

·         A Pamper Package for 2 worth £200 from the Banyan Tree, Hebden Bridge
·         £120 (2 hour) Tattoo Gift Voucher from Squid Shock Tattoo, Sowerby Bridge
·         £80 doormat from The Afghan Rug Shop, Hebden Bridge
·         £50 voucher to spend at The Bookcase, Hebden Bridge
·         £50 voucher to spend at Element, Hebden Bridge
·         £50 voucher to spend at Spirals, Hebden Bridge
·         £50 voucher for use on the Evanmore website
·         £50 voucher for use at Circle of Friends, Hebden Bridge
·         £50 voucher for jewellery to spend at The Workshop, Hebden Bridge
·         £50 Jewellery voucher to spend at NC Jewellers, Hebden Bridge
·         A hamper of soap and candle goodies to the value of £50 from Yorkshire Soap, Hebden Bridge
·         A Lego Ninjago Masters of Spinjitsu 70737 Set RRP £39.99 from Silly Billy’s, Hebden Bridge
·         £25 meal vouchers for The Stubbing Wharf, Hebden Bridge and The Shoulder of Mutton, Mytholmroyd
·         2 x £25 Gift Vouchers from the Bicycle Den, Hebden Bridge
·         4 x Wine & Chocolate gift boxes worth £20 from Pennine Wine and Cheese, Hebden Bridge
·         £20 voucher to spend at Brocante, Hebden Bridge
·         £20 voucher to spend at Homely Abode, Luddenden Foot
·         A folding saw horse worth £20 from Bonsalls, Hebden Bridge
·         2 x £10 Something Sweet Gift Vouchers
·         A food hamper from Pennine Provisions, Hebden Bridge
·         A mixed case of beer from Drink? & Bridestones, Hebden Bridge
·         Candle Gift Baskets & a Free Aura, Spirit or Past life Reading Gift voucher from Down 2 Earth, Hebden Bridge
·         A Brew Tea Co. loose leaf teapot with a box of loose leaf tea from Valentine’s, Hebden Bridge
·         Half Day E-Type Jaguar Experience
·         A Photoshoot from Studio C, Todmorden worth £125 with disk images and print ?
·         Blazing Saddles has a surprise
·         Signed Team Sky cycling jersey

The Draw Will be at 3pm on Saturday 6th February

The crowdfunding campaign which we are a part of ends on 12th February so if you could share the campaign that would be great.

#calderdalerising
#hebdenrising

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ThunderBird 4 Piece Vehicle Set – Cheapest anywhere

Help Support Silly Billy’s Post Flood Devastation Cheapest Online

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Buy ThunderBird 4 Piece Vehicle Super Set – Action and Rescue Sounds

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ThunderBird 4 Piece Vehicle Set – Cheapest anywhere

Help Support Silly Billy’s Post Flood Devastation Cheapest Online

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Buy ThunderBird 4 Piece Vehicle Super Set – Action and Rescue Sounds

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Holy Lego, Batman! New set honors classic TV series for 50th anniversary

On Jan. 12, 1966 the wondrously campy Batman TV series premiered. In honor of the 50th anniversary, Lego revealed on Tuesday a new set inspired by the show’s version of the Batcave. It will have fans crying “holy nostalgia, Batman” in no time.

The 2,526-piece set is part of Lego’s DC Comics Super Heroes series and will allow you to move effortlessly from Wayne Manor to the Batcave thanks to the accompanying Batpoles. In addition to offering the full Batcave for you to play in, Bat vehicles beyond the classic Batmobile are also included.

 
 

As for mini figures, you’ll receive nine with this set: Adam West’s Bruce Wayne and Batman, Burt Ward’s Dick Grayson and Robin, Joker, Catwoman, Penguin, Alfred, and the Riddler. With these figures you can reenact all your favorite scenes or plot new adventures while providing all the “pow,” “zap,” and “bam” sound effects you want.

Fans interested in the set have to wait until March for it to become available and when it does it will cost quite a bit at $269.99. But for anyone who likes to schedule their Lego experience at the same Bat-time, same Bat-channel, this might be hard to resist.

You can see more photos of the set below and at the Lego Facebook page.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

H/T Comic Book Resources | Photo via Lego/Facebook

Read more: http://www.dailydot.com/geek/lego-batman-anniversary-set/

Calderdale Rising Crowdfund on the Up and Up!

Calderdale Rising Crowdfund on the Up and Up!

A collective crowdfunding campaign, called Calderdale Rising, which was only launched on Friday 15th January 2015, is trending as the most popular campaign on Crowdfunder.co.uk, which currently hosts over 1,000 other live projects, and has already raised almost £110,000.

Led by Business for Calderdale and supported by other business groups in the area, it was created to help support around 100 businesses across Calderdale that were heavily affected by the 2015 Boxing Day floods.  The businesses taking part in the scheme, range from high street shops to professional services and companies in the industrial sector, many of which are still unable to open. The vast majority of these businesses are small, independent and family owned, and many have had to make redundancies whilst they rebuild their premises and purchase new equipment and stock.

Crowdfunding initiatives differ from traditional charity fundraising, as they allow people to not only donate, but also to buy rewards, which may be products or ‘money can’t buy’ experiences. For example, the most popular reward on the page is the Hebden VIP Card, which at £25 to purchase then provides a range of discounts in a number of shops in the town, which is one of the most unique shopping destinations in the country. 74 of these cards have already been sold.

Bridestones Brewery, whose bar and micro-brewery “drink?” was badly hit in the floods, have also offered 3 ‘Beer Lovers Ultimate Gift’ which costs £500 each and allows the purchaser to create, produce and name one of their new ‘Flood Range’ of real ales, alongside the Head Brewer. One of these has already been sold, so there are only 2 remaining.

Plus for visitors to the area, the ‘Grand Day Out’ offered by The Bicycle Den, who also provide details of the iconic routes of the Tour de France for the riders to follow, with a bit of help to power up those hills with electric bikes, is available for £65 (or £50 for the first 10 purchases).  And Hebden Bridge Cruises is selling its Cream Tea afternoon cruises for £20 through the site.

The money raised by the scheme will be shared between all the businesses taking part in the campaign, and with a range of rewards for all pockets, the organisers hope that is will raise a substantial amount of money to help these businesses recover a little more quickly.

For more information, or to donate, please visit: www.crowdfunder.co.uk/calderdalerising 

 

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Calderdale Rising Crowdfund on the Up and Up!

Calderdale Rising Crowdfund on the Up and Up!

A collective crowdfunding campaign, called Calderdale Rising, which was only launched on Friday 15th January 2015, is trending as the most popular campaign on Crowdfunder.co.uk, which currently hosts over 1,000 other live projects, and has already raised almost £110,000.

Led by Business for Calderdale and supported by other business groups in the area, it was created to help support around 100 businesses across Calderdale that were heavily affected by the 2015 Boxing Day floods.  The businesses taking part in the scheme, range from high street shops to professional services and companies in the industrial sector, many of which are still unable to open. The vast majority of these businesses are small, independent and family owned, and many have had to make redundancies whilst they rebuild their premises and purchase new equipment and stock.

Crowdfunding initiatives differ from traditional charity fundraising, as they allow people to not only donate, but also to buy rewards, which may be products or ‘money can’t buy’ experiences. For example, the most popular reward on the page is the Hebden VIP Card, which at £25 to purchase then provides a range of discounts in a number of shops in the town, which is one of the most unique shopping destinations in the country. 74 of these cards have already been sold.

Bridestones Brewery, whose bar and micro-brewery “drink?” was badly hit in the floods, have also offered 3 ‘Beer Lovers Ultimate Gift’ which costs £500 each and allows the purchaser to create, produce and name one of their new ‘Flood Range’ of real ales, alongside the Head Brewer. One of these has already been sold, so there are only 2 remaining.

Plus for visitors to the area, the ‘Grand Day Out’ offered by The Bicycle Den, who also provide details of the iconic routes of the Tour de France for the riders to follow, with a bit of help to power up those hills with electric bikes, is available for £65 (or £50 for the first 10 purchases).  And Hebden Bridge Cruises is selling its Cream Tea afternoon cruises for £20 through the site.

The money raised by the scheme will be shared between all the businesses taking part in the campaign, and with a range of rewards for all pockets, the organisers hope that is will raise a substantial amount of money to help these businesses recover a little more quickly.

For more information, or to donate, please visit: www.crowdfunder.co.uk/calderdalerising 

 

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‘Star Wars’ fans clamor for more Rey toys, and Disney begins to oblige

Disney on Tuesdayunveiled a new gallery of toys based on Star Wars: The Force Awakens star Rey, hoping toquell criticism from fans who say that the film’s lead hero has been notably absent from its merchandise.But will these new offerings be enough to put Rey on par with her male counterparts?

Hasbroand Disney’s other licensees had already announced most of these products. Some of them have already appeared online and in stores, while others will be arriving later in January.

 

The gallery of toys, provided exclusively to Entertainment Weekly, features a variety of Rey-centric items from Hasbro, including:

  • New 3.75-inch action figures showing Rey in her Resistance outfit and Finn in stormtrooper gear
  • Previously announced 12-inch Hero Series action figures of both Rey and Finn
  • A Rey Nerf blaster and electronic blue lightsaber
  • A look at the previously announced Black Seriesfigures, including 6-inch versions of Rey, Finn, Han Solo, and Kylo Ren
  • The rather inexplicably named “Galactic Heroes” set from Playskool, featuring Captain Phasma and Rey in a set together

The gallery also includes products from other toymakers, including:

Disney’s new emphasis on Rey echoes Hasbro’spromise to include more Rey figures following apublic outcryover her exclusion from the newStar WarsMonopoly set.

Sales of Rey merchandise “have grown three times as fast as with other characters” at Disney stores, the Wall Street Journal reportedon Monday.

Public demand for Rey merchandise has grown so intense that some fans have taken a straight-up DIY approach.

Paul Southern, head of licensing at Lucasfilm,notedin November that “a very broad group of consumers” had ” to buy product a lot quicker than we expected.”

This week, Southern told EWthat “the excitement around her is a lot more than we were expecting it to be.”

The new toys augment the supremely cool line of existing products featuring Reythat are already on sale but in short supply.

Compared to the film’s male characters, Rey still may be lagging behind. Last week, Huffington Post Australia questioned Southern’s claim that toys featuring Rey and Captain Phasma “feature prominently across hundreds of products.”

cursory look at retailers’ online stores suggests otherwise.We searched”The Force Awakens” in Disney’s online store and only found 27 items involving Rey out of a total of 146. When we performed the same search on Target’s website, which features items available in stores as well as online, we only found 17 products including Rey out of 267 (not including a couple items without a detailed photo). On Toys “R” Us’ website, Rey is even harder to spot, only appearing in 10 out of 254 “The Force Awakens” products.

The Huffington Post also noted that Rey’s villainous counterpart Kylo Ren shows up more often, is featured more prominently on packaging, and is more likely to appear in group toy sets with other characters, most of whom are also men.

While Hasbro is stepping up its game, Rey’s continued exclusion from many other toy licensees’ sets is noticeable.

Jakks Pacific’s Star Warsline, for example, consists entirely of male characters, with the exception of a single Captain Phasma doll. Many of the male toys are variations of generic stormtroopers and other faceless soldiers. Many fans have pointed out this seemingly odd production decision.

In response to criticism over Rey’s absence from products like the new Monopoly set, Hasbro has saidthat it was trying to avoid spoiling key plot points, including Rey’s Force sensitivity and lightsaber duel with Kylo. Lucasfilm is said to have placed strict and unusual limitations on the kinds of toys that could hit shelves prior to the film’s release.

But Hasbro and other companies had many options that did not involve spoiling the movie. The action-figure company declined, for instance, to produce figures of Rey flying the Millennium Falcon,an activity shown in numerous trailers.

Photo via MCubed Cosplay/Facebook

Read more: http://www.dailydot.com/geek/star-wars-force-awakens-disney-hasbro-rey-toys/

Lego Is A Better Investment Than Gold

All those parents who got their kids Lego for Christmas arewise heads.

The Telegraph are reporting that investors were able to secure a healthier return buying Lego sets over the past 15 years than from the stock market or gold. Lego sets that have been kept in pristine condition have increased by more than 12 per cent each year. Those fools that have invested in poxy gold have only seen a9.6 per cent annual gain.

An example given is the Ultimate Collectors Millennium Falcon. In 2007 you could have snapped it up for 342.49, if you were to sell it on today it would fetch 2,712 provided that its in mint condition and still in its box. So no playing with your toys, thats not what they are for.

This is an extreme example, but there are other sets that are worth a small fortune too. The Caf Corner, a model of a hotel that went on sale back in 2007 has risen in value from 89.99 to 2,096. Thats a return of 2,230 per cent.

Theres even a site specifically for those who wish to invest in kids bricks, BrickPicker.com, which tells you the prices you can expect to get for your set.

So kids, if for some reason youre reading this and are yet to take your Lego out of its box, try and resist temptation as it could be worth quite a bit one day. Or, you know, open your box and go play. In fact, just do whatever you want.

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