THE TRIAL AGAINST RAINBOW S.P.A.
WHO CREATED TOMMY & OSCAR?
From the first official appearance of Tommy & Oscar in the CD-ROM "The Phantom of the Theater" (1995), until the month of February of 2000, the name of Max Alessandrini has always appeared alongside with that of Iginio Straffi (CEO of Rainbow Spa) in credits of the TV series, the 2 CD-ROMs, and the official website of Tommy & Oscar.
Since February of 2000, however, Rainbow Spa (the production house of
Tommy & Oscar), abruptly and without reason began to erase Alessandrini's
name from all publications, declaring that Tommy & Oscar were created
exclusively by Rainbow’s CEO Iginio Straffi.
In practise, Rainbow and Iginio Straffi denied any declarations
previously stated for over 5 years.
The same year Max Alessandrini started a trial against Rainbow S.p.a.
to acknowledge his autorship of Tommy & Oscar’s concept and
characters.
In July 2008 the trial ended and its verdict ordered Rainbow to pay an
economical compensation to Max Alessandrini.
In reality it was not even so difficult to prove that Tommy & Oscar´s concept and characters were created by Max Alessandrini, because the same production house Rainbow itself had published Alessandrini’s name in the credits of the TV series, in the CD-ROMs, in the official Web Page, in various catalogues and in some interviews given by Iginio Straffi.
SOME EVIDENCES
The followings are useful links and images to get an idea of what has happened before and after the month of February of 2000:
WEB PAGE
This image from the
official Tommy & Oscar website
was captured before February 2000. A photo of Iginio Straffi and Max Alessandrini appears above a text that defines Max Alessandrini as creator of the concept and the characters of Tommy & Oscar.
After February 2000 , the same webpage was modified by Rainbow deleting both the photos and the name of Alessandrini.
CREDITS
In the credits of Tommy & Oscar CD-Roms and TV Series appears a text saying “Created by Max Alessandrini and Iginio Straffi”.
Credits of the CD-Rom "Tommy & Oscar: The Phantom of the Theatre” and "Tommy & Oscar: Mission Music!"
Credits of the TV Series "Tommy & Oscar"
CATALOGUES
The catalogue "Raicartoons" published in 1998 by RAI (Radio Televisione Italiana), contains a description of the Tommy & Oscar’s TV series.
The text of the description says that Tommy & Oscar has been “conceived and created by M.Alessandrini and I.Straffi”.
INTERVIEWS
This is the text of an interview given by Iginio Straffi to the prestigious newspaper Herald Tribune, on November 23, 1999.
The name of Max Alessandrini appears as Co-Author of "Tommy & Oscar"
On October 22th, 1999, in aninterview gaven by Iginio Straffi to the regional italian newspaper "Corriere Adriatico", Straffi states that Tommy & Oscar was created by him and by Massimiliano Alessandrini.
LINKS
Again, in the isame talian regional newspaper "Corriere Adriatico" on 1 December 1999 was published a longinterview with Rainbow’s CEO Iginio Straffi.
In the first part of the interview Iginio Straffi describes himself and Max Alessandrini as ‘creators’ of Tommy & Oscar.
Later, the name of Max Alessandrini reappears several times in the same article, also in relation to the creation of the cartoon "Tommy & Oscar".
The following is a selection of links to other web pages where the name of
Max Alessandrini appears as the author of Tommy & Oscar:
