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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:

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