It took less than two weeks, and the company that had advertised a rather realistic foot-tall Steve Jobs action figure has taken it off the market. The figure had been advertised at the website of In Icons for $99 plus shipping, and had been scheduled to ship in February.
On Sunday, Tandy Cheung, head of the company behind the action figure, In Icons, posted the following on its site:
“I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate that the original intention for creating the figurine was driven by a fan’s admiration of Steve. We respect copyright and trade mark rights and therefore indicated on our site that we were not providing any Mac, iPhone and iPad models with the figurine. Further, we haven’t used any Apple related brands. Unfortunately we have received immense pressure from the lawyers of Apple and Steve Jobs family.
“Regardless of the pressure, I am still Steve’s fan, I fully respect Steve, and his family, and it is definitely not my wish or intention that they be upset. Though we still believe that we have not overstepped any legal boundaries, we have decided to completely stop the offer, production and sale of the Steve Jobs figurine out of our heartfelt sensitivity to the feelings of the Jobs family.”
Moreover, the Hong Kong businessman In Icons added a personal twist to an explanation about the creation of the Steve Jobs action figure. He added that:
“Four years ago, I created a single figurine of Steve which I placed on my desk next to my Mac. I decided to share this memento with the rest of his fans as a commemoration to Steve. The figurine, especially his facial features, was adjusted countless times to achieve his likeness in my memory. I strove to perfect the figurine with the spirit of Steve Jobs because only this will properly reflect my respect and admiration of him.”
It had been noted previously that “personality rights” are not governed by federal law, and many states do not have statutes permitting those rights to survive past a person’s death. Thus, with the death of Steve Jobs, it was thought that In Icons could, if it wanted to, release the action figure in many states in America, and in other jurisdictions as well.
Although In Icons has decided to end its action figure “line,” there are still plenty of Steve Jobs acdtions figures on eBay. These don’t have the level of accuracy of the In Icons version, however, which was supposed to ship with two pairs of glasses, three pairs of hands, one black turtleneck, one pair of blue jeans, one black leather belt, one wood and metal chair, one pair of black socks and sneakers, two apples (one with a bite), and one piece of a “ONE MORE THING” hard backdrop.