History ExiledFromContinuity / LegalReasons

Elements ExiledFromContinuity for legal reasons. This is when ScrewedByTheLawyers kicks in.

** Speaking of ''Smash Bros.'', the ''VideoGame/GoldenEye1997'' universe which is the basis for the Motion-Sensor Bomb and Cloaking Device items from ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosMelee'' has been dropped following Microsoft's acquisition of Rare, not to mention that ''[=GoldenEye=]'' is based on [[Film/JamesBond a film series]] anyway (''Melee'' even has their Trophies' source games labeled "TOP SECRET"). The Motion-Sensor Bomb is redesigned and branded as an original creation in subsequent games.

** There are occasional exceptions to this for special occasions where the rightsholders make agreements, for example during the ''SesameStreet'' 50th anniversary special.

* In the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' and ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' metaseries, Creator/GamesWorkshop ran into some issues with the fifth god of chaos, Malal. Rather than fight John Wagner and Alan Grant for his rights, however, they just dropped Malal entirely and stuck to "the Big Four". Malal has since crept back in as "Malice", who is either a rogue Daemon Prince or a minor deity in the Chaos pantheon depending on which FanWank you subscribe to.

* [[ScrewedByTheLawyers Because Amazon doesn't own the rights]] to adapt any material from ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', ''[[Literature/UnfinishedTalesOfNumenorAndMiddleEarth Unfinished Tales]]'', ''Literature/TheHistoryOfMiddleEarth'' series, Tolkien's collected ''Letters'', ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'' cannot show or use characters or places that are part of said agreement, only those which are part of the ''Appendices of the Lord of the Rings''.
-->'''J.D. Payne''': We have the rights solely to ''The Fellowship of the Ring'', ''The Two Towers'', ''The Return of the King'', the appendices, and ''The Hobbit''. And that is it. We do not have the rights to ''The Silmarillion'', ''Unfinished Tales'', ''The History of Middle-earth'', or any of those other books.

* [[ScrewedByTheLawyers Because Amazon doesn't own the rights]] to adapt any material from ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', ''[[Literature/UnfinishedTalesOfNumenorAndMiddleEarth Unfinished Tales]]'', ''Literature/TheHistoryOfMiddleEarth'' series, Tolkien's collected ''Letters'', ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower' cannot show or use characters or places that are part of said agreement, only those which are part of the ''Appendices of the Lord of the Rings''.

* For many years, there was an embargo of Franchise/WonderWoman-related characters due to an obscure clause in the licensing agreements that forbade their use in any project wherein they were not featured in a "starring" role. This has meant that the second ComicBook/WonderGirl, Donna Troy, was initially not able to appear in DC's ''WesternAnimation/{{Young Justice|2010}}''. Prior to this, Donna had been barred from appearing in ''WesternAnimation/{{Teen Titans|2003}}'' and Wonder Woman was the only ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' cast member not to appear on ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock''. The Franchise/WonderWoman (and, by extension, Donna Troy and Cassie Sandsmark) embargo was eventually cleared up. Since then, Wonder Woman has appeared in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'', the Cassie Sandsmark version of Wonder Girl joined ''Young Justice'' in Season 2 (though Donna did not but did eventually appear in Season 3), and Donna Troy was featured in the ''WesternAnimation/SuperBestFriendsForever'' shorts.
** Creator/GregWeisman also confirmed in an interview for ''Young Justice'' that similar embargos affected use of [[ComicBook/BlueBeetle Ted Kord / Blue Beetle II]] and ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} in season 1. Other ComicBook/NewGods could still show up, even those like [=DeSaad=] who worked directly with Darkseid, but his presence was hinted in the background as "unspeakable". These were similarly cleared up by season 2, with Darkseid showing up in the season finale as the partner of ComicBook/VandalSavage, while Ted Kord turned out to be a PosthumousCharacter murdered between seasons 1 and 2.

** Enforced in the games themselves to a certain degree; Disney has strict rules about how the franchises interact. The characters from Disney's earliest works, such as WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse, WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck, WesternAnimation/{{Goofy}}, WesternAnimation/{{Pete}}, etc., are the ones that have the most flexibility from Disney to be utilized, which is why these characters have more plot important roles (with Pete being Maleficent's henchman and the rest of them being allies of Sora and the other heroes). This flexibility also applies to ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}'' (connected to the early cartoons via Mickey's appearance in the film), with Yen Sid being the BigGood of the series. This leads to both TheStationsOfTheCanon (in that the plots of the levels loosely follow the movies they're based on) and an AlienNonInterferenceClause (in that the natives of each world can't be told about other worlds). The rule of thumb seems to be that if you're tied to a particular movie, you're LockedOutOfTheLoop, though some characters get a bit of leeway in this, including the summons mechanics utilizing various Disney heroes, Maleficent being one of the primary antagonists who often interacts with various Disney worlds, [[WesternAnimation/TheSwordInTheStone Merlin]] and [[WesternAnimation/Cinderella1950 Fairy Godmother]] being mentor figures throughout the series, Ariel being told of it by Ursula, Triton figuring it out (and evidently aware of the Keyblade War) and [[spoiler: The Beast being a partner during Hollow Bastion]] in ''Kingdom Hearts I'', [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud, Zack]] and [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX Auron]] being plot-critical in the Colosseum stages in ''1'', ''Birth By Sleep'', and ''2'', [[spoiler: the TRON level being Hollow Bastion's operating system]] in ''Kingdom Hearts II'', Ursula attacking the Destiny Islands in the prologue of ''3D'', [[WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}} Remy]] being present in Twilight Town in ''Kingdom Hearts III'' as well as being host of a cooking minigame, and both Woody and Buzz Lightyear learning of the other worlds in ''III''. Disney's own strict rules reached their highest point in ''Kingdom Hearts III'' when it limited how the games could portray the worlds and characters of ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}''.

* The SPECTRE fracas in ''Film/JamesBond'' movies is a good non-comics example, and probably the most notorious case in live-action films. The villainous terrorist organization debuted in ''Literature/{{Thunderball}}'', a book written by Creator/IanFleming based on a unproduced Bond screenplay he worked on with several other people. One of said people, Kevin [=McClory=], brought him to court in a complicated brouhaha. When ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'' was adapted in 1965, [=McClory=] was credited as executive producer alongside regular Bond production company EON's executive producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli. Eventually, the case was settled with [=McClory=] owning the film rights to SPECTRE and the right to remake ''Thunderball'', which prevented SPECTRE from appearing in ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe''. The pre-title sequence of ''Film/ForYourEyesOnly'' shows Bond dropping [[LawyerFriendlyCameo a suspicious-looking bald man]] into a smoke stack [[TakeThat as a way of saying that the series didn't need SPECTRE]]. [=McClory=] in turn exercised his ''Thunderball'' remake rights to partner with producer Jack Schwartzman to produce the "unofficial" Bond film ''Film/NeverSayNeverAgain'' (with Creator/SeanConnery returning as Bond), released in 1983, the same year as the official film ''{{Film/Octopussy}}''. Later during the Creator/PierceBrosnan era, Sony Pictures attempted to use the combination of the rights to the first Bond novel ''Literature/CasinoRoyale'', which had been held by predecessor Columbia Pictures since the [[Film/CasinoRoyale1967 infamous 1967 farce version]] (explaining why it hadn't been adapted as part of the official series previously) along with [=McClory's=] rights, and which Sony had agreed to license (and which he [[http://variety.com/1998/film/news/mclory-makes-official-claims-to-bond-rights-1117478405/ absurdly claimed]] made him [[MyRealDaddy the franchise's real owner]]) to launch a competing Bond series of their own. As a response MGM bought out Shire's distribution rights to ''Never Say Never Again'', giving them ownership that film, but not SPECTRE. However, that competing series never got off the ground as Sony gave up any Bond rights they had (including ownership of the 1967 movie) to MGM in exchange for some residual rights that MGM held to ''Film/SpiderMan'', thereby allowing Sony to have that film free-and-clear. This is what allowed the first Creator/DanielCraig film to be the [[Film/CasinoRoyale2006 2006 adaptation of ''Casino Royale'']] (and ironically, Sony had become a part owner of MGM by that time, so they co-produced the film), but [=McClory's=] retained rights forced EON into using the {{Expy}} organization Quantum. This legal battle finally ended on November 15, 2013, when MGM and EON's parent company Danjaq, LLC (the owners of the film franchise) acquired the rights and interests of the estate of Kevin [=McClory=], who died in 2006, consolidating completely all screen rights to all franchise elements. Subsequently, the title of the next Bond movie ended up being...''Film/{{Spectre}}'', with the film revealing that [[HijackedByGanon SPECTRE was the true power behind Quantum]].

* The prequel film ''Film/OzTheGreatAndPowerful'' pays homage to many aspects of the 1939 film ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' due to its widespread popularity. However, ''Oz: The Great and Powerful'' is owned by Creator/{{Disney}}, ''The Wizard of Oz'' was made by [[Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer MGM]] (but owned by Creator/WarnerBros due to a [[ChannelHop complicated distributor change]]), and [[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz the original novel]] is in the public domain, so Disney could not use elements that originated in the MGM movie like the Ruby Slippers (they were silver in the book), the swirl of the Yellow Brick Road, and even the Wicked Witch of the West's green skin tone (they got around the last one by making it a ''slightly'' different shade of green). This was also the reason why ''Film/ReturnToOz'', Disney's [[DarkerAndEdgier surprisingly dark]] "sequel" to the 1939 film, emphasized characters and concepts from Creator/LFrankBaum's Oz books as opposed to the 1939 film. Baum's public domain characters who aid Dorothy in ''Return'', [[PoorMansSubstitute such as Tik-Tok and Belina the Chicken]], ended up alienating moviegoers who were otherwise familiar with the characters in the 1939 film, who either didn't appear or were [[DemotedToExtra "turned into stone"]] throughout most of the film. The Scarecrow does appear later in the movie,[[note]]the Lion and Tin Man make brief crowd appearances after the climax of the film[[/note]] as do Dorothy's ruby slippers,[[note]]which Disney had to pay MGM to use in the film[[/note]] but the reduced emphasis of many of the characters that appeared in ''The Wizard of Oz'', along with the film's nightmarish tone, caused ''Return to Oz'' to flop and be mostly forgotten among the wave of fantasy films of the 1980s.

** In the case of the Freedom Fighters and other ''WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM'' characters, this is significantly more vague. The [[ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics Archie Sonic comics]] were heavily based on the cartoon, and long outlived its progenitor, with the cartoon's characters actually surviving the SoftReboot caused by unrelated legal issues. While they didn't transition over to the [[ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogIDW IDW Sonic comics]], all indications are that it's less a legal issue and more to do with SEGA's own mandates for who is allowed to appear.

* A complicated case in ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyo''; after Compile's bankruptcy, SEGA owns the rights to ''Puyo Puyo'' and seemingly any character that has appeared in those games, but D4 Enterprise owns ''VideoGame/MadouMonogatari'', Puyo Puyo's parent RPG series. This leads to the situation where SEGA can make ''Puyo Puyo'' games and use the characters Compile initially created for those games, but cannot directly reference ''Madou Monogatari''. For example, the character Witch alludes to her grandmother Wish in the SEGA games, but never name drops her due to the copyright situation. Meanwhile D4 Enterprise basically holds the ''Madou Monogatari'' name and presumably the few exclusive characters from the games, but cannot use the characters from the ''Puyo Puyo'' franchise without negotiating with SEGA. SEGA has gotten around this by the use of soft reboots of the franchise, with Compile's characters being transported into other worlds via [[ExcusePlot excuse plots]], while D4 Enterprise and Compile Heart created thinly-veiled Expies of the ''Madou Monogatari'' characters in a parallel universe when making ''Sorcery Saga: Curse of the Great Curry God''.

* The SPECTRE fracas in ''Film/JamesBond'' movies is a good non-comics example, and probably the most notorious case in live-action films. The villainous terrorist organization debuted in ''Literature/{{Thunderball}}'', a book written by Creator/IanFleming based on a unproduced Bond screenplay he worked on with several other people. One of said people, Kevin [=McClory=], brought him to court in a complicated brouhaha. When ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'' was adapted in 1965, [=McClory=] was credited as executive producer alongside regular Bond production company EON's executive producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli. Eventually, the case was settled with [=McClory=] owning the film rights to SPECTRE and the right to remake ''Thunderball'', which prevented SPECTRE from appearing in ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe''. The pre-title sequence of ''Film/ForYourEyesOnly'' shows Bond dropping [[LawyerFriendlyCameo a suspicious-looking bald man]] into a smoke stack [[TakeThat as a way of saying that the series didn't need SPECTRE]]. [=McClory=] in turn exercised his ''Thunderball'' remake rights to partner with producer David Shire to produce the "unofficial" Bond film ''Film/NeverSayNeverAgain'' (with Creator/SeanConnery returning as Bond), released in 1983, the same year as the official film ''{{Film/Octopussy}}''. Later during the Creator/PierceBrosnan era, Sony Pictures attempted to use the combination of the rights to the first Bond novel ''Literature/CasinoRoyale'', which had been held by predecessor Columbia Pictures since the [[Film/CasinoRoyale1967 infamous 1967 farce version]] (explaining why it hadn't been adapted as part of the official series previously) along with [=McClory's=] rights, and which Sony had agreed to license (and which he [[http://variety.com/1998/film/news/mclory-makes-official-claims-to-bond-rights-1117478405/ absurdly claimed]] made him [[MyRealDaddy the franchise's real owner]]) to launch a competing Bond series of their own. As a response MGM bought out Shire's distribution rights to ''Never Say Never Again'', giving them ownership that film, but not SPECTRE. However, that competing series never got off the ground as Sony gave up any Bond rights they had (including ownership of the 1967 movie) to MGM in exchange for some residual rights that MGM held to ''Film/SpiderMan'', thereby allowing Sony to have that film free-and-clear. This is what allowed the first Creator/DanielCraig film to be the [[Film/CasinoRoyale2006 2006 adaptation of ''Casino Royale'']] (and ironically, Sony had become a part owner of MGM by that time, so they co-produced the film), but [=McClory's=] retained rights forced EON into using the {{Expy}} organization Quantum. This legal battle finally ended on November 15, 2013, when MGM and EON's parent company Danjaq, LLC (the owners of the film franchise) acquired the rights and interests of the estate of Kevin [=McClory=], who died in 2006, consolidating completely all screen rights to all franchise elements. Subsequently, the title of the next Bond movie ended up being...''Film/{{Spectre}}'', with the film revealing that [[HijackedByGanon SPECTRE was the true power behind Quantum]].

* The SPECTRE fracas in ''Film/JamesBond'' movies is a good non-comics example, and probably the most notorious case in live-action films. The villainous terrorist organization debuted in ''Literature/{{Thunderball}}'', a book written by Creator/IanFleming based on a unproduced Bond screenplay he worked on with several other people. One of said people, Kevin [=McClory=], brought him to court in a complicated brouhaha. When ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'' was adapted in 1965, [=McClory=] was credited as executive producer alongside regular Bond production company EON's executive producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli. Eventually, the case was settled with [=McClory=] owning the film rights to SPECTRE and the right to remake ''Thunderball'', which prevented SPECTRE from appearing in ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe''. The pre-title sequence of ''Film/ForYourEyesOnly'' shows Bond dropping [[LawyerFriendlyCameo a suspicious-looking bald man]] into a smoke stack [[TakeThat as a way of saying that the series didn't need SPECTRE]]. [=McClory=] in turn exercised his ''Thunderball'' remake rights to partner with producer David Shire to produce the "unofficial" Bond film ''Film/NeverSayNeverAgain'' (with Creator/SeanConnery returning as Bond), released in 1983, the same year as the official film ''{{Film/Octopussy}}''. Later during the Creator/PierceBrosnan era, Sony Pictures attempted to use the combination of the rights to the first Bond novel ''Literature/CasinoRoyale'', which had been held by predecessor Columbia Pictures since the [[Film/CasinoRoyale1967 infamous 1967 farce version]], explaining why it hadn't been adapted as part of the official series previously, along with [=McClory's=] rights, and which Sony had agreed to license (and which he [[http://variety.com/1998/film/news/mclory-makes-official-claims-to-bond-rights-1117478405/ absurdly claimed]] made him [[MyRealDaddy the franchise's real creator]]) to launch a competing Bond series of their own. As a response MGM bought out Shire's distribution rights to ''Never Say Never Again'', giving them ownership that film, but not SPECTRE. However, that competing series never got off the ground as Sony gave up any Bond rights they had (including ownership of the 1967 movie) to MGM in exchange for some residual rights that MGM held to ''Film/SpiderMan'', thereby allowing Sony to have that film free-and-clear. This is what allowed the first Creator/DanielCraig film to be the [[Film/CasinoRoyale2006 2006 adaptation of ''Casino Royale'']] (and ironically, Sony had become a part owner of MGM by that time, so they co-produced the film), but [=McClory's=] retained rights forced EON into using the {{Expy}} organization Quantum. This legal battle finally ended on November 15, 2013, when MGM and EON's parent company Danjaq, LLC (the owners of the film franchise) acquired the rights and interests of the estate of Kevin [=McClory=], who died in 2006, consolidating completely all screen rights to all franchise elements. Subsequently, the title of the next Bond movie ended up being...''Film/{{Spectre}}'', with the film revealing that [[HijackedByGanon SPECTRE was the true power behind Quantum]].

* The SPECTRE fracas in ''Film/JamesBond'' movies is a good non-comics example, and probably the most notorious case in live-action films. The villainous terrorist organization debuted in ''Literature/{{Thunderball}}'', a book written by Creator/IanFleming based on a screenplay he worked on with several other people. One of said people, Kevin [=McClory=], brought him to court in a complicated brouhaha. When ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'' was adapted in 1965, [=McClory=] was credited as executive producer, superceding EON's executive producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli. Eventually, it was settled out of court, but the terms prevented SPECTRE from appearing in ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe''. The pre-title sequence of ''Film/ForYourEyesOnly'' shows Bond dropping [[LawyerFriendlyCameo a suspicious-looking bald man]] into a smoke stack [[TakeThat as a way of saying that the series didn't need SPECTRE]]. This is also what led to the Creator/DanielCraig films using the {{Expy}} organization Quantum. This legal battle finally ended on November 15, 2013 when MGM and Danjaq, LLC (the owners of the ''James Bond'' franchise) acquired the rights and interests of the estate of Kevin [=McClory=] (who died in 2006, about ten years after [[http://variety.com/1998/film/news/mclory-makes-official-claims-to-bond-rights-1117478405/ trying to inflate how he much contributed to Bond]]), and the title of the next Bond movie ended up being...''Film/{{Spectre}}'', with the film revealing that [[HijackedByGanon SPECTRE was the true power behind Quantum]].

* Similarly, the character of Harry Bosch could not be used in Netflix's adaptation of ''Series/TheLincolnLawyer'' due to being the subject of [[Series/{{Bosch}} his own series]] at Amazon. His role in the plot was instead given to a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute named Cisco.

** Disney lost the license to [[WesternAnimation/Tarzan2000]] after the release of the first game, preventing Deep Jungle from returning to the series ever since. In spite of this, Creator/SquareEnix was able to produce a HD remaster for the original game ''and'' retain Deep Jungle, which would be otherwise impossible without cutting the world out (this is accomplished by crediting Tarzan to Edgar Rice Burroughs' estate). And since some items relating to the controversial world have appeared in ''coded'', it's possible that it's a sign saying that the trope could be [[TheBusCameBack averted one day]].

** Disney lost the license to [{WesternAnimation/Tarzan2000]] after the release of the first game, preventing Deep Jungle from returning to the series ever since. In spite of this, Creator/SquareEnix was able to produce a HD remaster for the original game ''and'' retain Deep Jungle, which would be otherwise impossible without cutting the world out (this is accomplished by crediting Tarzan to Edgar Rice Burroughs' estate). And since some items relating to the controversial world have appeared in ''coded'', it's possible that it's a sign saying that the trope could be [[TheBusCameBack averted one day]].

** Enforced in the games themselves to a certain degree; Disney has strict rules about how the franchises interact. The characters from Disney's earliest works, such as WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse, WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck, WesternAnimation/Goofy, WesternAnimation/Pete, etc., are the ones that have the most flexibility from Disney to be utilized, which is why these characters have more plot important roles (with Pete being Maleficent's henchman and the rest of them being allies of Sora and the other heroes). This flexibility also applies to ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}'' (connected to the early cartoons via Mickey's appearance in the film), with Yen Sid being the BigGood of the series. This leads to both TheStationsOfTheCanon (in that the plots of the levels loosely follow the movies they're based on) and an AlienNonInterferenceClause (in that the natives of each world can't be told about other worlds). The rule of thumb seems to be that if you're tied to a particular movie, you're LockedOutOfTheLoop, though some characters get a bit of leeway in this, including the summons mechanics utilizing various Disney heroes, Maleficent being one of the primary antagonists who often interacts with various Disney worlds, [[WesternAnimation/TheSwordInTheStone Merlin]] and [[WesternAnimation/Cinderella1950 Fairy Godmother]] being mentor figures throughout the series, Ariel being told of it by Ursula, Triton figuring it out (and evidently aware of the Keyblade War) and [[spoiler: The Beast being a partner during Hollow Bastion]] in ''Kingdom Hearts I'', [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud, Zack]] and [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX Auron]] being plot-critical in the Colosseum stages in ''1'', ''Birth By Sleep'', and ''2'', [[spoiler: the TRON level being Hollow Bastion's operating system]] in ''Kingdom Hearts II'', Ursula attacking the Destiny Islands in the prologue of ''3D'', [[WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}} Remy]] being present in Twilight Town in ''Kingdom Hearts III'' as well as being host of a cooking minigame, and both Woody and Buzz Lightyear learning of the other worlds in ''III''. Disney's own strict rules reached their highest point in ''Kingdom Hearts III'' when it limited how the games could portray the worlds and characters of ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}''.

** Enforced in the games themselves to a certain degree; Disney has strict rules about how the franchises interact. The characters from Disney's earliest works, such as WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse, WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck, WesternAnimation/Goofy, WesternAnimation/Pete, etc., are the ones that have the most flexibility from Disney to be utilized, which is why these characters have more plot important roles (with Pete being Maleficent's henchman and the rest of them being allies of Sora and the other heroes). This flexibility also applies to ''WesternAnimation/Fantasia'' (connected to the early cartoons via Mickey's appearance in the film), with Yen Sid being the BigGood of the series. This leads to both TheStationsOfTheCanon (in that the plots of the levels loosely follow the movies they're based on) and an AlienNonInterferenceClause (in that the natives of each world can't be told about other worlds). The rule of thumb seems to be that if you're tied to a particular movie, you're LockedOutOfTheLoop, though some characters get a bit of leeway in this, including the summons mechanics utilizing various Disney heroes, Maleficent being one of the primary antagonists who often interacts with various Disney worlds, [[WesternAnimation/TheSwordInTheStone Merlin]] and [[WesternAnimation/Cinderella1950 Fairy Godmother]] being mentor figures throughout the series, Ariel being told of it by Ursula, Triton figuring it out (and evidently aware of the Keyblade War) and [[spoiler: The Beast being a partner during Hollow Bastion]] in ''Kingdom Hearts I'', [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud, Zack]] and [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX Auron]] being plot-critical in the Colosseum stages in ''1'', ''Birth By Sleep'', and ''2'', [[spoiler: the TRON level being Hollow Bastion's operating system]] in ''Kingdom Hearts II'', Ursula attacking the Destiny Islands in the prologue of ''3D'', [[WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}} Remy]] being present in Twilight Town in ''Kingdom Hearts III'' as well as being host of a cooking minigame, and both Woody and Buzz Lightyear learning of the other worlds in ''III''. Disney's own strict rules reached their highest point in ''Kingdom Hearts III'' when it limited how the games could portray the worlds and characters of ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}''.

** Enforced in the games themselves to a certain degree; Disney has strict rules about how the franchises interact. The characters from Disney's earliest works, such as WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse, WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck, WesternAnimation/Goofy, WesternAnimation/Pete, etc., are the ones that have the most flexibility from Disney to be utilized, which is why these characters have more plot important roles (with Pete being Maleficent's henchman and the rest of them being allies of Sora and the other heroes). This flexibility also applies to ''WesternAnimation/Fantasia1940'' (connected to the early cartoons via Mickey's appearance in the film), with Yen Sid being the BigGood of the series. This leads to both TheStationsOfTheCanon (in that the plots of the levels loosely follow the movies they're based on) and an AlienNonInterferenceClause (in that the natives of each world can't be told about other worlds). The rule of thumb seems to be that if you're tied to a particular movie, you're LockedOutOfTheLoop, though some characters get a bit of leeway in this, including the summons mechanics utilizing various Disney heroes, Maleficent being one of the primary antagonists who often interacts with various Disney worlds, [[WesternAnimation/TheSwordInTheStone Merlin]] and [[WesternAnimation/Cinderella1950 Fairy Godmother]] being mentor figures throughout the series, Ariel being told of it by Ursula, Triton figuring it out (and evidently aware of the Keyblade War) and [[spoiler: The Beast being a partner during Hollow Bastion]] in ''Kingdom Hearts I'', [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud, Zack]] and [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX Auron]] being plot-critical in the Colosseum stages in ''1'', ''Birth By Sleep'', and ''2'', [[spoiler: the TRON level being Hollow Bastion's operating system]] in ''Kingdom Hearts II'', Ursula attacking the Destiny Islands in the prologue of ''3D'', [[WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}} Remy]] being present in Twilight Town in ''Kingdom Hearts III'' as well as being host of a cooking minigame, and both Woody and Buzz Lightyear learning of the other worlds in ''III''. Disney's own strict rules reached their highest point in ''Kingdom Hearts III'' when it limited how the games could portray the worlds and characters of ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}''.

%%** Surprisingly, Creator/SquareEnix was able to produce a HD remaster for the original game ''and'' retain Deep Jungle, which would be otherwise impossible without cutting the world out. And since some items relating to the controversial world have appeared in ''coded'', it's possible that it's a sign saying that the trope could be [[TheBusCameBack averted one day]].
** Enforced in the games themselves to a certain degree; Disney has strict rules about how the franchises interact. This leads to both TheStationsOfTheCanon (in that the plots of the levels loosely follow the movies they're based on) and an AlienNonInterferenceClause (in that the natives of each world can't be told about other worlds). The rule of thumb seems to be that if you're tied to a particular movie, you're LockedOutOfTheLoop, though some characters get a bit of leeway in this, including Maleficent being one of the primary antagonists who often interacts with various Disney worlds, Ariel being told of it by Ursula, Triton figuring it out (and evidently aware of the Keyblade War) and [[spoiler: The Beast being a partner during Hollow Bastion]] in ''Kingdom Hearts I'', [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud, Zack]] and [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX Auron]] being plot-critical in the Colosseum stages in ''1'', ''Birth By Sleep'', and ''2'', [[spoiler: the TRON level being Hollow Bastion's operating system]] in ''Kingdom Hearts II'', Ursula attacking the Destiny Islands in the prologue of ''3D'', and both Woody and Buzz Lightyear learning of it in ''Kingdom Hearts III.'' Disney's own strict rules reached their highest point in ''Kingdom Hearts III'' when it limited how the games could portray the worlds and characters of ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}''.

* Ironically, Universal themselves got into a similar mess after acquiring Creator/DreamWorksAnimation in 2016. Since [=DreamWorks=] and The Rudolph Company licensed the 1964 likeness of ''WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer'' to Ride/SeaWorld (which extends to other parks owned by Sea World such as ''Ride/BuschGardens'' and ''Sesame Place''. Even non-Sea World owned parks such as ''Silver Dollar City'' and ''Dollywood'' also uses their likeness) months before Universal purchased the studio, Universal is unable to use the character or its related elements in their Orlando or Hollywood parks, where [=SeaWorld=] also has a presence. They ''can'' build ''Rudolph'' experiences in Japan and Singapore, of course, provided that they receive blessings from The Rudolph Company. Additionally, Universal also cannot use the characters in markets where [=DreamWorks=] has pre-acquisition licensing agreements in place, such as Australia, Dubai, Russia and China. On a side note, ''WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}}'' characters would've ''also'' been banned from the Orlando and Hollywood parks as well... had [=SeaWorld=] [[LaserGuidedKarma chosen to renew its licensing agreement in late 2015]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie'' was not able to use Franchise/IndianaJones and [[Franchise/StarWars R2-D2]] as main characters in the film because Creator/{{Lucasfilm}} was being purchased by Disney at the time, and they would have no interest in licensing out their characters to their biggest competitors (though they were able to sneak in a [[spoiler: cameo from Han Solo, Lando Calrissian, Chewbacca, C-3PO, and the ''Millennium Falcon'']] before the deal was finalized). They were also unable to secure Disney's permission to use Darth Vader for ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOBatmanMovie'' as [[spoiler: a prisoner of the Phantom Zone, instead confirming via WordOfGod that he escaped]], and made fun of the issue in ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie2TheSecondPart'' by mentioning how Creator/{{Marvel|Comics}} wasn't responding to Bricksburg's calls for help.

** Because of a perpetual licensing agreement Creator/MarvelComics made with Ride/UniversalStudios in 1994, Creator/{{Disney}}, Marvel's parent company since 2010, is not allowed to build anything Marvel-related, be it attractions or character experiences, in [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks Walt Disney World]] Resort in Orlando or the Tokyo Disney Resort in Japan (though they are allowed to preview Marvel films or sell Marvel merchandise, albeit without the "Marvel" branding) due to Universal having parks and Marvel attractions in both regions. This meant that while a monorail train themed after ''[[Film/TheAvengers2012 The Avengers]]'' was allowed to travel between the parking lot and the Magic Kingdom gate, it couldn't go to Epcot since it would entail actually entering the park. Averted with Disney's other resorts, in which they are free to build Marvel attractions whenever they please[[note]]In California, the Universal deal originally extended to their Hollywood park as well, but after the disastrous ''Spider Man Rocks'' and a licensing dispute between Marvel and Universal, the Hollywood rights reverted to Marvel in 2008, just a year before Disney acquired the company[[/note]].

* In ''VideoGame/PacMan'' Museum +, aside of not including the ''Ms. Pac-Man'' arcade game, every appearance of Ms. Pac-Man in the older games is replaced with a new character called Pac-Mom. This is presumably due to a series of lawsuits involving the game's original developer GCC and At Games, who GCC sold their stake in Ms. Pac-Man to. This is also true of the 2022 ''Videogame/PacManWorld'' remake.

* For many years, there was an embargo of Franchise/WonderWoman-related characters due to an obscure clause in the licensing agreements that forbade their use in any project wherein they were not featured in a "starring" role. This has meant that the second ComicBook/WonderGirl, Donna Troy, was initially not able to appear in DC's ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice''. Prior to this, Donna had been barred from appearing in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' and Wonder Woman was the only ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' cast member not to appear on ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock''. The Franchise/WonderWoman (and, by extension, Donna Troy and Cassie Sandsmark) embargo was eventually cleared up. Since then, Wonder Woman has appeared in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'', the Cassie Sandsmark version of Wonder Girl joined ''Young Justice'' in Season 2 (though Donna did not but did eventually appear in Season 3), and Donna Troy was featured in the ''WesternAnimation/SuperBestFriendsForever'' shorts.

* Way back when, Creator/{{FASA}} had obtained a license to use a number of mecha from three anime shows -- ''LightNovel/CrusherJoe'', ''Anime/FangOfTheSunDougram'' and -- yep, you guessed it -- ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross'' for use in their ''[=BattleDroids=]'' wargame. Never heard of ''[=Battledroids=]''? That's because Creator/GeorgeLucas threatened a lawsuit over the word "Droid". So, the game became ''TabletopGame/BattleTech''. Then, in 1994, [[{{Anime/Robotech}} Harmony Gold]] complained and threatened a lawsuit over use of the ''Macross'' mecha in the game. The problem was that FASA had rights to the miniatures that originally came with the game, which were based on the aforementioned designs. But because of the way they were licensed, FASA did not necessarily have rights to the ''artwork'', which Harmony Gold took them to task over. The battlemechs based on those designs continued to be used (The Warhammer and Marauder are some of the most famous 3025-era battlemechs), but not depicted in images, being dubbed the "Unseen".

* In ''[[Franchise/TransformersGeneration1 The Transformers]]'', the Jetfire toy was a licensed repaint of the Bandai [[Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross VF-1S Valkyrie]], and in [[ComicBook/TheTransformersMarvel the comics]] and [[WesternAnimation/TheTransformers the cartoon]], the character was to resemble the action figure [[MerchandiseDriven for obvious reasons]]. However, difficulties with one of the entities involved with ''Anime/{{Macross}}''/''Anime/{{Robotech}}'' (It's not clear whether it was Big West, Creator/TatsunokoProduction or Harmony Gold who put their foot down, though it's heavily implied to be the latter of the three) made it obvious to Creator/{{Hasbro}}, Sunbow and Creator/ToeiAnimation (who had already animated the model in the corresponding toy commercial) that the character could not be used without a major hassle. Instead, the cartoon featured "[[CaptainErsatz Skyfire]]"... and the comic books used Skyfire but ''called him Jetfire.'' Thanks to the multiversal nature of ''Transformers'' fiction, none of this is a ''problem''--Skyfire and Jetfire are considered AlternateUniverse counterparts who happen to be unusually divergent, and modern depictions tend to feature a "Jetfire" who [[CompositeCharacter combines elements of both]]--but it's still weird. Also, due to this, modern toys that are ostensibly based on G1 Jetfire usually either use the cartoon's Skyfire design, or a Valkyrie-style look that nonetheless changes enough details to be legally distinct. This is also why the original G1 Jetfire toy is unlikely to ever be officially reissued by Hasbro or Takara. Following a legal ruling that Harmony Gold can no longer sue Hasbro, a super-deformed version of the original Jetfire toy design was released as a Funko Pop in 2020. Harmony Gold would eventually return the favor and issue fellow licensee Kitzconcept to release a Valkyrie in Jetfire's colors under the name of "God of Flame" in their Macross toyline in 2022.

** Another character based on a Bandai figure who suffered from this was Whirl, originally Louise Oberon's transforming Oberon Gazzette helicopter from the anime series ''Special Armored Battalion Dorvack''. It is believed that fear of similar legal trouble is why Whirl never appeared in the cartoon or ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMarvel'' (though he did pop up in a few issues of the U.K. comic). Roadbuster, based on Misato Mugen's Mugen Calibur jeep fell under the same issues. Both characters would eventually be featured in the IDW comics and get toys for the franchise's "Thrilling 30" toy line.

* Creator/LaurenFaust ran into this problem during the creation of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. Turns out Hasbro lost the rights to nearly all of the 1980's ''Franchise/MyLittlePony'' character names (save for Applejack, Spike, and a few ponies whose names were reused for G3), so most of the main cast of the current cartoon ended up being {{Suspiciously Similar Substitute}}s of the originals with the G3 ponies' names. This seems to have improved as Tirek and Scorpan appear in the series, as has The Smooze and Grogar. Additionally, a girl who bears a very strong resemblance to Megan appears in the Equestria Girls special Rollercoaster of Freindship.

* Since the mid-2000s, Nickelodeon rarely acknowledges ''WesternAnimation/KaBlam'' and leaves the show's characters out of all '90s Nick-related merchandise. This is due to Nickelodeon losing ownership of the show's one-shot shorts (mainly rejected Nicktoon pilots) which had their rights reverted back to their original creators, as well as the music rights for the music video segments (Nick still owns the show's "regular" segments, such as ''Life With Loopy'' and ''Prometheus and Bob''). Thus making it difficult for Nick to ever air the show again or release it on DVD without having to make major edits to episodes to remove segments and music they can no longer use. As such, Nick tends to leave the show out of most of their promotional material, most likely as not to overpromote a series they legally can't do too much with anymore. While they finally began to acknowledge the series more around 2016, such as airing the show on [=NickSplat=] now and again, featuring fanart during breaks when the show does air, and showing a Loopy cosplayer's photo during Halloween 2016, the fact that they only have a very limited amount of episodes they can air without major edits makes the possibility of any merchandise extremely slim.