AHI Planet of the Apes Action Figures
Azrak Hamway International (AHI) was founded in 1964 and initially offered cheap novelty style toys. Then in 1974 they acquired Remco Toys and produced better quality toys under the Remco brand, including licensed merchandise such as Universal Monsters, Space 1999, Batman etc. AHI also created the Child Guidance division to produce child learning toys. The Remco and Child Guidance brands were bought out by Jakks Pacific in 1997.
AHI was already in the process of negotiating the license for Planet of the Apes merchandise with 20th Century Fox in 1973 when Marty Abrams took his young son Kenny to the movies for one of the Go Ape! Marathons of the POTA movies. The story goes that Marty, the president of Mego Corp, was so impressed that he immediately got on the phone to Fox and outbid AHI for the action figure part of the license, however AHI retained the license for the other merchandise.
Despite this, AHI decided to produce a line of “Action Apeman” figures, that was obviously targeted towards this market and to undermine Mego’s POTA line.
This resulted in Mego and 20th Century Fox filing a lawsuit seeking an injunction and damages against AHI. AHI eventually agreed to the injunction and a payment for damages, but they retained their license for other POTA merchandise.
Sources:
Mego Action Figure Toys (Schiffer Book for Collectors) by John Bonavita
Official Price Guide to Action Figures Stuart W Wells III and Jim Man
Toyfare Magazine
Sources:
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