Houghton Mifflin Interactive Corp. (HMI) and
Parable, an Internet multimedia company, launched a promotion featuring
Curious George Things on the Web, offering fans bona fide interactive
collectibles of their favorite character.
Fans are invited to freely take, share and reuse Curious George Things
(multimedia creations) on personal Web pages or offline.
“Curious George is one of the best loved characters in children’s literature
and multimedia,” said Conall Ryan, president and publisher of HMI. “We are
thrilled to provide this opportunity for the Internet community to enjoy
Curious George.”
Using Parable’s patent-pending Thing technology, HMI said it
incorporated copyright and locking features into Curious George Things to be
able to share the classic brand on the Web in a secure way. Financial
arrangements were not disclosed.
“The need to protect brand integrity is an obvious issue on the Internet, and
Curious George is an excellent example of a classic brand that cannot be
compromised. Protecting the integrity of a brand is made a non-issue with
Things,” said Eric Bedell, president and CEO of Parable. “By
using our technology, HMI can maintain control of their intellectual property
while providing fans with fun and interactive collectibles of this great
character.”
Currently, there are seven Curious George Things located on The World of Curious George that
are free for the taking. In the future, HMI plans to expand the collection of
Curious George Things to include content from new HMI multimedia titles.
Curious George Things are also available through Parable’s ThingWorld and through a
network of distribution sites that includes GeoCities, Lycos, theglobe.com
and Tripod.
Houghton Mifflin Interactive, a subsidiary of Houghton Mifflin Co., publishes
children’s, reference and family digital adaptations of Houghton Mifflin books
and original CD-ROMs and on-line works.
