Funi Loses "One Piece"

[rugrats1]

They never announced it, so where do the people get the idea they ever had the license to it in the first place??

I don't know if they ever did announce it, but they did register the "One Piece" name with the US government:

Word Mark ONE PIECE
Goods and Services (ABANDONED) IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: Pre-recorded videocassettes, laser disks, video compact discs, digital video discs, recordable compact disks, DVD-ROMS, DVD-RAMS, video disks containing animated cartoon programs
Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING
Serial Number 76392708
Filing Date April 4, 2002
Current Filing Basis 1B
Original Filing Basis 1B
Published for Opposition October 29, 2002
Owner (APPLICANT) Funimation Productions, Ltd. Funimation Productions, LLC. PARTNERSHIP TEXAS 6851 N.E. Loop 820, Suite 247 Fort Worth TEXAS 76180
Type of Mark TRADEMARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator DEAD
Abandonment Date July 22, 2003

This, as you can see, came from July, but it wasn't discovered in the US trademarks database until recently, meaning that Funi did get the rights to the One Piece anime, but chose to lay low.

(Source: http://www.uspto.gov/main/trademarks.htm )