>>90437416FOX is allowed to make toys, they just don't make many of them.
https://www.figurerealm.com/actionfigure?action=seriesitemlist&id=285Part of the problem for them is indeed Marvel - but it's because Marvel as a whole brand has become vastly more popular since 2000 when FOX started making X-Men movies, so in effect - since FOX only has the right to make movie-related merch - they'd be competing with Marvel.
Back in 2000 to 2006 it was different because although Marvel was producing toys (well, under license they were getting made), FOX had three periods in which their own merch was much more visible. This had the effect of driving sales for Marvel as well; but this probably wasn't a huge effect, or FOX would be benefiting from the same today with the role of the two companies reversed.
>>90437286Marvel owns the X-Men, period. FOX has a contract which lets them make movies and tv shows, provided those are adaptations (which stops studios from simply creating 90% new stuff under a popular brand and continuing to exploit their own creations after the contract expires, unauthorized crossovers, and inappropriate adaptations).
What that means is that Marvel received an initial payment from FOX (in the 90s) for "the franchise", and makes an additional payment from the production budget whenever a movie or tv show is actually made.
But the contract is time limited - probably initially it was about a decade, which is normal for movie rights to anything. It gives a studio time to decide whether they really want to make something (and the secondary payments make it worth the seller's time). Once you make and release a movie, you get additional time, which (rarely) can take you over the initial time period of the contract, as has happened with X-Men. Reboots may completely re-set the time limit - but that likely only works within the original contract period, not the additional time of a series like this, which prevents studios walking away with your property.
