Forum - View topicNEWS: The Pokémon Company Demands US$4,000 From Party Planner to Settle Lawsuit
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Mr. Oshawott
Posts: 6773 |
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Even if one were to run a party at a loss while using copyrighted IP for promotion of a commercial event, charging for admission, and selling copyrighted goods and/or goods that are associated with copyrighted IP, he/she would still be vulnerable to being sued since a company would view it as an attempt of profiting off of their IP. |
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meruru
Posts: 475 |
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He was putting his own money into it. Also, it doesn't make sense to me why you would point this out, as you're free to think whether the company should have done it out not, just I have my own lines where I think they should stop. This is not a question of legality, but whether they've been too harsh to their fan, since it's up to them how hard they want to persue it. I personally think it's unkind to go after people who are just being fans so harshly. I have more sympathy for the company, however, if it is true that they had sent c&d's to him before, and he ignored them. |
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Kikaioh
Posts: 1205 Location: Antarctica |
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So not just a serial offender, but also someone who should have known better about copyright. It probably also wasn't such a smart idea to take a game targeted at children and associate it with adult beverages. So it's really all on Mr. Jones. |
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Spotlesseden
Posts: 3514 Location: earth |
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Many of those fans events make a lot of money if they know what they are doing. Your can't just take their word for it about losing money. Nintendo(TPCi) doesn't go after you if you make everything free and open to public.
Basically, as long you don't charge people money, you are fine. |
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Gasero
Posts: 939 Location: USA |
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I respect a company's right to protect their copyright. It is unfortunate that The Pokemon Company did not back away after the party was canceled. The lawyer they have on this case probably charges $4000 just to file the lawsuit.
Once the party was canceled, it would have been nice for TPC to cancel the lawsuit. I hope in the future people realize that they should not be trying to generate revenue from someone else's property without permission. |
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Mr. Oshawott
Posts: 6773 |
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Oh yes indeed. At least Mr. Jones can take solace that The Pokémon Company was lenient at suing him for only $4,000 through a settlement; as massive as the lawsuit may seem, they could have easily sued him for five times that much. |
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TsukasaElkKite
Posts: 4003 |
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I'm surprised it was only $4000
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Somer-_-
Posts: 1013 Location: Canada |
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http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2015/10/05/the-pokemon-company-sued-a-party-planner-for-infringement-but-not-all-is-as-it-seems.aspx
Looks like the settlement offer's been withdrawn. Maybe they go to court now?
I understand that. The point I was trying to make was that no profit was made. |
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SWAnimefan
Posts: 634 |
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If money was the real factor, then they would've went to a settlement, because the cost of their lawyers is far more expensive than getting $4000 from the guy.
Wrong, the article clearly said he made $500 in ticket sales, which is a major no-no in Copyright laws. You are not allowed to accept any kind of income or compensation when dealing with the copyright of another person or company. That's why you can draw fan art or cosplay, but when you start making money off that fan art or making costumes for cosplay without expressed permission of that company, you violate the copyright laws. So I'm afraid this guy is going to lose this case. |
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leep
Posts: 9 |
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I think this case is frivolous at best and likely to be dismissed.
Pokemon can be considered a public domain IP, since it is a well known contraction of the original Nintendo Copyright of Pocket Monsters. While TPCi may own the international copyright to the brand of Pokemon, the fact that the public automatically associates certain characters (Pikachu) to this brand means that it has passed beyond the realm of private copyright into public domain. This is somewhat similar to the recent ruling on "Happy Birthday to You" in that the associated products are of such ubiquitous association that one cannot be separated from the other. Further in support is the fact that the Planner complied with the cease and desist letter. While the Planner may have made a small profit, in terms of the value of the copyright, it can be considered insignificant and the Judge may award damages to the Defendant for harassment and apply sanctions to the Plaintiff for filing a frivolous complaint that takes up the Court's time. |
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Foxaika
Posts: 365 Location: Columbus, Ohio |
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I think by profit he means coming out with more money than he started. According to him, he is throwing this party at a loss. The tickets are supposedly to cover some of the party costs. I think that is what Somer is getting at. Edit: *was throwing the party at a loss. |
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leafy sea dragon
Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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TPCi is somewhat legally abusive towards other branches of Nintendo too. Whereas most of Nintendo's IPs freely cross over with each other as cameos, merchandise, and such, TPCi seems to only allow it to happen if it's Smash Bros. Whereas Satoru Iwata had promised to be more open with licenses to third-party manufacturers, TPCi has closed itself further.
Trust me, I've worked with some small independent movie companies, and some of them have no clue how IP protection works. They get away with it only because they're small and low-profile. Works the other way too--oftentimes, they make no attempt to protect their own IPs, and when they lose those rights, they can't understand why.
If Wizards of the Coast is involved, then it's an official tournament that's done according to Wizards of the Coast's rules. Prereleases are definitely official; otherwise, it'd be kind of suspicious to get cards in advance.
Yep, even if you don't make back as much as you spent, you can still get struck with a lawsuit because you are collecting money for your own purposes. The fact that this guy was charging for admission into the party was likely a major factor in him getting caught in this case. I wonder if it wouldn't have happened had he legally declared the party a nonprofit event, if the ticket money was going to a charity, or he promised to not let the ticket fees go above whatever would've been the estimated cost of the party.
"Happy Birthday to You" is not technically in the public domain. During the case, it was revealed that the original sheet music, which Warner/Chappell has the rights to, only pertains to one specific version of the song, and only when played on the piano. You could play it on a guitar and it'll be legal, and you could change a chord here and there and play it on the piano and it'll be legal. It's not a case of public recognizability. Otherwise, Mickey Mouse and Ziploc bags would be public domain. What you're thinking of is "trademark erosion," which happens when the trademark holder of a word or phrase fails to defend him- or herself in court when outside parties use that word or phrase enough that it falls into the public domain. And in each case, a judge has to declare it public domain. As unfortunate as it sounds, this case is necessary for TCPi to keep a lock on its own copyrights and trademarks. If they let it slide, it's possible that they'd inadvertently open the floodgates, tons of other people will use the Pokémon name and Pikachu's image, and they'll become genericized. Unlike some other game companies, TCPi relies exclusively on one single IP, and hence it's one they absolutely cannot afford to lose for any reason. |
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Somer-_-
Posts: 1013 Location: Canada |
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Thank you that's exactly right. I'm saying he made revenue not profit. And I'm well aware that that fact doesn't get him out of this. |
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Dessa
Posts: 4438 |
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To explain further, trademark erosion leading to public domain is when a trademark holder fails to defend the trademark, and it becomes a generic term. Such as Xerox for copy machines, Bandaid for a little piece of adhesive with a pad on it. With Pokemon, yes, it's well known, but no one uses the term for anything other than Pokemon. The best anime/Japanese-culture-related hypothetical situations I can think up would be if other people started using "Gundam" or "Zord" for their giant mechs, and Sunrise or Saban/Disney (depending on the era) didn't go after them about it. Once the words became common lexicon (and ruled on by a judge as such) for any giant mech, the company wouldn't be able to go after anyone using that. Basically "you snooze you lose". |
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Nosehair
Posts: 79 |
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The article seems biased, making it seem like big bad TPCi is picking on a poor fan, but in reality he is a repeat offender, for four years he has used the pokemon name to profit for himself with products that go against TPCi's image. Has TPCi asked him to c&d before? $4,000 is nothing for the company, why 4k exactly? 1k for each previous offense. He reports that he was at a loss with ticket sales and prizes, but he didn't mention projected earnings from the main event itself. You guys are underestimating how much you can make in a single night with alcohol alone. The guy could easily make a few grand even if only a couple hundred people showed up. Look at the picture, the guy is trying so hard to look like a victim, but he's a schemer and smeared the pokemon name with sex and alcohol for his own profit. TPCi doesnt want money from him, they just really don't want pikachu being used as a sex symbol. the 4k is just to get him to stop permanently. If he tries this again next year, I'm sure TPCi will ask for double.
Also, using a crowdfunding site to pay off a lawsuit sounds so wrong, there should be a law against that. |
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