View previous topic :: View next topic |
Author |
Message |
|
nhat
Joined: 21 Jan 2008
Posts: 922
|
Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 5:59 pm
|
|
|
Pokemon has become pretty well known, kind of like Mickey mouse. Just using a mascot suit that is used for non-profit, I don't see any harm there.
|
Back to top |
|
|
Greed1914
Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4668
|
Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 6:22 pm
|
|
|
nhat wrote: | Pokemon has become pretty well known, kind of like Mickey mouse. Just using a mascot suit that is used for non-profit, I don't see any harm there. |
The harm would really come from the message that people might interpret from them doing nothing. If they didn't do anything this time, somebody else might think it's ok because nothing happened, and eventually you have several groups using your legally protected material for their own purposes. People try to abuse perceived loopholes and gaps all the time, so it's better to be as consistent as possible.
I'd say a fair compromise was worked out. The costume did look very Pokemon-ish, but the drawing seemed fine to me. Dropping the costume, keeping the drawing, and moving on seems like the most civil way for this to go.
|
Back to top |
|
|
Racheldoublemm
Joined: 06 Feb 2011
Posts: 112
Location: San Francisco
|
Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 6:28 pm
|
|
|
The mascot looks like a combination of Gir and Pikachu. I think with a few design changes it would have been fine. Maybe a bit of testing should have been done before actually promoting it.
However, it is positively adorable and a shame that it didn't work out.
|
Back to top |
|
|
Sunday Silence
Joined: 22 Jun 2010
Posts: 2047
|
Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 6:32 pm
|
|
|
It still looks like Pichu. How these people thought "Oh, it's Pikachu" need to learn up on their Pokemon.
|
Back to top |
|
|
ljaesch
Joined: 03 Apr 2009
Posts: 299
Location: Enumclaw, WA
|
Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 6:51 pm
|
|
|
It looks like a good compromise ended up being made between the two parties.
Seeing the drawing included in this article, it looks different than the one that was posted on MSN Japan last week. The drawing being shown here looks enough different from the Pikachu or Pichu characters that it's much less likely to confuse little kids. The picture of the costume confused my 6-year-old when she saw it last week; her reaction when she saw it was to exclaim, "Pikachu!"
As for the costume, the face definitely looked a lot like Pikachu. Like I said last week, the face on the head of that costume looked eerily similar to my 6-year-old's Pikachu plush toy (the eyes, the cheeks, and even the mouth matched perfectly).
|
Back to top |
|
|
ommadon
Joined: 04 Oct 2010
Posts: 55
|
Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 7:11 pm
|
|
|
The ears are different shapes, and lack the marked tips. There is evidently no tail. The hands are black. It is not pikachu, it is just a generic rosy-cheeked, cat-mouthed, black-dot-eyed creature. Poke'mon evidently has a copyright on "so easy 5 year-old children can draw this cute thing" characters.
|
Back to top |
|
|
Lightning Leo
Joined: 04 Jul 2010
Posts: 311
Location: Earth
|
Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 8:31 pm
|
|
|
The costume looks a lot like Pichu... the original character design, not so much. This is a pretty good compromise, methinks.
|
Back to top |
|
|
enurtsol
Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14896
|
Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 1:03 am
|
|
|
nhat wrote: | Pokemon has become pretty well known, kind of like Mickey mouse. Just using a mascot suit that is used for non-profit, I don't see any harm there. |
Unlike copyrights, a trademark can be lost if not protected. Nintendo is just protecting its trademark if something is too close. The city and Nintendo could have a fight, or they could make a deal together such that the city gets to keep using the mascot costume, with Nintendo's understanding (since they own the trademark).
ommadon wrote: | The ears are different shapes, and lack the marked tips. There is evidently no tail. The hands are black. It is not pikachu, it is just a generic rosy-cheeked, cat-mouthed, black-dot-eyed creature. Poke'mon evidently has a copyright on "so easy 5 year-old children can draw this cute thing" characters. |
That's the hazard with anime/manga using such simplistic faces.
|
Back to top |
|
|
|