Fan Who Threw Pokémon-Themed Party Hit With Lawsuit

Megalith

Megalith

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Where were these lawyers when the other four parties happened? Suing little kids for having Pokémon-themed lemonade stands?

…Pokémon’s lawyers took issue with a poster and Facebook post for the event that contained pictures of Pikachu and Snivy, two of Pokémon’s copyrighted characters. In the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in the Western District of Washington, Pokémon’s lawyers say they aim to “put an end to and obtain redress” for the “blatant and willful infringement.”
 
They could have used this as a massive PR stunt to increase their appeal, but chose to shoot themselves in the foot by creating backlash in an already lawsuit fearing society.

What's next? Tracking down the artists of all those fan-made drawings that comes up on a Google image search and suing each and every one for copywrite infringement and character defamation?
 
doesnt Nintendo own Pokemon? some thing doesnt seem right here
 
Elios said:
doesnt Nintendo own Pokemon? some thing doesnt seem right here
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Nintendo owns "The Pokemon Company International".

The only thing that seems odd about this, is that they didn't simply send a cease and desist. Like Quartz-1 said, when you have a trademark you need to protect it. If they do not actively attempt to protect their trademarks, they lose them. I'd be willing to bet that they got some new guy in their legal department, and the reality is hosting a big party at PAX Prime is going to draw a little more attention than a birthday party or a lemonade stand involving 5 year olds, and that attention can be things like this.
 
Quartz-1 said:
Sadly, they need to do this to protect their trademarks.
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It's not clear if this was being thrown with any kind of profit motive. If not, than this lawsuit would be the same as me getting sued for having a Green Bay Packer themed party at my house to watch the game with my friends and family.
 
Seems pretty clear they were using someone else's copyrighted for their own for-profit activities (this was an event that they were charging admission for), can't say they have much of a case.
 
OldandCrusty said:
It's not clear if this was being thrown with any kind of profit motive. If not, than this lawsuit would be the same as me getting sued for having a Green Bay Packer themed party at my house to watch the game with my friends and family.
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Apparently the guy who threw the party always lost money on it.
 
DejaWiz said:
They could have used this as a massive PR stunt to increase their appeal, but chose to shoot themselves in the foot by creating backlash in an already lawsuit fearing society.
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I agree. They could have come over and raised the roof to new heights with this party. But nope - lawsuit! LOL. Talk about reaching out to the fans.
 
Why is the guy trying to raise the full $4,000?
Why not say "This is the money I have, and this is the money I need?"
Then have a campaign for the amount he NEEDS.
 
Important facts:

- The "fan" throwing the party is actually a commercial event organiser.
- He was charging $2 for entry.
- He intended to have a bar in the party selling Pokemon themed shots.

This sounds like a for profit venture with his intention being to cover his costs with the entry fee and then make a profit on the bar sales. Now that it failed he's trying to play the victim, and the media are all to enthusiastic to portray him as such.
 
Mr Milquetoast said:
Important facts:

- The "fan" throwing the party is actually a commercial event organiser.
- He was charging $2 for entry.
- He intended to have a bar in the party selling Pokemon themed shots.

This sounds like a for profit venture with his intention being to cover his costs with the entry fee and then make a profit on the bar sales. Now that it failed he's trying to play the victim, and the media are all to enthusiastic to portray him as such.
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Thank you for this post, this is what I expect on the [H] forums
 
wow his having lawyers demanding only 4,000 dollars and his complaining? He did sell tickets so he did have a form of income. It still seems like his doing it for profit and that his business scheme keep coming out short.

He should be happy he could pay some money to layers and be out free of a lawsuit. In my case I did not even earn any cent and I just got thrown into a lawsuit grouped as a terrorist and the government want to charge me minimum of 1 million dollars. While I have to pay expensive lawyers just to fight the case where the government might still win.
 
Screw Nintendo, N3DS is my last system from them after all this shit this last few months.

Taking LP money? Fine, cool, whatever.

Issuing copyright strikes and having ppl's videos banned? Fining a guy $4000 for throwing a party?

What's next, going after every bloody Dairy Queen across the country that makes a Pikachu cake?

This shit is absolutely bonkers, they guys party was even titled "Unofficial"

Big N needs their fucking asses stomped, they're so anti-consumer lately its insane.
 
Mr Milquetoast said:
Important facts:

- The "fan" throwing the party is actually a commercial event organiser.
- He was charging $2 for entry.
- He intended to have a bar in the party selling Pokemon themed shots.

This sounds like a for profit venture with his intention being to cover his costs with the entry fee and then make a profit on the bar sales. Now that it failed he's trying to play the victim, and the media are all to enthusiastic to portray him as such.
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$2 to cover costs and he loses money each year he does this. That sounds like a profit venture worth investing in!

Just more cock-sucking lawyers being asses.
 
toffty said:
$2 to cover costs and he loses money each year he does this. That sounds like a profit venture worth investing in!

Just more cock-sucking lawyers being asses.
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Yeah the lawyers are going overboard on this, but so is the guy. He obviously has money to do everything at a loss, yet, he doesn't have $4,000 laying around? The lawyers are being more than reasonable with the cost, and he is being greedy and wants the community to pay the fees for him.
 
This is pretty stupid tbf.

Imagen if anyone who dressed as a minion was sued, everyone would be getting sued haha
 
toffty said:
$2 to cover costs and he loses money each year he does this. That sounds like a profit venture worth investing in!

Just more cock-sucking lawyers being asses.
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Just because his business is failing doesn't mean he isn't purposely and commercially infringing. It's just another indicator that he's a dummy...and should pay up.
 
Babbster said:
Just because his business is failing doesn't mean he isn't purposely and commercially infringing. It's just another indicator that he's a dummy...and should pay up.
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It wasn't being run as a business. It was a party by a fan for fans.


Just more corporate fucking of the very customers that already make them rich.

Fair use is dead because you have to be rich enough to purchase it's protections, because in copyright law you are guilty until you prove your innocence in an expensive trial. Usually one that costs a hell of a lot more than just settling.
 
ShamisOMally said:
Screw Nintendo, N3DS is my last system from them after all this shit this last few months.

Taking LP money? Fine, cool, whatever.

Issuing copyright strikes and having ppl's videos banned? Fining a guy $4000 for throwing a party?

What's next, going after every bloody Dairy Queen across the country that makes a Pikachu cake?

This shit is absolutely bonkers, they guys party was even titled "Unofficial"

Big N needs their fucking asses stomped, they're so anti-consumer lately its insane.
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You know Nintendo doesn't own Pokemon and didn't initiate this lawsuit right?
 
UrielDagda said:
It wasn't being run as a business. It was a party by a fan for fans.
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Once you start charging people money, it's a problem; it's always been a problem and everybody knows it. Most of the time nobody notices and nobody gets hassled but this time the dude got caught. Again, he should pay up.

If we're ever to have a hope of eventual intellectual property law reform (and we really need it), everyone's at least got to accept the reasonable applications of current law.
 
ocellaris said:
You know Nintendo doesn't own Pokemon and didn't initiate this lawsuit right?
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Yes, Nintendo owns Pokemon. As mentioned earlier in the thread, The Pokemon Company International is owned by Nintendo and handles the marketing and licensing of Pokemon.

For the guy stating "imagine if everyone who dressed as a minion got sued", well they wouldn't get sued unless they did something dumb like setup a booth "Get your picture taken with a minion for $1", it doesn't matter if the revenue doesn't cover the cost of the minion costume, booth, or whatever. When you have a trademark, you have to protect it, and that means not allowing people to use your trademark for business. Making a profit or even taking a loss is not relevant.
 
Elios said:
doesnt Nintendo own Pokemon? some thing doesnt seem right here
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No, that seems about right for them. This is their normal reaction.

Quartz-1 said:
Sadly, they need to do this to protect their trademarks.
Click to expand...

This here is the truth. It is easy to sit here and say fuck them they should have allowed it, but there needs to be lines. He was using pokemon without proper consent. The owners of a copy written item need to fight every semi valid case that comes up otherwise they can lose their copy write. So while it does seem fucked up to a degree, they were right to have done something. Now that said, starting with a cease and desist letter would be the normal action instead of right to court. But we are talking about Nintendo, they like going over the top with things.

scojer said:
Why is the guy trying to raise the full $4,000?
Why not say "This is the money I have, and this is the money I need?"
Then have a campaign for the amount he NEEDS.
Click to expand...

You are assuming he has any spare money, he works in a café. Probably only makes min wages, so after having just went to PAX and paying for the DJ (which he probably paid for canceling at short notice even with no party) there is a chance that he just doesn't have any money left. It does look like people are giving to him. He is up to almost $3500 right now.
 
ocellaris said:
You know Nintendo doesn't own Pokemon and didn't initiate this lawsuit right?
Click to expand...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pokémon_Company

The Pokémon Company (株式会社ポケモン Kabushiki gaisha Pokemon) is a corporation owned by Nintendo that is responsible for marketing and licensing the Pokémon franchise. It is affiliated with Game Freak and Creatures. It began operating in 1998 and adopted the moniker Pokémon Ltd. in 2000. The company is headquartered in the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower in Roppongi Rokuchome, Minato, Tokyo.

The company has separate divisions that handle operations in different parts of the world, with The Pokémon Company International supporting the territories outside of Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. In South Korea, the operations are handled by Pokémon Korea, Inc.
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Which makes sense. Pokémon spun off into much more than just a game so you needed more that just a dev team. You needed somebody to handle the game, cartoons, toys, clothing lines... all of which is much more than you normally have with a game. So the ideal thing is to have a division that handles all of that stuff for that IP to make sure it is being handled well.
 
Exavior said:
You are assuming he has any spare money, he works in a café. Probably only makes min wages, so after having just went to PAX and paying for the DJ (which he probably paid for canceling at short notice even with no party) there is a chance that he just doesn't have any money left. It does look like people are giving to him. He is up to almost $3500 right now.
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He is a manager of a cafe, in Seattle. I'm sure he is doing fairly well.
 
Disney once sued daycare centers in Florida that had Disney characters in a wall mural ... not that unusual and perfectly legal (the suing part, not the unauthorized used of Trademarked materials) ;)
 
sliverjazz said:
I saw a porn when she was dressed as minnie mouse so did they get sued by disney?
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Depends ... you can use trademarked and copyrighted materials as part of either satire or commentary ... generally porn versions of established materials follow plot lines of movies (loosely) and make characters that might look and sound like their counterparts but they usually don't have have the same names and they come up with some porn version of the materials being satirized (Forest Hump, Pulp Friction, On Golden Blonde, etc) :p
 
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