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The Pokémon Company Sues Fan for Copyright Infringement, Demands $4,000 in Damages

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Corpekata

Banned
Agreed - lots of game developers throw parties during PAX using similar posters, and I don't think the "unofficial" in the name is enough to relieve all confusion about it. Holding it in a bar is worse, the Pokemon Company wouldn't want their brand associated with drinking. And charging money for tickets makes it far worse, even if you aren't making a profit you are now using the Pokemon IP in a commercial venture: people are paying money to be in a Pokemon party during PAX. And what if Nintendo wanted to throw a Pokemon-themed party of their own? Then there would be real confusion.

I bet if this was a one-time thing a lawsuit with $4000 settlement wouldn't have been done, but the poster makes it obvious this has been happening for years, they wanted to make sure it was shut down for good.

What situation are you imagining that there would be real confusion between this small get together and a multinational group throwing a party? The facebook post in the complaint celebrates 30 people attending for pete's sake.

Nobody is confused by this.
 

Tregard

Soothsayer
Nobody is arguing TPC aren't in the right, it's just a case of not being a dick and realise the profit this guy is making (IF any) isn't even a drop in the bucket to TPC.

They're not wrong, they're just assholes.
 

ec0ec0

Member
Exactly. There has to be more to it than is being reported.

This is what i was thinking.

Also
post-51553-joker-its-about-sending-a-mess-LGsx.gif

Apparently the 7th best film of all time.
 

Dryk

Member
Nobody is arguing TPC aren't in the right, it's just a case of not being a dick and realise the profit this guy is making (IF any) isn't even a drop in the bucket to TPC.

They're not wrong, they're just assholes.
The Pokemon Company's lawyers were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should. Is stifling this culture really worth $4000? Personally I don't think so, themed parties like these are part of what keeps the brand alive in the adult population.
 
Please don't dispense legal advice when you don't have a clue. Extortion? Do you even know what that means? If the guy doesn't have enough money to settle a $4-$5k case, what makes you think he can counter sue? You do know when you lose a case, you also have to pay the other side legal fees incurred not to mention have to pay filing fees for such a frivolous lawsuit that will be thrown out the first second a judge reads it.

I don't care about the Pokémon Company. They sound petty here, but the guys been running unofficial events for 5 years at this cafe and has been charging money for tickets, even if it's to pay for DJ/Events. He's using Pokémon to not only promote his cafe venue, but trying to gain fame from their brand. Just saying I'll cancel it, doesn't mean anything.

I hope he eventually reaches an agreement where he doesn't have to pay, but he's in the wrong here on multiple points.
Reading compresion is HARD. Like the first post on your page states that it wasn't at his cafe and the tickets were only charged this year.
 
Regardless of whether or not The Pokemon Company is technically in the right, I won't be supporting them any longer and will not buy any more Pokemon-branded merchandise. I will not support companies that stick it to their fans this hard. People running events like this are doing it out of the love in their heart for the franchises, and it absolutely guts me to see companies that have more than enough money as it is using opportunities like this to screw over the little guy for a few extra bucks. All they've shown me here is that they don't really care about their fans or the community that has built up around their works, and therefore, I don't care about them either.
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Maybe you should check the sources when someone posts factual information. A legal boilerplate, what looks like a business boilerplate, and a broken link is not very encouraging.

Regardless, ownership doesn't have to be 100% or even technically 51% to be in control, or even responsible in part. It is possible to hold a controlling interest in a company even if you have less than 50% of the stock.

Yeah and the way wikipedia worded it is wrong. It is not full Nintendo ownership as it is an outright falsehood.

And as people said before, even if Nintendo owns part of it, they give them so much leeway. They should have done something? Yeah probably. But they've already made given them free-range about this.

At least in the 90s the games had soul. A modern Pokemon game is just as formulaic as Madden or Call of Duty. Almost zero innovation, and when there's a little bit, it's always half-assed. For starters, the 3DS games aren't even in 3D. Second, the character customization in the game is literally 3 different shirts. Where's the Pokemon follow you feature from HGSS? Fuck you, that's where. Zero streetpass functionality in X & Y, then you get to ORAS and Mega Evolutions. Oh but only like 16 Pokemon have that ability, which practically breaks the game. Why doesn't Pikachu mega evolve? Because TPC doesn't give a fuck what you want. Where's the Pokemon Amiibo? "Fuck your Pokemon Amiibo, and the ones that are out can't use Pokemon sounds."

So the few fans they have left after being fucked with for 15 years want to hold a tournament, and TPC is suing them for FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS. TPC generates 1.5 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR. There is NO EXCUSE for this shit. I'm done with Pokemon until the games stop sucking, which if Go is any indicator, won't be any time soon.

Your post would have been sensible had it not been for that shitty "soul" aspect. It outright ruins credibility of the whole thing. And hilariously enough the complaints you posted is applicable even to this 90's game.
 

IzzyF3

Member
Sorry to go off topic, but TPC being separate from Nintendo has me curious. Does that mean something like Konami can buy out TPC and make pikachu pachinko machines out of them?
 

jax

Banned
Yeah and the way wikipedia worded it is wrong. It is not full Nintendo ownership as it is an outright falsehood.

And as people said before, even if Nintendo owns part of it, they give them so much leeway. They should have done something? Yeah probably. But they've already made given them free-range about this.



Your post would have been sensible had it not been for that shitty "soul" aspect. It outright ruins credibility of the whole thing. And hilariously enough the complaints you posted is applicable even to this 90's game.
Uh, no they aren't? The game boy didn't have 3D or streetpass. They also innovated like crazy, Gold & Silver had a shitload of new Pokemon and for the first time ever the ability to go back through a previous franchise entry.. That shit hadn't been done before or since.

Anyone can see Red, Blue, Gold and Silver had more heart than the half-assed clones they spit out every other year.
 
Alright.
jaxapollo said:
For starters, the 3DS games aren't even in 3D.
The hardware is pretty weak compared to the model quality in the game. That said, 3D adds literally nothing to the games.

jaxapollo said:
Second, the character customization in the game is literally 3 different shirts.
3 different *skin colors*. As well as a very large amount of outfits.. Customization literally didn't exist before G6, and this isn't even a bad thing. You couldn't even be a girl in G1-2 until Crystal.
jaxapollo said:
Where's the Pokemon follow you feature from HGSS? Fuck you, that's where.
This is not as big of an issue as you make it out to be.

jaxapollo said:
Zero streetpass functionality in X & Y,
The local and online trade/battle functionality compared to prior games is quite beyond what was in previous games. One touch to initiate communications with any random player in the world. Adding players you've interacted with locally or over the Internet to easily do anything with.
jaxapollo said:
then you get to ORAS and Mega Evolutions. Oh but only like 16 Pokemon have that ability, which practically breaks the game.
26 mons, 28 evos in XY. 20 mons, 20 evos in ORAS. Plus, this is the first gen they've introduced this mechanic - why would they add a large amount without measuring the impact of a few at a time?

In any case, it's your choice whether to use the mechanic or not in the main game.

jaxapollo said:
Why doesn't Pikachu mega evolve? Because TPC doesn't give a fuck what you want.
Or maybe because they've shown that they're adding mega evos to fully-evolved Pokemon. Come on.

jaxapollo said:
Where's the Pokemon Amiibo? "Fuck your Pokemon Amiibo, and the ones that are out can't use Pokemon sounds."
Maybe there needs to be a game which needs Pokemon Amiibo before Nintendo would be willing to make more.


jaxapollo said:
So the few fans they have left after being fucked with for 15 years want to hold a tournament, and TPC is suing them for FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS.
There are several reasons why they made the complaint. Holding a tournament is not one of them, especially since it was a Smash Bros tournament.

jaxapollo said:
I'm done with Pokemon until the games stop sucking, which if Go is any indicator, won't be any time soon.
Okay.
Uh, no they aren't? The game boy didn't have 3D or streetpass. They also innovated like crazy, Gold & Silver had a shitload of new Pokemon and for the first time ever the ability to go back through a previous franchise entry.. That shit hadn't been done before or since.

Anyone can see Red, Blue, Gold and Silver had more heart than the half-assed clones they spit out every other year.
Heart? Give me a break.

I like G1/2 and all (played them when I was 10), but ignoring what the following games did for some nebulous vague reason as "no innovation, first games had heart" is pretty shortsighted. If you don't like the games, then don't play. Or at least use some more valid reasons than just spewing half-baked reasons. There are actual complaints you could make about each generation (including the first and second), with no need to go off into nostalgia la-la land.
 

fallingdove

Member
This is such horseshit.

I hate how Nintendo runs its company/companies. They think they are protecting their intellectual properties but they are really just burning the only people that give a shit about their company.

I probably couldn't live without PC and Microsoft and Sony as platform holders but I would have no problems with Nintendo going out of business.
 

Pikma

Banned
This is such horseshit.

I hate how Nintendo runs its company/companies. They think they are protecting their intellectual properties but they are really just burning the only people that give a shit about their company.

I probably couldn't live without PC and Microsoft and Sony as platform holders but I would have no problems with Nintendo going out of business.

Holy fucking shit, the stupidly uninformed statements/opinions keep on coming.
 
This is such horseshit.

I hate how Nintendo runs its company/companies. They think they are protecting their intellectual properties but they are really just burning the only people that give a shit about their company.

I probably couldn't live without PC and Microsoft and Sony as platform holders but I would have no problems with Nintendo going out of business.

lmao
 

ameleco

Member
Can someone just edit the title to make it more explicit that it isn't Nintendo suing? Tired of the crap responses in here.

As for my thoughts, its a shit thing to do and the message would've been equally received with TPC just saying not to use their brand without permission anymore.
 
This is such horseshit.

I hate how Ninten
I stopped reading here.

TPC might have to answer to Nintendo but it runs itself (which was why it was set up, Nintendo was fed up with dealing with merchandising requests etc).

Sorry to go off topic, but TPC being separate from Nintendo has me curious. Does that mean something like Konami can buy out TPC and make pikachu pachinko machines out of them?
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1008721
In short. Comes down to what % stake Nintendo have in Creatures or Game Freak. Also the remaining parties could try to dissolve the others stake (like happened to 4kids).
 
This is such horseshit.

I hate how Nintendo runs its company/companies. They think they are protecting their intellectual properties but they are really just burning the only people that give a shit about their company.

I probably couldn't live without PC and Microsoft and Sony as platform holders but I would have no problems with Nintendo going out of business.

I have my fair share if issues with Nintendo (though TPC is more or less autonomous I believe), but it will be a very sad day if Nintendo leaves the gaming industry.
 

Fisty

Member
I bet TPC's hotel bill for the lawyers was more than $4k

But he did use trademarked characters to make money, so i guess technically they are within their rights
 
Ask the man to not use any copyrighted images, that's all they had to do. I always find this kind of aggressive IP protection drives away fans and kills it in the end.
 

JoeM86

Member
For the record, XY does have streetpass functionality
I stopped reading here.

TPC might have to answer to Nintendo but it runs itself (which was why it was set up, Nintendo was fed up with dealing with merchandising requests etc).


http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1008721
In short. Comes down to what % stake Nintendo have in Creatures or Game Freak. Also the remaining parties could try to dissolve the others stake (like happened to 4kids).
Even then, Nintendo own the trademarks so would have the ability to shut it down
 
What situation are you imagining that there would be real confusion between this small get together and a multinational group throwing a party? The facebook post in the complaint celebrates 30 people attending for pete's sake.

Nobody is confused by this.

I went to last years and there were way more than 30 people, the line for entry was quite large.

Thing is, I don't remember paying for entry that year but I certainly could have. The party was really fun and I really doubt this guy made any money off this, the DJ and the bar alone must have cost a good amount. The Pokemon themed drinks were overpriced though but that was probably the bar setting those prices. A lot of people went to this and it is essentially the Pokemon party of Pax but If I were him I would fight this, It would probably be dismissed as a themed party is not gonna be seen as a huge deal to most sensible judges.
 

Mr-Joker

Banned
They have every right to protect their IP from being misused, honestly the guy shouldn't have used the Pokémon image to promote his party.

It's his fault.

Sorry to go off topic, but TPC being separate from Nintendo has me curious. Does that mean something like Konami can buy out TPC and make pikachu pachinko machines out of them?

No.
 
I mean, legally they're correct but I don't know why they couldn't just send him a letter like "Hi please don't use these pictures" and let that be the end of it.
 

Illucio

Banned
We should use that money to make the biggest unofficial Pokemon party ever instead

LOL.

Fair point. I'm still surprised this news hasn't broke out more, I was expecting IGN to make an article about this already. I really want a statement from The Pokemon Company about this bullshit.
 

fernoca

Member
What also sucks is that the poster without the official artwork looks a lot better. The use of the official stuff in here makes it look more like when you threw Cliparts on covers you made in Word. :p
 

Sandfox

Member
Why do people keep bringing up the knockoff games on mobile? Its not like TPC can stop people from selling monster catching games.
 
Why do people keep bringing up the knockoff games on mobile? Its not like TPC can stop people from selling monster catching games.

They are literally using Pokemon assets and materials to promote their games and is more damaging to the brand than this guys party could ever be.
 
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