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Copyright lawsuit filed against Warner Bros. & 5th Cell for Nyan-cat & Keyboard Cat

S

Salsa

Member
nyan cat guy drew a fucking cat with a pop tart amd definetly got money for it at some point

same with the other guy dressing his cat and moving him around

count your lucky stars about the retarded ways in wich you made money by chance and just shut up
 
Z

ZealousD

Makes world leading predictions like "The sun will rise tomorrow"
Jintor said:
I think this is correct. He doesn't own the concept of a keyboard cat, he only owns that specific expression of a keyboard cat, yes?
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I guess I could see how keyboard cat is a pretty fuzzy copyright. Although I suppose he might own the trademark "keyboard cat", and that has the timing problem mentioned in the OP. Nyan Cat is probably a stronger case. The concept of a flying rainbow cat with a toaster pastry body is probably unique enough to be copyrighted. And there's no legal issue with Pop Tarts here since Pop Tarts are also trademark, not a copyright.
 
B

Balphon

Member
ZealousD said:
I guess I could see how keyboard cat is a pretty fuzzy copyright. Although I suppose he might own the trademark "keyboard cat", and that has the timing problem mentioned in the OP. Nyan Cat is probably a stronger case. The concept of a flying rainbow cat with a toaster pastry body is probably unique enough to be copyrighted. And there's no legal issue with Pop Tarts here since Pop Tarts are also trademark, not a copyright.
Click to expand...

The originality requirement for copyright is extremely lax and typically precludes protection only for things which are entirely functional in nature (e.g. an alphabetical list of names in a phone book).
 
Danny Dudekisser

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
Could see Nyan cat being copyrightable, but maaaaan, anyone can have a cat that plays a piano. In both cases, though, it's fun to watch these dudes try to stay relevant when the world has so clearly moved on.

I mean, what are damages going to be for the dude who put a cat head on a toaster pastry in 2013? Like 45 Youtube hits?
 
D

Defuser

Member
luHpMpC.jpg


Time for Evilore to sue.
 
K

Karkador

Banned
It's weird to want people to respect copyrights and pay royalties for something that is known and exists because it was allowed to spread and be used and referenced online without any copyright restriction bearing down on it.
 
R

RotBot

Member
Further, both the Keyboard Cat video and the Nyan Cat video were published over five years before the application to register the copyrights were filed, thus they are not entitled to a presumption of validity afforded by 17 U.S.C. § 410(c).
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It's true for Keyboard Cat, but Nyan Cat was created in 2011. It's impossible for 5 years to have passed since anything regarding it.

Also, too many people here don't understand the difference between a visual reference/parody, which would be hard to win a case on, and the game using the exact copyrighted terms "keyboard cat" and "nyan cat" to summon them.
 
T

Tunavi

Banned
So the creator of keyboard cat thinks that no one should ever be allowed to sell anything that has a cat playing a synthesizer for the next 70 years? Please get over yourself. I hope they lose this case.
 
Q

Quicksilver4648

Member
What a pointless lawsuit. These cat characters were nothing but cameos and Easter eggs. Many games every year include homages to famous pop-culture characters. The new Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon game has a Ninja Turtles Easter egg but you don't see their copyright holder getting angry. Also, I think it would be safe to assume that in the marketing for Scribblenauts those two characters were never shown. Meaning, 5th Cell or WB never use those characters to increase sales from potential customers. I think those two guys would be friends with Tim Langdell.
 
Danny Dudekisser

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
RotBot said:
It's true for Keyboard Cat, but Nyan Cat was created in 2011. It's impossible for 5 years to have passed since anything regarding it.

Also, too many people here don't understand the difference between a visual reference/parody, which would be hard to win a case on, and the game using the exact copyrighted terms "keyboard cat" and "nyan cat" to summon them.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's the thing that makes it way more problematic. Fair use kinda goes out the window at that point.
 
B

Balphon

Member
Tunavi said:
So the creator of keyboard cat thinks that no one should ever be allowed to sell anything that has a cat playing a synthesizer for the next 70 years? Please get over yourself. I hope they lose this case.
Click to expand...

His copyright is assuredly not that broad, and in any event the fact that the game was referencing this specific meme is fairly obvious.
 
O

Ocaso

Member
ZealousD said:
Seriously guys. Pop Tarts aren't copyrighted. Have you never seen store brand toaster pastries before?
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Exactly. It's not like the pastry on Nyan cat has the pop tart logo on it.

Keyboard cat also shows up on the bonus levels of Earthworm Jim HD. It will be interesting to see how this plays out as memes have impregnated tons of media.
 
S

SpacePirate Ridley

Member
Zoe said:
They don't fall under parody even though it was in the game's own art style?
Click to expand...

Yeah, this is starting to become pretty stupid, the game was never sold with it in mind, and is just one of object of thousands.

But please sue, stupid people, let some small studio close becuase of your greediness.
BTW I worked doing the art of Super and Ultimate (didnt do the cats though) so this sucks for us.
 
H

Hypereides

Member
While it does seem stupid its still clever at the same time the creators had the foresight to see potential in their creations.
 
B

blitzcloud

Banned
keyboard cat is a performance, it can't have copyright. Sure you can try to trademark the name, but the only thing that could have copyright according to the laws of my country is the performance by itself. a cat with a piano does not constitute keyboard cat infringement.

As I previously said though, the nyan cat is something else. The design of the character can be copyrighted. If used for commercial means without permission, it's only obvious this will happen
 
B

B-Dex

Member
I don't get why people are defending warner/5th cell. They could have at least asked first but seems they didn't even bother trying to do that. I don't think the guys will get what they are asking but they will probably come out of this with something.
 
Z

ZealousD

Makes world leading predictions like "The sun will rise tomorrow"
B-Dex said:
I don't get why people are defending warner/5th cell. They could have at least asked first but seems they didn't even bother trying to do that. I don't think the guys will get what they are asking but they will probably come out of this with something.
Click to expand...

I think a lot of people are inherently hostile to patent/trademark/copyright lawsuits considering how often the system is abused. And it's clear that there are a lot of people in this thread who just don't understand copyrights.
 
R

RotBot

Member
blitzcloud said:
keyboard cat is a performance, it can't have copyright. Sure you can try to trademark the name, but the only thing that could have copyright according to the laws of my country is the performance by itself. a cat with a piano does not constitute keyboard cat infringement.

As I previously said though, the nyan cat is something else. The design of the character can be copyrighted. If used for commercial means without permission, it's only obvious this will happen
Click to expand...

Keyboard Cat actually is trademarked as well.
 
C

Calmine

Member
I'm pretty sure that was a similar case a while back with Super Meat Boy and Battlefield 3 and the Forever Alone meme face. I remember some youtube video of this guy who copyrighted it trolling EA about it.
 
Haunted

Haunted

Member
pretty scummy


But this is the point where the fickle internet turns around and says fuck you to the "creators" of the videos/gifs these memes are based on, right?
 
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