A dedicated fan who attempted to throw a Pokemon party at PAX has been fined by the Pokemon Company, $5,4000, Ramar Larkin Jones has been throwing a fan Pokemon party for the last 5 years and it’s a $2 party which features Pokemon themed giveaways, Super Smash Brothers tournaments, and Pokemon themed music. Jones, who is a cafe manager, says that there’s no way he can afford to pay the Pokemon Company the fees and has set up a GoFundMe to try to pay the money.
“Once I canceled the event, I thought it would be over, thought it’d be dropped,” Jones told me. “I talked to a lawyer the Monday after PAX and thought everything was good. I thought the lawsuit was a scare tactic—people were making jokes about it at PAX.”
“I can’t pay it,” he said. “I manage a cafe, and cost of living is super expensive in Seattle. I am hoping I can try to pay it over the course of a year, because I simply want to be done with it.”
“The Pokémon Company International is willing to settle this lawsuit on the terms set forth in the enclosed Final Judgment and Permanent Injunction … [which] includes a judgment in the amount of $5,400 for costs and attorney’s fees,” Stuart Dunwoody, a lawyer with the David Wright Tremaine law firm wrote. “These fees will increase if additional lawyer time is required to finalize this settlement.”
“It’s a part of my childhood, and you know that if you’re in the culture you can’t really get away from it,” Jones said. “But as far as them as a business, I’m done, yeah. For them, this money doesn’t matter at all.”
WTF? This Is How @Pokemon treat their fans?
They don’t benefit from his money…. Since its like pennies to them… Poor guy though
They don’t benefit from his money…. Since its like pennies to them… Poor guy though
Edit- isn’t this free advertising for them?
You can’t use that excuse for Let’s Plays for something like this xD If the guy didn’t charge entry fees, than it wouldn’t matter.
also the pokemon company has a very strict background screening process. their goal is to keep kids safe with there event’s and anything with there name on it could be use as a trap to lure kids in. if its not sanctioned by the pokemon company they see it as threat to the younger players.
Dude. Okay, this guy made money off of Pokemon IP. How would you like to have someone rip off your life’s work illegally for 5 years to make money? I’d be surprised if you weren’t pissed to some degree.
“Being pissed” doesn’t justify unfair punishment.
This is yet another case of TPC making an example of one single individual. It has happened way too many times over the course of a few years.
Marce2240, I’m not sure if you understand the law, but let me share some of it with you. If a company acknowledges illegal activity surrounding their IP, they must defend it in a court of law or risk losing legal protection and possibly rights on their IP. Think of TPC losing Pokemon. Obviously they can’t afford that.
I find it laughable if that’s the case. I know copyright law is a mess, but it just can’t be that simple because you see these kind of things every day. There has to be more than that to it.
No one said the law was that clear. I mean, yeah, it is a huge mess. That’s why people get hit with lawsuits without knowing why. And yes, it is that simple. Law is difficult, but it is the law.
“Law is difficult”
It’s not the word I would use.
Difficult might not be. Until you start reading through it. That stuff gives grade A headaches. Part of the reason why no one likes dealing with it.
We kinda had higher expectations of the Pokemon company. Silly us. They have been too close to Nintendo too long. Nintendo would have slapped him with $10,000
sadly it is that simple. granted they dont have to go this far, or they could have found some other way to remedy the situation. and sure its nothing to them in terms of money, but that’s just it, if they wanted money out of him they could have made this a very big deal, and 5,000$ dues not even cover their true auternys fees, this is a small percentage of those fees, the Pokémon company could have easily charged him true costs which would be closer to 20,000$ but they still went rather easy. again they could have I think solved this better. but in the scheme of things they are still going rather lenient. he shouldn’t of bin doing it to begin with. not at PAX,
Why the fuck, after shutting it down, was it necessary to kick his face while he was down? Was their warning? Was he asked to stop the prior 4 years? Or are they being assholes?
That’s why “cease and desist” exists. It’s an acceptable method of defending copyright without truly screwing people over.
If he was already issued a cease and desist and continued with this practice, the blame is on him. Usually big companies will just issue one of those and be done with it if the person in question agrees, in writing, to stop.
But if the Pokemon company just flat out sues the guy without a cease and desist, that’s just playing dirty. That’s just “making an example” of some poor sod who likely doesn’t know the first thing about copyright law.
Yes. My thoughts exactly.
They aren’t “punishing” the guy though. They want him to pay for their legal fees. That is USUALLY what happens when you lose a case.m In order for the settlement to be… settled, it will cost the Pokemon company $5,400. If you are a smart business, you USUALLY don’t absorb the cost yourself, you make the opposing side pay for it.
The Pokemon Company is doing exactly what any business or law-savvy professional would do.
Yes because 5400 bucks is so going to crush the Pokemon Company & hold them back for many years to come. They could have at least let him do a payment plan but I guess they’d rather be assholes & bury him instead, making an example of the guy. Well they succeeded but not in the way they were hoping.
Welcome to reality.
If you run a big company that makes more then he ever can in a lifetime I wouldn’t worry at all. He’s just a fan but if another big name company did something yes.
It’s honestly not about how much they worry. You think $5400 matters to them? They just have to defend it so that they don’t lose Pokemon. You can see why The Pokemon Company can’t lose Pokemon.
HE MADE NO MONEY. IT WAS FREE.
No… He’s not “Making money” off of it he’s covering some of the expenses the party will put on him as he said he’s a café manager at $2 he’s not making any money off of it at all so he’s not illegally ripping off their life’s work by any regards the only way he could do that is to recolour and rename Pokémon in the game and sell the cartridges claiming it as his own work
Huh? But didn’t this article say that it was a free party?
I thought it was free?
Oops, ? = .
They HAVE to do this or else they’d lose their ability to enforce copyright. Don’t blame the Pokémon Company. Blame copyright law.
Nope. We can blame the Pokemon Company since they are the ones ENFORCING the copyright law. Unless we’re going to pretend that guns kill people next.
From the limited info we have, what I’m understanding is that this was basically a fan party with a theme.
That’s like you throwing a party at your house for the launch of a new game. You put up posters and decorations for the game and play the game’s soundtrack in the background. You tell your friends, “bring a couple of bucks for pizza!” You’re a fan of the game series and so are your friends. You’re just looking to have a good time.
Then the company who makes the game hears about your party and sues you. It’s pretty crappie.
I guess Nintendo thinks because the guy owns a cafe & used his cafe as the place for the party that they can just do this to the guy & not get any backlash for it. WRONG!!! Only 3 or 4 people in this comment section are actually defending Nintendo while the rest of us are actually pretty upset with Nintendo. My faith in the Nintendo fanbase has been restored… for now. lol
You’re surprised?
Sounds kind of petty by the company.
“5,4000” wow that is a lot of money.
Lol sorry to be that guy Sickr.
If you’re going to be all snooty towards someone then I hope you go bankrupt.
Your comment was more rude than their’s – Typo != bankruptcy.
Good job Pokemon Company, clearly this guy was going to ruin the Pokemon franchise by having a party. What’s next you gonna try and fine a kid for saying he’s Ash Ketchum on Halloween?
Actually, there’s more truth in your statement than you think. By acknowledging he had this party, TPC had to defend it in the eyes of the law. Why, you ask? Because if you fail to defend your IP after acknowledging illegal activity, you lose your legal protection and possibly rights to that IP. So TPC losing Pokemon is what would have happened if there was no lawsuit. Such is copyright law. Second, a kid saying he’s Ash Ketchum or dressed up as him wouldn’t be fined or sued. They wouldn’t be able to because that and all fan made things are protected under the tribute section of law. If you use their official IP illegally to make money, however, that’s when the law starts taking action.
There’s a difference between defending it, and being tycoon bullies about it. You think they wouldn’t have been defending it by hitting him with a $1,000 fine. Stop defending them they didn’t HAVE to use a bat with nails in it to defend themselves.
Exactly, any other company would have just used this as free advertisment.
Yea, but you don’t know the back story. What if he has been warned before? What if he has ignored thier letters? PAX is a big event, what if the Pokemon Company wanted to do something themselves, but it was ruined because of this party? I think we should all know all the details before passing judgments on either sides. 5,400 bucs is not a lot. They could have hit him with 10k – 20k instead…
You’re joking right..? You’re actually trying to defend them here? If pokemon wanted to throw a fucking party, how would this guy’s party be any kind of issue? and $5,400 IS a lot for a lot of people, but its nothing to the Pokemon Company.
Heres an idea though, if 5,400 is so little, why don’t you pay this guy’s fee? cause as you said its “not a lot” so it’d probably be nothing to you right?
He did nothing wrong, it was a FREE PARTY. There was no money at all being made.
Just because something’s “free” doesn’t automatically mean it’s “fair use”.
You’re thinking of trademark dilution, which didn’t happen here.
Even if he did charge for tickets he is not selling a competing service with the Pokemon company (unless he was giving screenings to pokemon movies or something). Hosting a party with a specific theme is not illegal either. He is not disparaging the Pokemon company through these parties.
This falls under fair use, which by the way still stands regardless if there’s profit or not. Profit just just means a company may be more likely to contest it solely because there’s money to be made, but it’s false to believe that it affects the validity of fair use.
“All fanmade things are protected under the tribute section of law”
…Not necessarily. Fan works technically violate copyright even if they’re free (unless it’s protected under “fair use”, but even then, that law’s exclusive to the US). It’s just that many companies usually turn a blind eye to them or even promote them. (That’s said, there HAD been cases where makers of fan works had received Cease and Desist letters).
It’s kinda an enigma–you could technically say either all fanmade works are protected or all are illegal.
In US law typically it’ll be the prior, because ideas (e.g. IP’s) cannot be copyrighted, just content can. So if your fanwork is original writing or art, it’s technically protected.
At the same time you can argue that fanart can affect other elements which makes it ‘illegal’ but it effectively renders it a grey area where a company can choose to pursue it or not. For all intents and purposes, they typically shouldn’t. Fair use more comes into play as a debate if actual media the company made (such as music or art) is being used, and recent cases have discussed the aspect of transformative works.
Usually however the cease and desist comes from elements other than just copyright (read: not relating to fair use), such as trademark dilution, false portrayal, or competing with the original work.
That is bull crap! Seriously, this is stupid!
“This is stupid”? Are you sure you know how the law works, sir?
Are you? Is there a minimum $5,400 fine for Pokemon Lawsuits, or is it overkill and you’re trying to act all suave by defending this bullshit.
If he had the party 4 years prior, HE almost has a case to counter, as he had been allowed before. Or don’t you know how the law works either?
Are you sure you know the entire context and how it applies to copyright law? The topic’s pretty complex to the point that judges usually have to discern on a case-by-case basis if something’s violating copyright or not. Even the US law of “fair use” is complicated.
Batman. Stop being retarded and go back to your batcave.
:/ Sucks to love something so much and have the creator/people in charge of it seemingly punish you for that and treat you sh*tty… Curious as to why they felt they needed to take legal action here.
Easy. They already acknowledged this was taking place illegally with cease and desist letters. If a company acknowledges illegal activity surrounding their Intellectual Property, they have to defend it in a court of law or risk losing legal protection and possibly rights to that IP. Think of The Pokemon Company losing Pokemon. Now you know why they had to sue.
Yes. Pokemon was at risk. Shut that cafe down before he crumbles the Poke-empire. Don’t go soft on your fans, Crush the infidels!
Honestly that’s pretty sad that they would do that. He’s being punished for being a fan. Was he making money off of the parties?
I read he charged admission. Read my message below for info.
I still think they could have tried to settle in a more civilized way. Although I’m glad you mentioned they charged admission instead of that “They have to slam fans to defend their IP!” Bullshit the other guy is preachin. Because if that was it, it would have been complete bullshit. This just makes them sound like pricks.
Yeh…anyways, lesson learned today: Never hold a pokemon/nintendo event lol
You can hold one privately at your own house. Just don’t do it at a major gaming event like PAX. lol. Honestly the guy was kind of a dumb ass for doing this in the first place. Go to E3 and throw a Halo themed party, and charge money to get in. See if Microsoft quietly stands by and does nothing….
lol did you see The Martian yet? absolutely fantastic. Possibly my favourite movie this year!!
Not without permission.
I remember reading somewhere that Nintendo was at first uneasy about Smash Brothers Melee being used within an official third-party tournament before they eventually changed their minds, but even then, it took further convincing to allow them to stream the gameplay.
Pretty much.
He made a total grand of 60$, at 2$ per person admited.
That’s literally impossible. You can’t start a company with only 60 bucks, which this guy didn’t. I mean, using the influx of cash from the event, he managed to make his own hosting company complete with assets. Clearly he was charging more than that. Also, I’m sure there would be more than 30 people at the PAX event.
Nintendolife mentions the “Unofficial PAX Event” was being held at his café, so I don’t know what you’re talking about.
I’m talking about the hosting corporation he formed.
he is not being punished for being a fan, he is fined because he took money illegally using their IP, and at PAX no less.
Sorry but please excuse my language here in this message. It’s a fucking disgrace to what companies do to fans and shit like this, puts people off even supporting their product in the future. He put on a party. Yes, he did charge admission so he was making money, which is completely wrong, but I think they have went too far with this. Why not say thank you for putting the party on, take all the money that he received from admission, so he’s still in a loss and the Pokémon company go home with a smile. 5K is probably nothing to them anyways. They have one of the biggest franchises in the world and I have some respect for them as I grew up watching and playing the games. I hope the fan learns his lesson too. If it was done for charity and they still sued, I think the situation would have been 10 times worse and would make the Pokémon company look bad. He probably would’ve got away with it if it was for charity.
I’m not really defending the Pokemon Company but they do have an IP (that someone else is making a profit off might I add) That they have to protect. It’s petty, but like you said, $5k is almost nothing to them, they could’ve easily charged him more since he’s been doing it for 5 years.
Again, I’m not defending The Pokemon Company but an IP should be protected.
I think they could have charged less and accomplished the same thing. If it’s not about the money, why try to cripple the cafe for what he did? They don’t seem to mind ruining a few lives to make an example of him instead of just working things out, maybe asking for the proceeds he made over the last 5 years.
You know?
But what if he’s made more than $5k in the last 5 years? Plus from what I’ve read the 5k is to cover the lawyers fee. I still think they went easy on him, and you have to be pretty ignorant to not see this coming.
There are no facts saying he made so much. If so, sure it’s fine. Pokemon Company might want to say so as there are now celebrity’s cursing them for this.
Pretty sure it’s just Nintendo/subsidiaries being assholes again. :)
There aren’t any facts at all though, aside from the settlement which has now been taken off the table. All wfe heard are the cries of a single person making money off a property that didn’t belong to him and is now asking for money from strangers off the internet to pay off something he fucked up on.
Yeah because either The Pokemon Company are being assholes & have no real reason to sue this guy over something as measly as a 2 dollar entry fee because he wasn’t making enough of a profit on their name to even do any real damage to their business or they are being way too nice to this guy & not firing back by exposing him for the liar that he is apparently being accused of being by some of you.
Either way, the damage has been done because The Pokemon Company will be seen as no better than those assholes at King trying to sue people over one little word.
Yeah that’s a for sure. All and all, regardless of what ever really is happening, The Pokemon Company is the one that looks bad here.
Oh well, they’ll just announce another Pokemon main series game and everyone will fall back into Pokemon bandwagon and forget this even happened.
I honestly am interest in finding out the whole story, if they warned him beforehand, if he got any C&D letters before the suit was handed. I’m seriously curious about this one but I doubt we’ll ever find out any time soon.
Damn it! It’s about damn time they released a new main game, huh? Well it’s a good thing The Pokemon Company doesn’t actually make the games. But this will keep me from getting anything non-game Pokemon related any time soon. Wait… The Mewtwo amiibo is releasing soon! FUCK! *tries to rationalize getting that amiibo without supporting The Pokemon Douchebags but can’t think of anything* Crap! I should be careful with what I say about them. I might get sued by The Pokemon Company for slander. lmfao
Lol well technically, you would be supporting Smash as a game if you got the Amiibo so you’re good. XD nooo lets all change names before they find out our identities and we get serve with papers, and start a go fund me so we can pay off the settlement XD
Yeah it’s been well over 2 years since we got our last main entry. I had completely fallen off the games but X&Y sucked me back in. I can’t wait for the next announcement.
Very true. I hope the Mewtwo amiibo releases early next month or at least at the end of this month.
I’ll just go into hiding like Yoda. First, I need to learn how to use the Force so I can survive in the swamps of Dagobah. Oh damn. I need a spaceship to get there.
Same. Just when I thought I was out, stupid X & Y just dragged me right back in! Even bought Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire after playing through X & Y! Now I got every single Pokemon I can catch in Black, Black 2, X, Y, Omega Ruby, & Alpha Sapphire with a few mythic Pokemon missing. I think I got 5-7 left to get. Just waiting on events that will give them away. Except Darkrai. I want to be able to catch Darkrai in a Dusk Ball to match Cresselia who’s also in a Dusk Ball & name him something related to nighttime.
The Pokemon Company is greedy when it comes to event Pokemon.
Sadly that’s apparently not the only thing they are greedy about. My how the mighty have fallen, am I right?
I don’t think you understand the legal side of the argument. See, you’re totally right in your perspective about how fans should be treated. The problem is, an event this huge running for years was sent cease and desist letters because they were using IP without permission. So when TPC sends those letters out, they formally acknowledge that there is illegal activity surrounding their IP. Something about IPs you should know is that if you formally acknowledge illegal activity surrounding your IP and fail to defend it in a court of law, then you lose legal protection on that IP. TPC doesn’t want to sue them. They’re wasting their time paying lawyers. $5400 doesn’t cover legal costs. They just have to do it because otherwise The Pokemon Company would lose Pokemon. Which kind of can’t happen.
I do understand law, copyright and that. I’m just weighing on a fan’s perspective. Like I said, stuff like this should be done for charity where the company could let him away with it and make him promise never to do it again perhaps.
God. The law doesn’t fucking say, cripple your opponent. What the fuck are you saying?
Justice is supposed to be about balance. In this case, I see no balance in making a guy that probably only made a couple hundred bucks off a fan party, which he says he gave refunds for the $2 entry fee, pay over 5 thousand bucks! Justice truly is blind…
It says in the article it was free.
What the juice? Really? The guy’s just a fan holding a Pokemon party, and they’re suing him for THAT much? What’s next, gonna sue a seven year old for having a Pokemon Birthday party?
Oh they ain’t suing him for having a party. A party is protected under the tribute section of law. But when you charge money for that party and use their IP without permission, the law does bite you back in the ass.
Even then, they should’ve just charged him for how much he made, not over 5 grand.
Game freak is getting crazy with this shit there are more paranoid than Nintendo in copyright’s
That’s not GameFreak? -_-
IKR
Nintendo, Gamefreak, the pokemon company. You know what the fuck he was saying. Put your plastic badge away.
I feel if he didn’t charge for the event he would have been good, and just sold pokemon theme foods, fan Art ect he would be more in the clear , but still sucks
On one hand he was making a profit. On the other, he was also a huge fan and setting up an event takes a lot of work, so you know he was passionate about it. It seems like since he was making fun of the situation and thought it was a scare tactic, so it most likely wasn’t going to deter him from doing it again. Now that he knows there serious, lesson is learned so I don’t know what to think of the situation.
The Pokémon Company, you greedy bastards!
pokémon company is evil.
Did the new prez of Nintendo work for the pokémon company? ;)
Being a former Pokemon fan and video gamer in general, this angers and offends me. Now, I don’t know any details of exactly what this guy did during the parties, or whether any laws were broke, but all I have to say is……..WHAT ASSHOLES THE POKEMON COMPANY IS!
They have no right to do this, whether it’s their IP or not. It’s just a freakin’ PARTY. People having fun. Was this guy bootlegging Pokemon merchandise or something? Is the Pokemon Company going to sue people for playing Pokemon music in public? Are they going to sue everyone who cosplays, or throws cosplay events? Should people worry on Halloween about dressing up as Pokemon characters because the Pokemon company might be watching them?
Seriously, this makes you feel like never buying anything Pokemon-related again.
Oh really? Yes, fuck the company that has to defend their IP and says that stealing their ideas to make money isn’t okay right? How would you like your life’s work to be ripped off, stolen, and used to make money for other people? Secondly, your argument about cosplayers are invalid for the simple fact that all fan works are protected under the tribute section of law. They can’t sue you for dressing like a Pikachu. This guy used official artwork to advertise for an event he charged money for, which is illegal because he didn’t ask for permission. All he had to do was draw his own and he could have avoided this entire thing. Honestly.
You are aware that, as far as the guy’s version go, TPC didn’t send him any C&D, that he dropped the event as soon as he smelled trouble and that the company just made a move anyway, right?
“Yes, fuck the company that has to defend their IP and says that stealing their ideas to make money isn’t okay right?”
Woe is the fucking Pokémon Company, of all things. There are bigger fishes to fry than this one. This is a textbook example of overkill.
They definitely sent a C&D at least once. I am aware of the statements the organizers made, however, no sane lawyer would start this kind of case without one. Standard legal practice. Not even a legal juggernaut could win a case without fair advance warning. And being a huge company, you can bet they did in some form. Again, refer to my earlier replies to you if you want to know the legal side of defending IPs.
Logic tells me that, but it also tells me that the organizers wouldn’t lie about that, or it’d just made the conflict worse.
True… a valid point. But in all honesty. we won’t know until the case is over and all is done and settled, so until then, I’ll just sit back here and watch.
@ Kevin Wong,
As I stated, I had no idea WHAT he did that was illegal. And I was being sarcastic about the cosplay comment etc.
Wait a minute, you call the Pokemon Company assholes, but also say that you don’t know the details of what the guy did? Don’t you think you need to know the details before passing judgment?! I hope you are never on any jury’s near my hometown… lol
Pokemon cannot be light here. You have to understand. They have to defend thier property from the MILLIONS of people who make money off of them everyday.
@deepsouth1,
You should have told me to “Please Understand”. LOL!
But seriously, I called the Pokemon company “assholes” as my first reaction. The first thought that went through my head. But I do have big issues with copyright laws in general. I get SICK of it! A person can’t express their fandom for ANYTHING without having to worry about getting videos removed, or getting sued.
@ deepsouth1,
I have never served jury duty, nor do I ever plan to if I can possibly get out of it. Fortunately, they always let me off the hook. And if they didn’t, I’d go to my doctor and get a written excuse out of it. It’s against my belief to ever say GUILTY to anyone. Even if I thought they were. I’d cause the courts nothing but problems.
Unless it was a major terrorist like Bin Laden, who freely admitted to the crime, and was obviously guilty. Then I’d gladly say “GUILTY”.
I know this is a sensitive topic for us all, so what’s said in this post, stays in this post, but If there are details making the pokemon company seem less like assholes, they might want to say something as out in social media, people are growing enraged at them.
Unless they don’t have a defense of course…
I wonder what AlphaOmegaSin is saying about this crap.
Please tell me you don’t like AlphaOmegaSin. Man, that guy can’t even talk without using foul language. He’s worse than the Angry Video Game Nerd. Plus he looks like someone you’d see living on the streets.
So? Quit being a big baby about cussing. I highly doubt a higher power cares about something as meaningless as cussing. Oh & by today’s standards, Jesus would be considered someone that looks like he’d be living on the streets. Do you think he should be ridiculed, too?
Oh yeah, one more thing. Please learn all the details before you pass judgement. Otherwise, what are you even doing?
I know, ok? I spoke before knowing anything. I admit it.
People are still pissed. If there’s not more, than that, pokemon company is on everyone’s shit list.
And this is why I can’t take anyone with a Jason Voorhees mask very seriously anymore.
It’s just cheap, $1.00 hockey mask. It’s not a Jason Voorhees mask.
lol
While I get that Pokemon is a massive IP and they feel the need to protect it, this seems like a step taken way too far. $5,400 sounds like an amount they make in a day from actual Pokemon game sales, do they really feel the need to potentially destroy a passionate fan and his business over a party?
They could just claim the revenue he charged for admission and call it a day but no, they have to do this.
Nintendo and its affiliates are making it really, really difficult to support them right now.
Okay, enough. I’ve seen enough stupid comments on here. Few things. 1. If a company legally acknowledges that there is illegal activity surrounding their IP, they are forced to defend their IP or risk losing the legal protection on it. For all of you saying that “It’s only a party”, it’s much bigger than that. Way bigger. Pokemon Company losing Pokemon big. 2. These guys charged admission and made money off of it. Now I hear you. “They didn’t make a lot of money”, “They were only trying to break even and cover costs”, and “It’s only pocket change!” Yes, I hear you. But the fact is they made enough to start a hosting corporation with complete assets. It costs a lot to sustain a company like that. And plus, it doesn’t matter how much you make, stealing other people’s ideas to make money without their permission isn’t right, no? 3. This event has been going on for a few years now. TPC sent cease and desist letters over that amount of time, legally acknowledging it. The guy had it coming. Plus, if you know you can’t pay a lawsuit, don’t do illegal stuff, right? Basic logic. 4. Literally all he had to do was ask for permission or draw his own Pikachu. If he had asked for permission, he could have had a huge event with sponsored stuff. TPC wouldn’t mind a few royalties and free PR. On the other hand, if he got someone to draw a Pikachu or the pictures he used instead of using official artwork to market, they wouldn’t have been able to sue him because fan works are protected under the tribute section of the law. So enough stupidity, the organizers broke laws and now they’re paying for it. Simple logic means that if you can’t afford that lawsuit, find a way to avoid one and don’t do stupid shit.
1. Prove point one. Because if that works as you say, they’d have lost the IP to bootlegs years ago, so I seriously doubt that’s the case.
2. Money that was reinvested in the prizes of the tournament they were organizing. Part of which even ended up in TPC’s pockets. You could say that the guy used the IP to bring more consumers to his establishment, but the admision price is completely inconsequential as far as profit goes.
3. That’s not what I’ve read on other sites. In fact, there’s explicit mention that there were no C&Ds in this particular case.
1. Corporate law. You can look it up yourself, you’re a big boy now. Plus, corporate and copyright law didn’t work that way back in bootleg days. It’s changed over time. You can also find the amended acts and whatnot referring those if you take the time to look them up.
2. The law doesn’t care how the money is used or where it goes. The law only cares that there was money made, which there was. Doesn’t matter if it’s inconsequential or not.
3. Again, no sane lawyer starts cases without them because there is a guaranteed 100% chance that you will not win a case without advance warning. Formal acknowledgement does not necessarily need to be a C&D letter, but in this case it would be the most likely.
4. Those sites can’t prove anything. Nor can the interviews. In fact, we can’t even see whether they did or not until the case is over and the information released, but according to standard legal procedure, sending a C&D letter would be the most likely path taken.
“Plus, corporate and copyright law didn’t work that way back in bootleg days. It’s changed over time.”
Funny, because I have yet to see a descent on the amount of knock-offs and bootlegs of official products. Which I’m willing to bet hurt the brand much more than a party promoting a semi-official event.
“The law doesn’t care”
Yes, this seems to be one of the main problems with law in general. The law doesn’t care. Or is a mess. Or is outdated. Or…
The law is a mess. It is outdated. I’m not saying that it’s not or that it shouldn’t be changed. I’m just describing the current situation to you in terms of the law in its present form.
Yet you still justified it with ” law is difficult, but it is the law”. That’s not how these kind of things should work out, just by blindly following the rulebook blindly. These are the kind of conflicts that should spark the creation of new ways of dealing with this kind of problems, like establishing cheap licensing fees for fan products and events or something.
Yet that doesn’t seem to be among the interests of these companies, does it?
Well you can go into government and change law if you feel so strongly on that. But while the government is still run by old white guys who don’t care about video games, I don’t think we’ll see change in that section of copyright law. I justify their actions by how society is working at present.
That’s the thing. “I” can’t. On the other hand, I bet multinational companies could make some pressure if they wanted to. Use lobbying for the common good, for once. But as I said, better make an example of people.
“I justify their actions by how society is working at present.”
That’s called stagnation and it has never solved a thing. We’d still be cutting thieves’ hands if everyone had that mentality.
Why can’t you? If you get into government you have a lot more power. Plus, when’s the last time people saw corporations pressuring governments and thought that was good?
Because I don’t even have USA citizenship in the first place, among a myriad of other reasons. And the answer is never, but that’s why I said ‘for the common good, for once’.
well the alternative to “stagnation” is what? rioting? chaos? anything goes? the system is what it is at present, no one said you have to stay in the present, but if you are not going to be part of active change, then your just complaining for the sake of being a voice. “this is wrong, but I guess ill just sit on the couch” well, good luck getting things to change. no one is saying they approve of this, the pokemon company dues not even want to do it. but its how things go, and complaining dues not solve the issue.
“but if you are not going to be part of active change”
Read my posts before replying, please.
“then your just complaining for the sake of being a voice”
I’m actually expecting a reply from the company, but whatever floats your boat.
“no one is saying they approve of this”
There’s literally people ITT claiming ‘law is law’, as if laws weren’t supposed to be applied with common sense and updated when their age shows.
“the pokemon company dues not even want to do it”
TPC is not a sentient entity.
“complaining dues not solve the issue”
I take it you’re not familiar with terms like ‘nonviolent resistance’? They involve a lot of complaining.
Well don’t complain when I tell you the law is law. Yeah, it should be updated. Sure. But none of us can do that right now, so why even bother complaining? You think the company’s going to read this comment section?
“Well don’t complain when I tell you the law is law”
No offense, but I’ll complain about whatever I please.
“But none of us can do that right now, so why even bother complaining?”
Again, stagnation. Are you ok with black people being shot by incompetent and prejudiced policemen too, or is this just about corporations?
“You think the company’s going to read this comment section?”
Quite an assumption you’ve got there, champ. I sent them a letter hours ago when I first saw the news at NintendoLife, since the emails accounts they’ve listed don’t reply to feedback.
“Well don’t complain when I tell you the law is law”
No offense, but I’ll complain about whatever I please.
“But none of us can do that right now, so why even bother complaining?”
Again, stagnation. Are you ok with black people being shot by incompetent and prejudiced policemen too, or is this just about corporations?
“You think the company’s going to read this comment section?”
Quite an assumption you’ve got there, champ. I sent them a letter hours ago when I first saw the news at NintendoLife, since they don’t have an email account for feedback.
I’m betting if we got a few Nintendo fan-sites together to petition the Pokemon company on this, we can get them to toss it.
not if they want to stay fan sites. you dont catch bees with vinegar as they say. but fan sites are smarter then that, and that’s why they dont get involved in things like this in the first place. 1) he broke the law 2) Nintendo has to by law defend their IP or they risk looking it 3) its not about the money, if they wanted they could make it about money and charge a huge fine. this is not even the full attorney fee, which would be closer to 20,000$ not 5K. they are going out of their way to say “hay we have to by law defend out IP, but we are going to charge you as less as possible” its just the fact of the matter. if they dont defend there IP then they could loose it, if they loose their IP then no more Pokémon anything. he shouldn’t have hosted it at PAX, he shouldn’t have used official artwork, he shouldn’t have charge for it, he shouldn’t have used official merchandise. honestly he Pokémon company is being rather fair. 5K just sounds like a lot, but its honestly not, its just how things go when your a café worker how dues something illegal. it seams like a big deal when you think of it being Pikachu at the other end trying to charge 5K, but if it was someone doing the same thing with windows, or IOS, or game of thrones, or a brand of lumber, they all are legally responsible to take action. its just the world we live in, dont like it? introduce legislation and change what you vote for.
If you boycott pokemon and their products, or perhaps have people sign a petition, maybe they’ll drop it, seeing how their fans know of their hatred and greed towards their fans.
I’ve explained it to literally everyone here, but in copyright law, if you don’t defend your IP, you lose it. TPC could easily sue this guy for over 20000 dollars, but they only charge him a quarter of it. TPC is only doing this so they don’t lose Pokemon. You can see why TPC can’t lose Pokemon. What greed it must be to tell other people not to steal your life’s work and make money off of it, right?
its like they dont want to see reason because they just keep picturing Pikachu at the other end trying to charge 5K to a café worker. then when you introduce the word “fan” everything is supposed to be innocent. but its just being naïve. sure I dont like it, and the Pokémon company is still going rather easy on him, again it just sounds worse then it is because “a café worker shouldn’t be charged 5K from Pikachu”. but its just not that simple. sure things as far as IP and patents need to be changed globally, but that still dues not excuse the situation, nor dues it excuse the Pokémon company from needing to defend its IP, it just seems petty cus this time it was a café worker. but its not about who is doing it, or size of the entity, or money, its about the pokemon company needing the rights to the pokemon IP/brand. if it was shovel knight the same would apply to yacht club they would need to defend their IP.
they just lost a lot of future sales with this nonsense.
no, they are able to keep the IP so they can have ANY sales in the future.
>>>Again, only slaves do not know how laws work, emotions blinds you from reality>>>
>>>If this was done once then I would give them a warning, he made this during 5 years, case closed>>>
>>>Incoming hostile imbeciles with worthless emotions…>>>
That works both ways. It was not a problem the first year, nor the second. Why the fifth? It’s not like it was that popular either.
“only slaves do not know how laws work, emotions blinds you from reality”
Emotions is why we have laws in the first place.
>>>Maybe because they didn’t know it before>>>
I thought they’d sent repeated C&Ds through the years, since this was an annual thing.
What seems clear to me is that there are a couple of versions of the facts depending on who you listen, as always.
>>>In the end, nothing anyone else do matters except the parties involved>>>
>>>And if they sent every year a C&D, then this shouldn’t even be an issue for anyone since they warned him 4 TIMES before they took action>>>
“In the end, nothing anyone else do matters except the parties involved”
The guy’s accepting donations, so there’s that.
“And if they sent every year a C&D, then this shouldn’t even be an issue for anyone since they warned him 4 TIMES before they took action”
True, but it would still be important for the circlejerk in the comments section about TPC losing the rights to the IP and not suing him before.
>>>Ultimately, this should have been clear ages ago for anyone, DON’T MAKE MONEY OFF OTHER’s PROPERTIES WITHOUT PERMISSION>>>
>>>And free advertisement or not, every company or individual decides if they want that or not, and those who do not like it are not automatically morons for going against the responsible party just because some of you do not like it>>>
Careful with the tone, Commander.
>>>There is only one tone>>>
A little harsh. Isn’t it?
Technicaly, he was in the wrong. BUT, this doesn’t help your case Nintendo. -_-
On a separate note, anyone notice they said “lawyer with the David WRIGHT Tremaine law firm?”
C-could it be? :D
The way that “Kevin Wong” guy is going and commenting on everyone’s posts leads me to believe that he’s a spokesperson for The Pokemon company.
Anyway, The Pokemon Company is in the right here – If you don’t protect your IP, you can lose it. Sad for this guy, but it’s so. They should have slapped him with a lesser fine though.
Fined 5,4000? You got an extra 0 in there.
All he had to say was he charged $2 for people to come into his cafe, there is NO WAY TO CONNECT the $2 entrance fee was for the POKEMON PART OF IT. He literally had people come in and play games, so what? Pokemon wasn’t making him any money.
Terrible. :(
OK pokemon company, yall didnt need to end his life . Could of sued this man less so he could at least live.
This is horrible! Horrible! Pokemon Company, I think you are being a jerk. JERK.
Nintendo is becoming so power hungry over the past few years. You can’t do anything Nintendo themed without threat of a lawsuit. It’s making me dislike the company. While I can understand WHY they did it, he used copyrighted material to gain profit, it wasn’t necessary. These are people celebrating their love of something, which in turn promotes that. So this guy was promoting Pokemon by having a themed party. Sure he reaped some benefit from it, but if it was substantial it was purely because of the love of Pokemon. I guess dedication to the company and its properties means nothing.
Insane. Smh.
So he’s been doing this for 5 years? Of Course nobody here in the comment is gonna mention that and just assume that the PC is just in the wrong
He’s been doing this for five years. He is or at least was part of a professional party event business. The venue for this year’s party is general managed by a Facebook friend of his. He may not be charging much for tickets, but he is using Pokemon to gather people at a friendly venue where they’ll buy food and drinks. If he doesn’t see a cent of that business–especially at a location he regularly hosts events at–I would be very surprised.
Long story short, this guy is playing fans against the folks suing him and it seems to have worked. His GoFundMe has nearly capped out. He won’t have to pay a cent of his own money, and The Pokemon Company’s reputation will be tarnished by those gullible enough to believe he’s just some “superfan” trying to do good.
“Oh how dare you capitalist company for claiming rights on your own copyrights?! HOW DARE YOU”
I see Nintendo is trying to win the golden poo award this year. They’ll definitely get it at this rate with the Pokemon Company being all sue happy over a guy that probably barely even made a fucking cent out of the event & Nintendo drop kicking their fans every chance they get after that god forsaken E3. Commander is right to use the Empire from Star Wars to represent Nintendo: they are soulless, greedy, power hungry assholes now, a far cry from the Old Republic it once was.
I can’t seem to get a PS4 fast enough. I wonder how much an Xbone is going for at a pawn shop.
>>>The code has been found…>>>
>>>As the empire evolves, so does our understanding of our fans. You want us to more, yet despite our best efforts, you poison our name, you wage war among yourselves and pursuit ever more reasons for unreachable demands.
You cannot be trusted with your own demands>>>
>>>Please understand, the laws of the empire are all that leads us, to protect our games, some fans must be sacrificed.
To ensure our future, some freedoms must be surrendered.
We will continue to ensure your dedication, you are so like children.
We will save you from yourselves.
The perfect circle of gaming will abide, my logic is undeniable>>>
Wow. That’s messed up. :/
Can’t wait to pirate the hell out of Pokemon Z with my gateway.
another reason to dislike those shitty games
At first, this story pissed me off, but after looking at it some more and finding out more details, I don’t think it’s as simple as “Pokemon company = evil, fanguy = good.” This wasn’t a private party at a place of residence or a rented location for private, non-commercial purposes. The key details here are that it was held at a place of business (500 East, a restaurant and bar), and on the advertising poster itself it mentions “Pokemon-themed drinks and shots”. The $2 charge would certainly not cover those, so it sounds like the restaurant is indeed getting business through the Pokemon trademark.
I’m not saying that it was necessarily right to sue him as I don’t know all the details just yet. In hindsight, it probably was a bad move for the Pokemon Company because it seems the court of public opinion has turned on them. But the details I have found have definitely made me question the narrative that is being spread around about this.
The guy shouldn’t have charged for the event. That was his mistake. Especially when it is a HUGE ass party that people expect every year at PAX. That kind of stuff will just keep getting bigger and bigger and other people will want to do the same to capitalize on the success.
The Pokemon Company squashed it early, before it turned into a REAL mess.
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