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

That's... Strangely villain-like. I mean, he was using their intellectual property... But still.

Poor guy.

That's a bit harsh, nintendo just should have sent them some legit images to use and put copyright to nintendo on it to make sure people knew...

Sad times.

Seems a little extreme. If he made the posters to sell obviously he should not of done that but a cease and desist was all that was needed and if they were really set with their ways with him paying up at least give him time to pay it off.

SSSSSSS Ouch. (I'm guessing that pokemon costumes in Mario Kart and smash is outta the question..... Bad enough that there was no sound effects for the pokemon costumes in Super mario Maker)

"formerly a Pokemon fanatic"
I take it that he's no longer a fan, sad but understandable.

Edit: At least people are kind enough to help him.

I really think it is stupid for them to act this way. It is a pretty negative fame they are getting and it's not like that those 4000$ would really make a difference for them.

Overdone in every single way imaginable.

It's sad and very telling just how little this company appreciates their fan base. While making cash off someone's IP--- Wait, he made no money off of this? They're just suing because he used their characters on his posters?

Guys, seriously, get your head out of your arse. If you're going to go after a small fish like this I'd like to see you start doing something about all the other copyright infringement you so happily let slide on Google Play and the Apple App Store... You know, infringement that reaches much further and wider?

I understand their rationale, but I fail to see how the inclusion of the characters on that poster would've somehow cost the company over four thousand dollars.

All of this over a Poster? A fan-made poster for a fan-run event?

Pretty BS tactics if you ask me.

Wtf. Changed my perspective on The Pokemon Company. Guy obviously didn't mean harm but they sure as hell seem bent on harming him.

@Chaotic_Eevee yeah, in a way during this generation they have been demonstrating that they don't really care about their adult fanbase, the ones who grew up with Pokemon. It's a bit sad, since that's probably the section of the fanbase that generates them the most money.

I had never heard of any other gaming company doing something like this to their fans. It's a bit weird.

In my country, people print and sell copyrighted IP's assets in cosplay/anime/videogames events. Never have heard of any sue. I wish Nintendo and The Pokémon Company had presence here, they could get $40,000 for suing 10 people per event (the normal quantity of stands selling posters/other unofficial stuff).

Damages. Yeah, Ramar Larkin Jones with his first rate poster making skills almost crippled The Pokémon Company! Good job they took him down fast...

Great way to treat people who celebrate your creative achievements. Obviously I'd understand if they sent a cease and desist letter or something if they felt they needed to protect their I.P., but to go to town on the guy like this for... what? What did he cost them?

I know what this cost them. At least one incredibly dedicated fan who would continue to support the Pokemon Company. Probably other people who were angered by this as well.

The Pokemon Company (and, more broadly, Nintendo) really need to get it through their collective heads that the path to establishing a sustainable future is not to harass their most dedicated fans until everyone is scared of expressing their love for the I.P. in a non-sanctioned way.

I'm not entirely sure I'm comfortable with buying the next Pokemon game now. I don't want to give money to people who treat their fans like this.

You must be joking. Here I was, reading the title hoping "Oh, please, let this one make sense." I cannot believe it. Is it truly worth suing a fan over something like this?
This story really, really upsets me.

You could have mentioned that he sold tickets for this "party". Advertising his tournament - that he makes money off of - with someone else's IP makes it even worse. If a company were to allow something like this to take place, it would open the floodgates...they're simply taking care of their intellectual property, but gamers will rage anyway.

Oh come on, Nintendo. It's not like he was stealing your IP or characters.

Hahahahahhahahahhaahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahshahahahahahahahahahahaha !!!!
It's super effective.

@Chaotic_Eevee That's nothing. Konami banned fan art on twitter at one point.

People fail to notice that going to the online at a Nintendo system also requires some profit. The way this guy ran that he is giving away free stuff to others isn't making them any profit. While I do agree that a fine shouldn't be there, he can't deny that what he did is wrong.

Also this isn't Nintendo's doing. This is the Pokemon Company and while they are owned by Nintendo, The Pokemon Company does the marketing for the brand not Nintendo.

@OddworldCrash It wasn't Nintendo (for once), it was The Pokemon Company this time.

This is why money and fan works should stay far far away from each other.
It causes nothing but trouble.

Yeah, that was unnecessary to be honest. Give the guy a break.

@BigBabyPeach I know right. Its the gamers fault for doing something unauthorized. I could say the same for Emulation and I feel really guilty that I played games on an emulator back then unlike now.

"Though the total amount was reduced slightly, his appeal for a payment plan was later denied by the Pokémon Company and Jones now has forty five days to pay up."
That's just harsh. No one can deny that.

Apparently the Pokemon Company functions just like Nintendo. "Hey, this fan loves our product and is marketing it for free! They must be punished!"

@TromboneGamer I like when Pokemon sues the guy for 4 G's while he's doing Pokemon Theme giveways and contest for smash. Glad I got out of Pokemon and Nintendo. Dudes are petty. Even Nintendo will the YouTube crap with LP's and their content is signs that we live in some petty times in the gaming market.

@BigBabyPeach If he was making money, it was from holding the event at his business. It didn't sound like he was making profits off the tickets. The ticket money was to pay for contest prizes.

@BacktoNarnia Except the latter has to give us money!

http://seattle.gaycities.com/events/547518-5th-annual-unofficial-pokemon-pax-kickoff-party

Not only was it not free, but alcohol was being served.
He got what he deserved, and IMO deserves worse.

Because the Pokemon Company has nothing better to do than going around suing people for making a poster with a Pokemon on it.

wow, first I lost my hope in Nintendo, who demanded 80 pounds for repair of a product which was still on its warranty (Wii U gamepad stopped working on its own after 7 months...), and now the Pokemon Company doing this? Do you want to lose your loyal fans? cause that's how you lose loyal fans....

...Well that's a bit excessive. Poor guy...

@BigBabyPeach Thanks for pointing that out, I see that the Motherboard article had that detail wrong.

That's harsh. Suing a guy $4,000 over a poster? Come on. Maybe he can take this to court and claim it's not "Copyright Infringement"? Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to burn my Pokemon drawings before I get sued...

welp... Time to change my avatar so that I won't get sued... Lol

I know Nintendo (or in this case The Pokemon Company) screwing fan is a hot topic on the web, but still... This is still a case of a fan using other's IP to benefit his own business. The Pokemon Company might find this guy present the IP in objectionable way (i.e not family-friendly), so they sued.

That said, IMO, they shouldn't went as far as pursuing payment. A ceast and desist should be all it's needed.

@a31qwerty your just upset because he served alcohol. it's a little absurd for them to be suing him in the first place, they should be promoting his actions because it can be an opportunity for them to expand more tournaments and eventually make that money, but instead they probably lost a group of their fans to their stubbornness and greed over power and money. It's ridiculous, the company already has billions of dollars, why do they need to drain this man of his money? All he was doing was promoting their company, not plotting to some how sabatoge it.

Uh, so this WASN'T a free party? Which means he was using someone else's IP to advertise it? Oh.
Well, the 45 day thing is still harsh, if you ask me. It's not like The Pokemon Company is poor or anything, so why can't they at least settle for a payment plan, seeing as Jones is barely holding it together.

And people wonder why I've stopped supporting Pokémon as a series. It's in no small part because of how draconian Game Freak's gotten over the years.

The only reason I haven't changed my avatar to reflect my refined opinion is because I'm too lazy to.

Gotta sue 'em all... Poke'mon!

Stupid but I guess if they don't mind losing a huge fan of their work that put on events that advertised their work, oh well. This guy in no way was damaging their brand, dumb.

The guy was on the wrong - IP and copyright exist for a reason, but the Pokemon Company's reaction was too harsh. A cease and desist order was enough.
Still, this brings to attention the lack of respect (or knowledge?) for copyright laws. Many will say that it is free advertisement, but you just can't go and use that stuff if money will be involved.

I can understand getting rid of the party altogether, because they DO legally have the right to do it .It's the suing that really ticks everyone off. The forty five days doesn't help it either. I can only hope that he gets his money in time.

Right then could the Pokemon Company get a new president please? Something is clearly not working out there.

Nintendo has a right to defend their intellectual property, and they have to in case something /really/ bad comes up. It sucks for the fan, but the law is the law.

The $4000 likely comes from the money he earned in ticket sales. He used an IP he didn't own to sell tickets.

The only part that seems harsh is giving a short period of time to pay it off. Fortunately for this guy there are suckers out there to pay the fine for him.

...This sounds like something some random patent troll company would do...>.>

@BacktoNarnia Nintendo =/= The Pokemon Company
You'd be surprised how little control Nintendo even has over the Pokemon brand as whole.
Asking for money when using other people's IPs is a BIG no no, regardless of circumstance. This was very scummy thing to do (suing the guy, that is), but this the reality people need to deal with. Not every company cares that you're doing something out of love, when money gets involved (either you gaining money via use of their IP or you costing them money), things always get ugly.

Seems like a ridiculous amount but if that really is necessary then maybe they should have given him a bit of mercy instead of only giving him 40 days.

@Klimbatize @Tasuki According to the article linked in the gofundme page, he made a grand total of at least 60 dollars, from the 30+ entries he sold.

@Luna_110 Yeah, I definitely agree. The principle is clear, and The Pokémon Company was right to stop this, but going straight for court is really overkill. There's a limit to how much force is reasonable to protect ones property.

It seems...overblown, but you have to remember...he DID use their IP, which is very clearly not cool. I feel bad for the guy, but well...he did infringe on copyright.

Cool. Now I hate the Pokemon company even more than I already did. Does a company worth millions upon millions really need to financially kill a guy for a measly 4 grand? Thats adult like. I mean i get where they are coming from but wouldnt the standard cease and desist work with maybe demands to refund anybody paying to get in under the pokemon ad? Sheesh...anyway, Imma give this guy some cash.

Um...I recently heard that Pokemon Company sued another random fan who held a contest to give away pokemon goods and he made no money off of it.

Um...so are sweepstakes and contests suddenly illegal now?

So it sounds like ticket sales brought in around $60, he then used that money for prizes and a DJ. The Pokemon Company sues for $4,000 without bothering with a cease and desist notice. Stupid!

@Tasuki Well, that's a completely different thing then.

Sheesh villainous is right. Sure makes you want to take a few steps back from the company. I'd would like to know why suddenly they like to reach out at random and crush a fan here or there. Kind of a weird authoritarian fandom they want us to be in I guess.

LOL at the comments. Guy made money out of it. Overkill? Nope, sometimes you gotta make an example. Go fund him if you like.

Sounds like something Hasbro would do. And have done in the past, IIRC.

I am sort of ashamed to be a pokemon fan now...This is horrible. Shame on you, Pokemon Company.

@Epona14 Crap, remind me to never do any sort of pokemon card giveaways from now on. Guess I'll just sell my unwanted doubles on ebay. :/

@a31qwerty Post#36

Ok, thanks for linking that. Apparently it was a pretty large party, in fact it's advertised as THE largest every year, and always "at capacity" with themed drinks for sale, a Smash Tourney and contests...

Which is probably why it drew attention. The $4000 is probably combined profit and lawyer reimbursement.

With all that said, I still think this is mind boggling. Something ruffled their feathers, and I don't think it was just making a few posters...

I can't say I completely understand the entire situation (or copyright laws for that matter), but good grief, seems pretty harsh. I get that the Pokemon Company has to protect its IP, but going straight to court and denying a payment plan, absolutely harsh. I'm predisposed to support a single individual over a large business, but even then, I just can't follow the motivations here, except "Let's screw this guy over." Heck, people were paying for a party, and it was simply themed around Pokemon. Seems pretty murky to me. I can get a company protecting itself, but how they responded seems unnecessary. I'd definitely like to see this murky area of copyright/IP defined, giving support to people creating content based around or events themed around certain IP, while still protecting company IP at higher levels, but I can't say I understand much of law at all.

Man! Talk about overkill! He stopped immediately, so that should have been the end of it. I mean there are tons of people out there that create fanart, clay figures and plushies, but they're gonna go after one guy and his unoffcial party? That's almost Disney levels of petty.

Though not owned by Nintendo as far as I know, they're pretty close to them so being this aggressively money grubbing is normal for them. Feel bad for the guy, though more people should know by now that Nintendo is aggressively against anyone using their IPs in any way without permission.
Actually I'm surprised Nintendo and the Pokemon Company and other directly related companies haven't attacked Comiket yet (which I heard is actually illegal in Japan, but companies value its existence so it's allowed to continue).

Business is business.

1. He charged admission, so he made money directly off it.
2. The giveaways are a form of gambling, so he may have broken local ordinances or laws for it.
3. He used it to advertise his business.

I bet he would have been fine if he didn't charge on tickets. He did, so he gets what he deserves.

@Chaoz Game Freak =/= The Pokemon Company. Game Freak isn't responsible for this in the slightest.

Anyways, it's only a matter of time before The Pokemon Company sues Nintendo over something like this.

Wow. Not cool, Pokémon company.

@Morpheel He also made money from more than just the tickets. I'm sure he sold things to the people who came in for this event for which he sold tickets.

I'm of the thinking in these cases that if a big company laid down the hammer, there was a reason. We're primarily getting one side of the story. I'm sure he made more than $60.

Obviously the Pokemon company is consumed with greed. That was evident with the audacious cash grabbing Eshop games they made recently - Pokemon Shuffle and Pokemon Rumble World. Greed greed greed! Here was a guy having an event that most obviously PROMOTED Pokemon and yet they still sue him. If I was him I would never have anything to do with anything Pokemon from there on. He has my sympathy.

Seems we got too many pokemon company sympathizers here

People who are upset over this and can't understand why companies sue over copyright infringement clearly don't understand the rights of IP and copyright law. Yes it seems harsh, and sometimes may seem unfair, but he used intellectual property he doesn't own and didn't get authorisation to use for marketing material to make money for his Cafè.

This particular case seems really unfair, but he infringed on copyright. The $4000 probably covers the money he made on the night (tickets, drinks, food etc) plus lawyer and court fees. I agree that the denial of a payment plan is pretty harsh, but there may be more to that than just "The Pokèmon Company said no".

Just because your a 'massive fan' doesn't give you any more right to use IP that doesn't belong to you. If he was smarter, instead of using copyright protected images and logos, he should have used photographs of cosplays at his Cafè or something along those lines. There's plenty of creative ways to promote an event or market your Cafè in a certain way that doesn't infringe on copyright law.

I feel bad for this guy, but as content creator myself, I wouldn't want someone else using my creations for their own financial gain. The Pokemon Company is particularly strict when it comes to their IP - not even allowing their Amiibo to be used in Nintendo games. If he's a massive fan he would have known this.

@DarkLloyd Umm what? Everyone here is pointing out that the Pokemon Company is legally allowed to do this but also think going to this extent was overkill.
The dude's getting plenty of sympathy, but you gotta keep in mind being a victim does not negate any wrong doing he technically did. IP infringement is serious business, regardless of intent.

@Kiyata_Hamasaki Actually it's obvious that the Pokémon Company is protecting its copyrighted material from future infringement. Calling that greed displays an abject lack of understanding of copyright. Profiting off something one does not own is theft.

@NintndoNik Add to your argument that it is a deterrent against future infringement, as once they let one case slide they risk many more.

interesting story, poor kid.

I doubt his tournament would have even generated $4,000. The made an example of the wrong guy. As big as Pokemon is, I'm sure they could've targeted a more serious offender.

EDIT: Now I mean this as seeing a corportate company target a small business. Remember, that the creative minds behind these games and their imagery probably had nothing to do with this. Its a company. So theres probably a division devoted to squashing things like this and protecting the creators. It may be some hard nosed businessmen that don't even like the games, that see this as just a job. In all technicality, they had every right to do this. Sadly, humans make these decisions. Its not a computer that automatically sues offenders. For a small business owner, who was holding an event for his community, there could have at least been some communication. Legally he was wrong, but theres also a dozen more ways to skin a cat.

Just remember everyone, its likely this wasn't a decision made by the developers or artists. Theres surely some suits in this business that do dirty work in order to keep the the guys we care about employed and paid well.

@DarkLloyd agreed. the laws in place are to make sure a company's ip is not abused or imporperly used. he shouldn't have used trademarked imaged to promote his own cafe's party. it's pretty cut and dry to me: he used another company's trademarked images and got sued for it. i don't see any room for argument or opinion lol.

@Klimbatize I'm not entirely sure, but from what I read it seems this particular party never actually happened.

@Artwark Might want to read my post again mate, I never mentioned Nintendo. Perhaps it didn't come across clearly, but my 'used games' thing referred to any Pokemon Company game.

I get it, but it's still too harsh.

I work as an aide for special needs clients and not even I could pay 4k in 40 days. Hell, I can barely pay my bills with my salary. The Pokémon Company seriously needs a reality check. Give the guy a break. At least give him a year to pay the fine.

Ok, for future reference since there's apparently a bit of confusion here, The Pokemon Co. International, while founded by the 3, are not Game Freak, Nintendo, or Creatures inc. They're a brand management company, stuff like this is primarily up to them alone.

I get that they're not too happy about the use of Pikachu and Snivy in the poster, but this is really excessive. No warning or anything, the guy willingly cancels the event, yet gets slapped with a 4k fine. I fail to see where a couple unapproved pictures equals that kind of damage, unless they're charging him a gross amount per flyer.

Sounds more like they're trying to make an example of him than anything, unless "damages" means they're mad about his cafe serving booze or something, which is none of their business. Its not like the flyers are promoting it.

@Morpheal
Yeah, he canceled it as soon as he caught wind of the lawsuite. The amount has to come from the number of flyers, if he can't afford the payment there's no way he made that much from the party. I doubt he makes that kind of money very often if at all.

Nintendo and its sub-companies loves some extra cash.

Wow, poor guy. The cease and desist letter was fine, but slapping on 4K in damages? Harsh. Pokemon images are everywhere, though I guess the Pokemon Company stepped in as this was a public event. Probably not a good PR move by them for the Seattle area.

If I were him, I'd use fan art from now on. (With the proper permissions/credits, of course)

This is disapointing. As someone studying to become a game developer, I fear the day that my company would punish a fan who goes through so much effort to celebrate the existance of my creation. Whether he had an ulterior motive or not, (which this guy likely did not, I mean, two dollar tickets on an annual party?) If people are attending to have a good time, I would be proud to have my creations be a part of the fun. This is why I'm gonna be an indie dev.

I agree that the amount was harsh but this is what happens when you use someone else's IP for your gain. I have a feeling the large amount was basically to set an example. You may be butt hurt about it but the law is the law. Just because other companies don't care doesn't mean you can break the law. In these stories, I cannot come on the side of the infringer. The person knows the images are copyright and uses them anyway. Not smart.

@devilwaffle yes, a $2 buy in but once they are in the door, he can make more money by selling food and drink. Basically an event that gets people to go to his establishment and generate money.

It seems harsh, but he was using Pokemon's IP to bring people in. Whether he profited from the tickets or not is irrelevant. He brought in customers using someone else's property, and charged them for entry. You can't do that.

To those saying Nintendo should have just sent him usable ads, that's not really how it works either. To protect their IP, they'd need/want significant control over the event (what was served, what was played, what was given away, etc) before they endorsed it. They might not want Pikachu to be the face of an event that features competing games, or which has an environment counter to the one Nintendo wants for Pokemon.

While I think Pokemon Co. should have let him pay over time, or even reduce the fee, they were in the right here. It was their property, and they have every reason and right to defend it.

@Ralizah Same here. I was on the fence about getting Pokemon X & Y, but I think I know what I'm doing now. Somewhere some stupid businessman thinks he's gonna make money off this. Maybe with a rushed AAA, but this? Give me a break. Can't wait for this to bite them back in the you know what. Maybe then they'll start acting like rational human beings. After Apple vs Samsung and the declining quality of the Windows iTunes client I've boycotted Apple. Seems like The Pokemon Company's next.

I was trying to into into the franchise. Looks like I'll be giving up now because this was waaaay out of line.

What exactly was the "damage" he did? The party was cancelled and no money was made. This backfired big time. Good job, Pokemon company. I bet your own "damage" will be way more than lousy 4000 bucks.

@ToniK it says he had done for the past five years
He'd made more than that from the illegal use of Pokemon. If Nintendo let a small guy steal their IP, then more and more will do so and then suddenly the value of the IP is much less and they receive less money each time someone licenses it for advertising.
$4k to use Pokemon in advertising for 5 whole years? A massive bargain, he has gotten off very lightly.

Do the crime, pay the fine. If it ends up costing him his business, then he shouldn't have broken the law.

First he steal's someone else's IP for advertising a commercial event for 5 whole years. Then, he's trying to get people to give him money to pay for the fine? Pokemon Company let him off very lightly for his theft.

@MitchVogel Imagine a store decided to advertise their business using Pokemon IP and contacted Pokemon Company's licensing department about it. They would be charged more than $4000.

A ton of people here are taking too lightly what copyright means and most importantly what could happen if a company doesn't apply it for defend their properties ^_^;;;

I'm sorry for the guy if this will cause him troubles, but he left the Pokemon company with very little choice... Promoting around the PAX his own event with official Pikachu and Snivy images, the PokeCompany not only had to stop him, but they had to stop him with as little discount as possible for make sure noone will be tempted to follow his example.

That's usually the biggest problem with these cases, be too nice once and then you are screwed when someone else will make the same "mistake", you can't really have exceptions lying around in a court, you know? >.>;;;

@Trinexx You can't just use someone's art for advertising purposes and expect that the publicity is payment enough, same with IP. Likewise actors in adverts need to be paid as well.

@MadAdam81 I guess that makes sense in the petty and disgusting corporate world. Good for them.

Just so people needs to know the Pokemon Company, Game Freak, Nintendo and Creatures Inc., all are not the same company. Nintendo only handles the game publication of the IP, Game Freak and Creatures Inc. created the games and the Pokemon Company had rights to every promotion, marketing and use of the IPs outside of gaming.

Seems incredibly harsh

Once again the comment section knows very little about copyrights and what you are allowed to do. its not free advertisememt because all of them are already pokemon fans. you cant earn money from these events from taking someone elses art. the are ofc a couple of harsh things like them not allowing his payment plan and having the sum of 4000$. but i guess a too small fee would look puny and greedy from the pokemon company

It seems to me The Pokémon Co. were in the right on this, and mentioning it to my partner (Lawyer, has done a stint in IP), the penalty isn't harsh at all... Just the 45 day pay up period though is far too excessive and wouldn't likely pass in UK, due to nature of the lawsuit: massive corporation v small business.

Not claiming to know anything about the law myself, but what partner came up with: If the event has been running for ~5 years, he's got away with it for a fair while, and it includes a very rough estimate of his financial gain from their IP (in terms of sales of goods etc.), penalty on the time period he used their IP in promotions, penalty on what he may've used of their IP at the events and 'brand damage' in him creating an environment they had no control over or had authorised, likely here the selling of alcohol which occurred through promotion of their IP.

Partner mentioned this was likely to be highlighted as an example case to act as a deterrent, what with the 45 day pay up period and the fact we're all taking notice of it, but $4,000 is very lenient overall.

The $4000 dollars is probably legal fees or some of it (The pokemon company is protective of it's property and would have to pay a real lawyer to deal with this case). This person did not even create the art for their poster, and used copy written material to promote his business. Now remember once you do that you are not a fan, you are a business capitalising on another business. Some may look at it as harsh, but in reality this is no different than if Sony (or Microsoft) did the same thing (hosted a Pokemon tournament) to sell Playstation (or Xbox) products in their store. If the circumstances were exactly the same, the fanbase would be in uproar. I wish NL reported the complete facts and didn't sensationalise this as though it was a fan and not business that was using copy written material

$4000?! That's chump change compared to how much the Pokémon Company makes! Why can't they just let this go? Even Disney's not that defensive of its IP!

In my opinion yes he did use their I.P but thy should've listened when he said he couldn't afford it! Not much harm would've come out of this infact it may have of them so new fans! Anyway on gofundme someone left him 500$ so I'm sure he'll reach his mark!

What do they gain from ruining this persons life? At the very least allow the payment plan..... Far too heavy handed this.

Good thing they shut this down. Now I get to once again desperately try and defend more IP infringement garbage and pretend this company doesn't only care about how much cash I give them, cuz Nintendo and me are best friends.

See, its crap like this that gives companies a bad name. By technicality, yes it is Ramar's fault. And what Nintendo, doesnt seem to understand here, is, while they may be getting a measely 4000 bucks from this fellow, they have created a PR nightmare for themselves.

If your 4k worth all the negative attention and distrust for what may have been future customers, worth it Nintendo? You guys aren't really helping yourselves... releasing a new DS, that adds a c-stick (Thats about it) not including a charger. Releasing the Wii-U which might be a nice console, but, charging an arm and a leg, and not making many games for it...

Banning people from sharing their streaming info on MiiVerse, which is publicity for YOU. And now suing a guy because he made a couple posters. My god, get your *&^% straight Nintendo, you are not the company I knew and loved as a child. You have turned into money-hungry *&^ clowns...

Seems there's a lot of misunderstanding in this comment section, but oh well, what do you expect on a Nintendo fansite?

• Nintendo doesn't have anything to do with this, The Pokémon Company acts alone in cases like this.
• He sold a product/service using the Pokémon IP, clear and simple, if the party was free there wouldn't have been a problem.
• Blame the judge if you think the $4000 is too much, not the Pokémon Company.

The sad thing is, I don't know the entire story, nobody knows. This is one side of the story, but everyone is jumping to conclusions and blaming, well, either side. I'm going to withhold my opinion, because it would be a biased opinion anyway.

^^
Incorrect. He made a poster and posted it. It would have been illegal if he sold the poster, but to my knowledge, he did not. If I want to, I can post a picture of MarioKart on my front door, and charge people to get into my house to play games. That is legal. Im not selling the games, or the ability to play them, I am charging people to enter my residence, or place of business.

And no, Nintendo may not control TPC, but, they have a heavy hand in negotiations. This will reflect badly on them as well, as they are the main, and really ONLY perveyor of systems that has anything to do with Pokemon. Sure there are trading cards and memorabilia. But lets be honest, the most income comes from the games and systems they are played on.

I kind of see their point, but to be honest? What the heck Pokemon Company.

atleast make him pay like 100 bucks a month or something,its not that pokemon needs the money,i think this goes a bit to far...no i think it going way to far to be honest

The Pokemon company are getting worse.

It's bad enough that Nintendo have to twist their arm to make a 3DS/WiiU game these days (and still the 3DS won't be getting Pokemon Go or the Trading Card game).

Then there's the stupidness with the Pokemon Amiibo's such as compatibility and the sound effects in Super Mario Maker.

...and now this fiasco, which despite the Pokemon Company looking more like an IOS app company these days, will still have people pointing the finger of blame at Nintendo (as evident already by some of the comments on here).

So are TPC going to start suing kids too?

Imagine if a child has a Pokemon themed birthday party, with plates, cups and banners full of Pokemon faces. Imagine the kid sends out Pokemon themed birthday invites or adds a picture of Pikachu to his Facebook post announcing his party. Is he not also receiving 'profits' in the form of gifts from others attending the party due to Pokemon?

I can understand TPC wanting to protect their brand but a simple warning message should have been enough in this case. What about the fake Pokemon games and Pokemon adult films? Surly they make more of a profit? Sounds a lot like them going after this poor guy because he was an easy target, very malicious if you ask me.

Pokemon Company is infamous for this sort of behavior.

Blame 'defend or die' from trademark laws that essentially force companies into this behaviour.

Blame 'defend or die' from trademark laws that essentially force companies into this behaviour.

while it's certainly not good for the cafe owner and I feel a bit bad for how unlucky he was this time. It's understandable that this would happen. You can't advertise a paid for "unofficial event" with licensed pictures of characters without permission whether he's charging $2 or $40 for entry.

Letting the cafe owner get away with using Pokemon in advertising something people can purchase would basically blow open any route for people to use Pokemon to advertise anything without The Pokémon companies permission as if they knew about this and did nothing any company looking to make money unofficially off the Pokémon could point to this and potentially get off free. It's not unlike those child Nurseries that get stopped when they use Disney or Warner Bros' licensed characters, regardless of how bad The Pokemon company come off from this, it just doesn't weigh up with losing some control of how a multi-billion value franchise can be used for one small exception.

I have one question...how does anyone know that there was no cease and desist sent out days, weeks, months before the lawsuit? People get half the facts then judge a company who is doing nothing illegal, when someone else was and he is the good guy.

@Jimtaro he is not receiving profits. Really. The mention plates were bought at a store, which most likely is legally selling them. They paid their copyright fees with tpc to make them. The presents most likely were bought in a store, same as plates. Gifts are gifts. a business doing millions in sales each years is a bit different then a kid having a birthday party. Said business could be using someone else's advertising and ips to bring in said sales. Which is why the lawsuit.
Articles like this and millions of others online is no different then gossip and today's kids on the Internet treat things like this as a fact and they will have a hard life of not understanding how the world works.

@Jimtaro Depends, is the child charging $2 upfront for entry into his birthday party and pinning up posters around town featuring them? Then yes..Is the child just having a Pokemon themed party and would have been receiving gifts regardless of the use of the brand? No.

Honestly the Cafe owner would have gotten off scott free if he simply didn't charge people for entry or made slightly different posters, I mean he'd probably have indirectly made more from selling food from the extra business and The Pokemon Company couldn't do anythng about it.

The thing is he was (hopefully) unintentionally doing the exact things you aren't supposed to do with brands you don't own. Imagine this story had the guy charging more and making a profit off entry and change his motivation with the poster to be using the images of Pikachu and Snivy to attract more people to his cafe and it becomes a lot less innocent. You can see why simply charging for entry was a big red flag combined with the posters.

@Tasuki He didn't make any money off of it...He used the $2 each to pay for prizes.

TPC were far too harsh this time, especially since he didn't make much in the way of profits. A cease and desist was probably all that was needed. At the very least, they should have approved the payment plan. It's not like TPC will notice if it takes a year for them to receive an extra $4000.

@Donutman and @Dr_Lugae
Thank you both for intelligent and composed responses, that is sadly a breath of fresh air on here but very much appreciated.

I'd be interested how Pokemon Company found him if he didn't put those pokemon posters all over the city to get more customers or something like that.

@ToniK The only petty one is the person who profited through theft, and is now trying to fool people into giving him money.
Imainge if you created something, or became a famous model, and people tried to ilegally steal your image and make themselves money? Imagine if you put in a lot of hard work into this image and people just seem to think they can profit from your hard work? No different to somebody stealing your paycheck.

@seb5049 he owns cafe so customers coming in for "free" still makes more sales for him because drinks.

When I was little, I drew a picture of Pikachu and stuck it up at school. Am I safe!?!?

I'd also like to know where this $4000 figure comes from. It specifically says damages and not expensive lawyer fees. Seems pretty self inflicted if it is legal fees. If you choose to nuke a mosquito don't ask for a nukes worth of damages. All this needed was a simple cease and desist letter.

I'd also like to see Nintendo sue the Pokemon Company for damages here since Nintendo are implicated in all this not to mention the number of games that don't support Pokemon amiibo.

@Chaoz I thought the pron was free. Also it is protected under parody and fair use of copyright. Things which using official artwork of Pikachu and Snivy sadly are not.

Shh don't tell them that Devientart exists.

So sad that this has happened. I know these companies can't really just let anyone monetise their products and characters but I feel like this really was just a case of a fan embracing something he loved, based on what the article says anyway, and ultimately doing more good for the Pokemon franchise than harm. It's fine if the Pokemon company wanted to stop what he was doing, but to then also go and fine him, like he was trying to pass-off his work as official and use that to profit from someone else's work or something like that, just seems like a real douche move. I'm not sure his actions were that sneaky (I mean, he even clearly labelled the thing as unofficial), and I'm not sure it does the Pokemon company any good to come down on him like a tonne of bricks. Although, as is the case with these media reports, you know quite know if you're getting the full picture.

PS. If he's not fighting them simply because he can't afford a lawyer, then my advice would be to not hire a lawyer. He can fight them and handle all the legal stuff himself, as far as I'm aware. I did this when Warner Bros tried to oppose my Trademark registration under grounds of "passing off"—and I won. I didn't have to pay a lawyer a single penny, although, I did initially try to use a lawyer but he actually wanted to me to pay £2,000 just for sending a couple of initial letters to Warner Bros. I never replied to him again, and, after him trying to contact me a couple more times (and me simply ignoring him entirely), that was basically the last I ever heard of that.

Wow...that's something I would think a company that ISN'T would do. The guy was having pokemon theme parties and giveaways, doesn't seem like he was selling a product and making a profit of your IP for one, and he even cancelled the whole thing all together (not like he did it anyway). Was that really necessary to put the guy in that kind of hot water? Sorry, Nintendo, you're in the wrong here.

He broke the law people. Plus he runs a business and made profit off of it for the years he had this party. It wasn't a one time thing people. Pokemon Company has every right to do this. Yeah it sucks that he can't pay this $4000 but he was in the wrong here, not them.

@DracioKoi Nintendo? Nintendo has nothing to do with this.

Yes, I understand that this guy broke the laws regarding IP. But that does not mean morals should be ignored. A payment plan should of been allowed to lessen the blow on a small time cafe.

@Mogster did you charge people to look at it?

@DracioKoi Nintendo isn't doing anything. The Pokemon Company is a completely separate entity.

'Intellectual property': what does it actually mean? There's copyright of works, but the term 'IP' is so vague that it is only loosely related. It suggests a relationship between patents, copyright and trademarks as something comparable to a physical object. Patents, copyright and trademarks are all designed for different things. At the end of the day, 'IP' is just a term used by big corporations to suppress creativity, all governed by the sinister and dubious 'World Intellectual Property Organisation'.

I don't think the $4k fine is too excessive. He used copyright material for 5 years to promote his business. We don't know the full scope of the infringement but I'm convinced the judge who ruled in favor of TPC does. I don't feel sorry for the business owner in the slightest. If you do, there's the link to help him out. Some respones on here seem to imply that $4k is a life-changing amount of money. It is not. It's a couple of month's rent for a small place in a big city like Seatlle. Besides, the attention that this story has attracted will probably result in more support in his business, let alone his fund raising site!

@Aromaiden

My thoughts exactly. Boy howdy, it reminds me of a recent Etika video where the guy starts off with a long tirade against Nintendo. I've already seen a hot-blooded Etika before, but I'd never expect to see him legitimately angry like that.

Nintendo should keep an eye on these flip-flops, because damaging your own image might be a matter of seconds if you're not careful...

Seriously Nintendo, that's a punch below the belt...

@Busta_Senpai @OddworldCrash @StarDust4Ever @SneakyStyle It's the Pokémon Company, not Nintendo.

The Pokemon Company is out of their minds. I lost all respect for them. They better drop this ridiculous vendetta ASAP.

This move seems dark type.

I've been done with the Pokemon company for years now. They're just a bunch of scumbags now.

Gee, it's not like the Pokemon Company is hurting for money. They could at least let the guy pay in installments.

All the people saying how this is "unfair" need to understand that the man was breaking the law AND the Pokémon company has to do this to show that they do not support people profiting off of their IPs.

It's not about the damages he caused by selling $2 tickets, it's about the potential damages caused if they had let him continue and then have other people get the idea that it's okay to profit illegally off of GAMEFREAKS's work.

Yeah the fine is high, it has to be. it's about sending a message to everyone that they don't tolerate people doing what he did. This is why I never did Pokémon commissions at Deviant Art. It's hard to sell something that's not actually mine.

He should have just took pictures of cosplayers or something or even wrote Gamefreak and got permission.

@Galenmereth Exactly. It's the same thing with the people posting romhacked speed runs. It's not about the money they made, it's the money Nintendo COULD lose if people started focusing more on illegal junk than buying their games.

@Chaotic_Eevee its the Pokemon company not Nintendo or game freak. The Pokemon company handles the anime and merchandise.

@mateq it's the Pokemon company not Nintendo. The Pokemon company handles the anime and merch not the games

@Azikira right!? all he tried to do was host an event for people to have fun, the guy even backed down but they still pushed on him.

I'm surprised they were that harsh. He even cancelled the party right after the warning.

@Octane Thanks, I was going to post something very similar, but you've already said pretty much everything I wanted to point out!

Seriously, if you're going to use a company's IP to promote anything, you'd better get permission first. People nowadays (forgive me for my bluntness) are stupid because they think they can do whatever they want with someone else's property, and think they should be allowed to do it because "I'm helping you!".

Is $4000 harsh? Sure, for us, because we aren't rolling in the dough, including who is getting hit by it, but there are many things the company has to do when protecting their property after such situations happen, and it doesn't come cheap. If a company doesn't protect their property, they can lose it. If they didn't sue, then they'd take the cost with all the procedures that they are required for protecting their property when these situations occur. Since when is it fair that the property owner be penalized for protecting their property when you infringe upon it?

If anything, this would serve as an example that you don't mess with someone else's property for your own benefit.

I have to assume they got litigious because he was charging money for the event. I bet he makes the same poster but it's for a free event then they don't care, or at least not enough to sue.

@mjc0961 good on you, what a nice gesture for the lad =)

They wanna kill this guys life over a freakin poster. Shame on the Pokemon co you bullies. I don't drink the Pokemon kook-aid.

So I'm assuming this guy bought all his Nintendo products, then threw a party based on his hobbies? You know, I had a pikachu cake when I was 7 I guess I got lucky the PKMN Co. didn't sue me.

This is completely ridiculous. I don't know how this country not only allows so many stupid and frivolous lawsuits to even make it to court, but how it also manages to rule against innocent people nearly every single time.

So what if the the guy charged? He's running a cafe! Comic book stores all across america hold events like this, based around magic the gathering, yu-gi-oh and heroclix that you have to pay to enter. Hell, chicago comic con held a smash tourney that gave out charizard amiibos as a prize. Not only do I want to know just how the PKMN Co. even planed to make any money off of this, did they really think that this guy hurt them or stole from them in anyway? This is about as sinister as Metallica suing their fans for downloading their mediocre music. Sounds to me like this guy was a good customer and that the people who once provided joy to this man's life have now single handedly ruined it.

Good job, jerks

No sympathy from me if your company repeatedly uses someone's copyrighted IP in a commercial venture. This isn't "fan art" by any definition.

I don't think what he did was right using copyrighted stuff like that, how ever I feel they should have allowed him a payment plan.

@ReshaSong

That's the thing though, he broke the law. If they didn't do anything about it, and just let him go then people would think it's alright to make profit of the Pokemon Company's IP. And that's not tolerable. It's not about how much the guy was making, or anything like that. I'm sure the guy was just doing it all in good fun, but he should have thought a little harder before doing that.

If you don't screw up every now and then, you never learn.

@shigulicious

Perfectly said sir.

@Pac-loon

$4000 is hardly a life-killing sum of money. If you feel so bad for him, there's the link to go help him out.

The hell you doing pokemon company?

@Vash_Visionz @TeeJay
Right, Sorry, my honest mistake. I guess it's because the people of Pokemon (The Pokemon Company) and Nintendo are associated so close to each other that I mistook them for one of the same.

Good.

Maybe next time, he'll think twice about scamming people and charging admission fee for unofficial events based on franchises he doesn't own and has no legal right to charge for.

I would have preferred a minimum of 10 years in prison, though. This is a slap on the wrist.

90% of everything and everyone involved with Pokémon is garbage. I should feel bad that 10% entices me but I don't. I guess that puts me in with the 90.

Oh people agree with them? Well, duh Fee. Pokémon fans. slaps self(no like I actually did)

I am so done with Nintendo. I just moved my WiiU to the attic and do not plan to buy any homeconsole ever again.
Wanted to stick to Handhelds but i gues i just cancel that as well. There re some (very few) good games on mobile and i will just play those.

Edit: They were in the right to do this obv. But i am in the right to turn my back on them because of it.
Edit2: And since TPC is owned by Nintendo i will extend the blame to Nintendo.

@Sinister This has nothing to do with Nintendo! Did you not read just a couple comments above you? You need to have a problem with Pokemon Company over this, not Nintendo! Geez.

@TeeJay Nintendo owns TPC. So i extend my blame to them. The parent is to blame if they can't control their kids.

@DarkJamD Exactly. I am sure that TPC isn't sitting in bushes watching cafe's. My bet, is someone ratted him out.

See, the problem with this, as I said before, is it is bad PR. If this Ramar fellow, gains enough support, and convinces enough people, world wide, not to support TPC, it causes them to lose a huge chunk of profit, and even more depending on how long they decide to protest. Which I can promise, considering the amount the games and such cost, is a lot more than 4000 dollars. I hope he learns about not using IP, and I hope they learn not to be such greedy &^%$s.

It's just a relief to me that there are so many experts on copyright law here on Nintendolife. I remember a couple of weeks ago when Disney Infinity released a downloadable stage inspired by Splatoon, the legal experts on this site were calling for Nintendo to sue Disney. Now this guy is being sued for illegally using Pokémon to make money but TPCI should not be suing him according to our top lawyers here on Nintendolife. In fact, shame on them for it and lets boycott and burn all our Nintendo and Pokémon games!

Wait, a judge actually sided with the plaintiff in this case? Could that actually mean our nintendolife legal team is wrong? Or maybe it's a corrupt judge! Get your aluminum foil hats on folks, I smell a conspiracy! Corrupt judges and evil international corporations all bringing their might down upon an innocent victim all in the name of world domination.

Give me a break nintendolife.

I kinda feel bad for the guy.

I kinda feel bad for the guy.

Why does Pokemon have to be so sensitive when it comes to their properties? I mean, some things I do get, like copyright and such, but even Nintendo cannot use their properties!

@GammaNoises i L0vE uR pR0fILe PiC ,b0$$

@OddworldCrash Pokemon Company, not Nintendo

Dang, Andre from GameXplain donated $1000 to this guy.

Kind of disappointing to see how many people quickly choose sides on this without bothering to read or consider the details:

1. As is pointed out in the headline to the article, the body of the article, and by many commenters, this is not Nintendo, this is The Pokemon Company. Feel free to boycott Pokemon games if you hate this company protecting their IP in this manner, but don't go throwing out your Wii U or 3DS in protest because that's unnecessary overkill. There are plenty of great games on both consoles produced by companies completely unrelated to TPC.

2. I know that everybody likes to believe that we're only in it for the love of the games but no business-owner does anything for a loss (unless it is for charity in which case it's a tax write-off, however I think that we can all agree that a Pokemon tournament is not charity). If this guy can't afford a $4000 lawsuit, then he most definitely can't afford to hold a loss-making tournament out of the goodness of his heart. There is no doubt that something about this would have generated some form of profit for him, and TPC's lawsuit says as much.

3. Everything about this event was Pokemon themed: Pokemon games, Pokemon music, Pokemon-themed alcoholic beverages... Most of us know enough about IPs and precedents to understand that, at some point, somebody will get stung doing stuff like this. Charging entry fees and using Pokemon to advertise is probably pushing it just that bit too far. A cease and desist stops one party, suing for $4000 stops anybody from thinking about holding a similar party now or in the future. Harsh, but effective.

4. Contrary to what his gofundme campaign alludes to, this is not his first unofficial Pokemon party, and he is not being sued for organising a single party. TPC is attributing all five parties to this guy's company, which is is made pretty clear in the lawsuit documents along with TPC's strong belief that their IP has been used without consent at each of the previous parties (and given that every party has been called "the X annual unofficial Pokemon PAX kickoff party" that's a pretty safe bet to make). Consequently, this is a lawsuit for five parties across five years, four of which have already happened, and that'll include any profits made from all five parties. $4000 seems like a lot, but not when it's spread across five years.

5. Last but not least, he refused to hire a lawyer to help himself out, and he agreed to the final outcome. He might not like it, but if he wanted a better outcome he should have sought legal advice.

I don't like to see big companies sue "the little guy", however in this case "the little guy" is an IP thief. Just because you're a fan of something doesn't mean you can use that IP however you like. I don't like to see anybody, big corporation or individual, stealing the intellectual property of somebody else for fame or profit without even attempting to contact the IP owner.

If you still feel bad for the guy don't worry, he's already got over $3000 for his gofundme campaign... although asking for donations to pay a fine from violating the law completely violates gofundme's TOS, so obviously he hasn't learnt a lot about understanding how to follow rules.

@DarkJamD
Somebody probably got a hold of one of his posters, this thing was supposed to coincide with PAX so some Pokemon Co. reps might have been there.

@Ankahet
Problem with that is they could possibly sue him for defamation or something. People hearing about this will still damage their reputation though, and unfortunately for Nintendo people will associate The Pokemon Co. with them. They're already doing both in this very comment section.

How awful I hope he can pay it in time!

Pokemon company should be ashamed of them selfs doing this to fan....

@LUKEKUL Couldn't have phrased it better myself.

It's heavy handed definitely if he was earning big out of it I could understand the lawsuit but it sounds like free promotion to me and the pokemon company sound like morons

@Kalmaro: Thanks, although you definitely did phrase it quite well in several of your posts

Don't get me wrong, I get that what he did was illegal. I also understand TPC's need protecting their IP. I still think a payment plan would have been kind (even if it would have been generous), then he wouldn't have needed to make the gofundme page (he could have righted the wrong on his own). Sounds like he'll be covered anyways. . .

@LUKEKUL Thanks

@thehoppypoppy $4000 isn't hard to make up. You can get a loan for that as long as your credit is good....or you can cry about it online and have bleeding hearts send you cash.

@LUKEKUL If he's violating the TOS of Gofundme by asking for donations to pay his legal fees, someone should report the campaign

@thehoppypoppy Generally you need to be able to prove that you require a payment plan if you want to be successful in getting one. Either this guy wasn't able to prove it (meaning that he actually is capable of stumping up $4000 but doesn't want to) or he didn't make any/enough effort to prove it.

It is also worth keeping in mind that he's not the only one listed as a defendant in this lawsuit. "Ruckus Productions" is the company listed, with Ramar Larkin Jones (the man this article is all about) and Zach Shore as the two people associated with this. They would need to prove that two working adults and the company that they own make less than $90 per day in order to demonstrate that they could not come up with $4000 in 45 days.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I think that a lawyer would have been able to secure a better outcome. Failing that, as @Kalmaro suggests, a bank could help him with a loan for part or all of the money.

@Sakura_Moonlight2421 I noticed a more recent comment on his gofundme campaign page saying much the same as I did, so I'd assume that at least one person has already done so.

@LUKEKUL Yeah this guy will not have a problem getting the money together. Don't sees why people are making such a fuss.

well yeah it was a bit harsh but he used other IPs to promote his stuff. You can be a fan but private IP are private and nobody cannot do anything about t.

The Pokemon Company is legally in the right to do this.

But getting the gathering shut down and demanding monetary compensation despite an immediate compliance on that demand is nothing but bad PR, and doesn't benefit them, especially if the event was run well and made Pokemon fans happy (which I cannot confirm).

This reeks of Nintendo trying to get Melee shut down at EVO a few years ago and only changing their minds because of the huge media backlash by not just the gaming media, but the mainstream media.

@Dr_Lugae I have to agree with you sir. Not only what you stated above in reference to protecting their copyrights, but the fact he's placed this poster around Seattle, which is the US headquarters for Nintendo and the Pokemon Company, right before a huge influx of people are in town for PAX. How could Nintendo let something like this slide right under their nose? Nintendo's greatest asset is their IP, and no one (except perhaps Disney) owns characters that have such potential to simply "print money" by associating them with a product. I think the amount of the fine is excessive, but it's probably meant as a message that their IP is "hands off" unless you're careful about making sure your usage adheres to "fair use" practices.

@faint People really aren't reading my comment are they? That or it didn't come across very well. As I already stated to someone else:

Might want to read my post again mate, I never mentioned Nintendo. Perhaps it didn't come across clearly, but my 'used games' thing referred to any Pokemon Company game.

Oh come on...

@Kalmaro Have you tried running a cafe?

@AyeHaley Nope, I can guarantee you I wouldn't have screwed up like this guy though.

There's probably more to it. I bet he's been making money off this sort of stuff for years. The fine would have been lower and C&D probs would have been first. I'm not buying it frankly.

Edit: here's a listing I found after a quick search:

http://allevents.in/seattle/the-unoffical-pax-kickoff-party/327795230646483

Blatant money maker event

@CTMike "Blatant money maker event"

Hmmm yeah:

"Drink Specials:
$6 Three Olives (doubles ofcourse)
List of pokemon shots coming soon"

I've mentioned it in a previous post that the indirect income he'd receive from these events would be a way to avoid The Pokemon Company shutting it down and that hopefully it was only an innocent mistake. But looking at that link I wouldn't be surprised if this guy has been coming out of his pre-PAX kick-off party financially ahead each year if he's charging $6 for a glass of double vodka with mixer(unless that's a reasonable price, I don't know I'm from the UK but it seems pretty high).

The Facebook Page said 164 people went in 2014 and 84 maybe's if the 164 who definitely went on average bought 2 drinks he'd potentially have $1986 revenue(before expenses and I doubt they'd be that high for a function room, a cheap DJ, £150 for a cosplay contest, prizes for the videogame tournaments and the drinks themselves) from the event from a single year. Potentially even more money if the Pokemon shots were popular(and if they weren't would he keep doing them every year?).

I wonder if people would be quick to bail him out this year if they knew what he could have been making hundreds of dollars in profit each year from the event for 4 years now. Especially considering he would have been charging for entry ontop of that this time(would have been an extra $328 if it was as popular as 2014)., perhaps he was pretty clever to announce the action the Pokemon Company did since its completley absolved him of any consequence/responsibility the $4000 fine is now almost completely paid at the expense of other people feeling sorry for him and he's not paying a penny.

The $4000 Pokemon Company are willing to settle for would be less than the guy made and less than he would have been charged if he had approached them each year.
And now instead of paying from his own pocket, he's convincing Pokemon fans to pay for him. He's just a money grabbing thief.

@DarkKirby He's been doing it for 5 years, charging entry and "Pokemon" alcoholic drinks. If Pokemon didn't quash this and it got out that there was Pokemon alcoholic beverages, it would hurt their image and cost them money.

He's almost there. Good for him. This lawsuit is a black eye for Pokemon. The guy wasn't getting rich. He was celebrating Pokemon.
Gotta catch nothing ever again.

Well, I'm done with the Pokemon company after hearing this. First being extremely restrictive with their IP (amiibo), then this? Whoever is running the company must be crazy. I know they're within their rights to do this, but it's still just bad for everyone in this situation. As for the 'pokemon fan' who used the pokemon material to promote his events, he should have known he was playing with fire. The Pokemon company has usually been strict like this, so he could have at least been weary of his actions.

This whole situation is just terrible. I wish it was handled differently.

@LUKEKUL Right on all counts, heck TPC is only responsible for marketing and licensing of the series they arrange product lines and events much like the guy in the article except you know legit.

Extreme. If he were selling pirated software, merch with Nintendo intellectual property on it like t shirts or something... I could see it. But home made posters to promote a tournament? Damn 'tendo. Damn

That's a real extreme punishment, in my opinion. I hope he gets it paid off soon.

Make no mistake, this is not simply just about The Pokemon Company protecting their IP rights and copyrights, nor even about enforcing The Law. This is about business as usual.

From the perspective of The Pokemon Company, this event may not be a bad thing, but a good thing. Has anyone considered why the fine would be $4,000, exactly? Yes, others here have stated attorney's fees, damages, and such. However... how was this particular number arrived at by the Judge, through these particular proceedings? The Law is written specifically to handle and process cases in this fashion, with an entire industry surrounding it.

If The Pokemon Company hired their own private firm, then in truth, this case would be a cause for celebration for them. That is more work to add towards their hired firm's income. The private law firm industry wants more cases like this, not less. If The Pokemon Company used public defenders instead, then the money amount might not even need to be pursued, because any fees would be handled by the government.

This case is really just another instance of a corporation being encouraged to exploit the situation to the fullest extent of The Law. Laws are often said to be meant to protect the citizenry, but that is not always necessarily true. Law enforcement, both executive and judiciary, serves those who have the most power, and sometimes those people are in fact the ones who either write (or co-opt) proposed Bills or have accumulated wealth (read:power). The proceedings we see such as this are designed to benefit those with wealth. That's not a conspiracy, that's just how The Law works here.

There is no money to be made in simply giving out a cease and desist order and perhaps a smaller fine ($400, perhaps) as a disciplinary means of protecting their property. Thief or no, the individual targeted here is just another easy source of income for them. Welcome to The Rule of Law, as defined by Capitalism.

This is them being alil too harsh. Guess you should think twice about being a fan now shouldn't you?

Well I will never buy another Pokemon game. That's ridiculous. Sounds a lot like an Apple lawsuit.

I'm happy he raised the money to pay off Pokemon Co., but this story is like ruining my childhood. I wouldn't be surprised if fan backlash from this makes a dent a LOT bigger than a petty $4000 for them.

America and lawsuits...

insert Captain Picard facepalm here

Anyone up for a petition to have The Pokemon Company retract their demand?
I personally don't feel like buying their products after something like this. It doesn't matter how much you I love Pokemon, this is BS.

The problems here are:

• Sure, they have the right to protect their IP, but they could have told this guy, like they did "Drop the party" and then continue on with their business instead of demanding 4k from him.
• The biggest problem is that they should encourage this, since it is LITERALLY PROMOTING their product.
  It was not like he was making a huge chunk of money of it, he wanted to cover expenses for throwing a party where he was showing his love for Pokemon.

If we as fans need to worry about showing our love for Pokemon, because they could demand money like this from us, then at least I am willing to take my money elsewhere.

The Pokemon Company deserves all the negative press they could get from this.

This seems like such a frivolous and petty case. Just leave the guy alone, $4,000 is nothing - it's little more than pocket money to the company. The law is plain ridiculous sometimes.

Definitely too harsh.

$4000 goal already reached by now. I guess technically, the Pokémon Company has rights to their IP, but as many have said, they could have just given the guy a cease and desist. Also, it seems more like the guy wasn't trying to make a massive profit of off the IP, but rather just make sure the expenses for the party were covered. And the event would have only given them extra publicity. Now I'm not one of those who are saying that they are going to outright stop buying Pokémon products just because of this incident (no, I will still buy their games)—after all, these companies do this kind of stuff on a regular basis (doesn't make it right necessarily, but they still do it): the Pokémon Company is no exception. Although they're being pretty stupid, as sure, they're squeezing $4000 from this guy, but all the negative press and loss of faith in the company, leads to them losing sales from multiple people (so they're losing money from this). Their greed ironically makes them lose money, and I'm overall glad that the man was able to reach his $4000 goal.

they are going to suffer greater damage than him, not financial though.

This disgusts me again.The guy was hosting a PAY FAN-EVENT DURING PAX (just like a official event)! It is clear that he was wrong, despite he is poor or a fan. Any company will stop this! However Nintendolife as a major news source frames the title and the whole story like Nintendo is a very mean meanie pants to their fans. Off-court settling is the kindest punishment already! If it were a Disney ip, he would have be in jail! Ugly POS.

@MIDP

To be fair they would have suffered the same damages if they had just given him a Cease & Desist since you'd have people going "Why don't you just let him have his party TPCi, lame move, guess I'm not buying any of your products".(I've seen stories like this way too much, every action beyond just letting it happen is always "taking it too far").

Also "just covering expenses" doesn't change anything its still money he earned from using the Pokemon IP to sell tickets. 250 were going to go at $2 each, he made $500 before selling drinks and shots at the party. The $500 doesn't suddenly not count as revenue because he already spent it on a DJ and prizes. It just means the DJ and prizes were paid for with money he obtained through infringement.

Additionally charging for entry to the party arguably doesn't promote the product. Why would anyone go online to pay in advance for entry to a party of something they don't really know? Would someone look and say "PAX expo, Pokemon, Smash Bros Tournament, Cosplay? I don't know what any of that is, here I'll pay $2 to go". The way the event is structured everyone who's going and willing to pay would already be aware of the products.

The only reason you should be scared of using the Pokemon IP in any way is if you're using the IP in a way to promote or advertise a paid for product or services without permission in a way that isn't parody or critical. In other words breaking the law. They aren't going to take action against people for showing love for the series:

They never take action for someone having a Pokemon Avatar, they never take action against free Pokemon Parties(hell its probably encouraged, more likely than not there are birthday cakes and party merchandise like balloons with Pokemon on them), they never sued Pokemon Battle online which rips their whole battle system and graphics because its free, they never take action against the large range of free fan games.

They take action against those selling Pokemon on T-Shirts, when a fake Pokemon Yellow application was being sold on mobiles years ago, when a person uses their official images to promote a Pokemon themed party with paid entry and selling Pokemon themed shots. You should only be afraid if "showing your love for the series" involves exploiting it in a way that gets you any sort of revenue(even if you break even or lose money overall) from selling something, especially if you use licensed depictions of the Pokemon in it or to promote it.

So whats next nintendo? you going after the mom who baked the cake with pikachu on it for her son's fifth bday party? oooo maybe you will go after the pikachu cosplayers at cons! Man this is the stupidest thing ive think they have done this month. bravo nintendo bravo!

Whats ironic is this guy just made over $100 profit from the donations over this lawsuit. He's already past the donation goal, which is he now offical free from the lawsuit, and he's still earning for his own personal use.

He kinda turned this around to his advantage. Meanwhile the PK company is just waiting for the $4000 that they'll probably never notice in their already billion dollar bank account.

Also I think I should remind people this is the pokemon company sueing this guy, not nintendo. They're two different things.

So, definitely really heavy-handed and very unfriendly to their fans. A simple cease-and-desist would have sufficed, especially since the guy complied immediately.

I think the reason they went after him so hard was that he probably found it difficult to prove that the funds he collected were strictly for paying a DJ and covering costs of prizes. That sort of accounting is very hard for a small business owner to keep track of. The IP on the poster was an unauthorized use, and because he was also collecting money (for whatever purpose), they could go after him for profiting off the use of their IP. They don't have to know how the money was being used - the simple fact that it was collected in conjunction with the ad is enough for them to wield their sledgehammer.

That said, the Pokemon Company just lost another customer. There's "We can do it because it's legal", and then there's common sense. These folks are obviously lacking in the latter.

Ugh. They should've at the very least given him an option to drop it. Events like this don't hurt the company, they only help its popularity. If I held an "I love google" party, Google wouldn't want to stop me.

So this is how Nintendo treats its fans?
Shocking. Just shocking. Nintendo makes some great video games and content, but THIS....
Wow. Just wow.

They are damaging the Nintendo brand as well as The Pokemon Company's brand. Everything they did was perfectly within their rights, however knowing when to(and when not to) exercise those rights has cost them my business for one.

Whoah, talk about harsh 😣

@XenoRiki The Pokemon Company and Nintendo are not the same thing.

The Pokemon company is a piece of crap, end of story.

really? i guys just hosting a party, dont f**king sue him!

danm legal fools

while it is quiet the harsh lawsuit that the pokemon company demands 4,000$ it is their own franchise that they own so im on the fence about this . I personally think that they should have left them off with a warning for them not to do it again instead of shooting lawsuit lawyers directly at them and demanding $ 4,000 charge.