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GTA Parody Elements Pulled From Simpsons Game
The Grand Theft Auto section of the game is still there, but 1up is reporting that EA's The Simpsons game won't have any overt themes from the Rockstar title. That section is now labeled 'Mob Rules'. "Lead designer Greg Rizzer commented that 'if we make fun of Grand Theft Auto, we're not going to hurt the sales of Grand Theft Auto... But yeah, we've definitely had some reactions -- we've had to pull stuff from the game.' Otherwise, the trailer looks untouched, so it seems that the title was the major problem and not the parody game content itself ... Rockstar does have a point -- it's not as if they've ever used an existing work as inspiration for satire. Oh wait."
The GTA series makes fun of pretty much anything even remotely fitting into the game and they're not shy about it (think a huge pink plastic dildo found in a police station restroom), and now that. What a shame.
The grass is always greener on the other side of the light cone.
I know the general reaction around here is "But Rockstar does stuff like that all the time!" but did you all ever think that maybe Rockstar wanted that part of the game changed due to the controversy that Manhunt has been generating? Perhaps they don't want themselves to be associated in a game that has the kind of audience that The Simpsons generally attracts in an attempt to avoid more negative publicity?
Think about it...The Simpsons has done some messed up things on their show, but most parnts don't seem to have a problem with their kids watching the show...those same parents would likely have a problem with their kids playing a GTA type game, and if the name is different they might not notice...
Yes, I'm aware how much of a stretch this is and yes I'm aware that my post only sorta made sense...but you get the idea.
Living With a Nerd
Interesting decision considering the game Simpsons Hit and Run was basically a complete parody/ripoff of Grand Theft Auto set in the Simpsons universe.
Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
Parody may be protected, but trademark violations are not. From what we've seen the content of the game remains unchanged, but EA has been forced to change the chapter's name from "Grand Theft Scratchy" to "Mob Rules". Rockstar is clearly using the trademark violation line to do this, not a "don't parody us" sort of thing.
That being said... I thought "grand theft auto" was a very standard English word with a lot of history prior to Rockstar's usage, can they REALLY claim trademark on it?
That being said... I thought "grand theft auto" was a very standard English word with a lot of history prior to Rockstar's usage, can they REALLY claim trademark on it?
Trademark always applies to a specific domain. Think of "Windows". No, they're not going to sue you for having a house with glass panes. They will come a-callin' if you write a software package with the same name though. Think of any of the MS product names in fact, "Office", "Word", or "Excel". All of these are common English words, much more so than the phrase Grand Theft Auto.
-- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
You absolutely can use a trademark to parodize/satirize the trademark itself or the trademark holder. The SCOTUS has held this to be protected speech. See the many examples of using Mickey Mouse and the trademark mouse ears to poke fun at Disney.
On the other hand, you can't use a trademark to make fun of something unrelated. You can't appropriate Hasbro's Monopoly trademarks to make fun of Microsoft, for instance.
This is a perfect example of how trademark should be applied.
No, it isn't.
Boooo-urns!
I thought "grand theft auto" was a very standard English word with a lot of history prior to Rockstar's usage, can they REALLY claim trademark on it?
It's a descriptive term ordinarily, yes, but within the specific context of electronic gaming it's acquired (at least arguably) sufficient 'secondary meaning' to be a 'source identifier' for Rockstar's series, and can therefore be protected by trademark.
geek. lawyer.