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A Broke Fan Owes $5,400 For Pokemon-Themed Party Posters
Jason Koebler writes: A fan has been ordered by a Washington judge to pay the Pokémon Company International $5,400 for copyright infringement after attempting to throw a Pokemon-themed party earlier this summer. Even though he canceled the free event, the Pokemon Company successfully sued Ramar Larkin Jones, for using an image of Pikachu to promote the Unofficial PAX Pokemon Kickoff Party.
The big piece of information that always gets neglected in these articles is that they didn't sue because he was throwing a party, but because he runs a business which hosts party events and then used Pokémon to promote such an event. Here is the company's trashy Facebook page. "Fans" and "Businesses" are NOT the same thing. https://www.facebook.com/Rucku...
Hahahahaha!
Oh, wait... you're serious?
As long as there are MBAs looking how to squeeze the last dime out of every potential customer and there are lawyers concerned about the loss of trademark through failure to defend that trademark there will be these kinds of lawsuits.
Quite honestly, I'm amazed that armies of lawyers haven't descended upon ComiCons and other fandom gatherings to sue the shit out of all of the artists and merchants selling unlicensed comic book derivative works. You wander around the dealers' rooms at the big cons and there are booths upon booths of artists with their own takes on Phoenix or The Hulk or Supergirl or any other hot comic book character of the moment. Based on current law I'm amazed that the continued creation of these unlicensed derivative works hasn't given the trademark holders panic that they could lose control over their characters. Indeed, it appears that they already have lost control over them, it simply hasn't been declared through trial yet.
Given what lawyers cost, I'm really surprised that the judgement against him is as small as it is. From the lawyers' perspective this is chump-change even if it would bankrupt half the households in the country to suddenly owe $5400.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Ramar Larkin Jones isn't a "fan" - he's a event organizer who was running a Pokemon themed event for which he was selling tickets. The selling tickets parts got left out of the linked article somehow - I wonder why. (Actually, I don't need to wonder - the article is slanted all to hell and back.)
Hate to be a dick, but you DID charge admission using another company's IP. I won't say you "deserve all you get," but you had to know that a huge party would have attracted attention. It's not "maximalists" and "gangs" and "fighting the good fight," they're a company protecting their IP. End of story. Good luck to you, honestly, but next time check out the rules and regulations first.
Lawl.
Quack, quack.
The fan launched the GoFundMe page because the litigants are insisting on a lump-sum payment. From ArsTechnica "Jones even offered to pay the full $4,000 over the course of a year, but Pokémon's lawyers from the firm of Davis Wright Tremaine wouldn't budge on the deadline."
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not entirely sure about the universe - Einstein
According to ArsTechnica, tickets were $2.00 each and covered the expenses. This wasn't a for-profit endeavor. Now, as Jones is an event organizer, he may have been using this party as something to add to his resume.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not entirely sure about the universe - Einstein
It's means it is.
Not always. It's been fun proving you wrong.
Get real, the next time Mickey Mouse is about to expire, copyright will be extended again. Are you that naive you believe congress won't pass infinity-1 sooner or later? Nothing will come into the public domain ever again. Never. Get it?
Truth of a statement is a valid legal defense against libel accusations in the U.S. And many other Western countries, but not in the UK. That is what the poster was referencing.
True. If we didn't fine people who put up pokemon posters, we'd rapidly slide into anarchy!
Therefore, by the (faulty) logic you're using, you're just a cow with a keyboard - osu-neko (2604)