Pokemon-themed Party Copyright Infringement Case Settled!

    Remember the guy that was sued by the Pokemon company over copyright infringement? He was planning to throw his annual Pokemon PAX Kickoff party, this year would've been his fifth party. But to his surprise he was sued by The Pokemon Company. Well the case has been settled!
    If you want to read the legal papers: Click on me! The Pokemon company specifically had an issue with Ramar Larkin using Pikachu, the company's mascot (shown below) and Snivy, the grass starter Pokemon from the Black & White Series.

    Shown here is the poster Larkin made to promote his party:

 

He also used Pikachu to promote his party on Facebook as well. In The Pokemon Company's words: Defendants’ exploitation of the Pikachu and Snivy characters in promotion of the “5th Annual Unofficial Pokemon PAX Kickoff Party” is a direct infringement of The Pokemon Company’s exclusive rights in the Pokémon Works.

The Pokemon company has threatened Larkin with around $5,200 in damages, as a result Larkin shut down the party hoping The Pokemon Company would back down. This is an option they had, that they did not take. Instead they lowered it to $4,000 and gave him 45 days to pay for the damages.

As a result Larkin has made a gofundme page, seen here: https://www.gofundme.com/ng5f2ukk

He states on his page:

Hi im Larkin Jones and I’m being sued by Pokemon

I’m a video gamer, huge Pokemon fan and over all a huge geek. PAX is my absolute favorite time of year. I love the parties, the fandom, cosplay and overall geek spirit that descends on Seattle. This year I tried to throw a Unofficial Pokemon party because why not… it would be fun, I’m a huge fan, I know all my friends are fans and I mostly wanted to geek out and add to the fun parties you can find all over the city.

The day before the PAX party, Pokemon sued me. With
out even a cease and desist.Totally didn’t expect that. I cancelled the party, refunded everyone the 2 dollars I charged to help cover all the prizes I bought for the cosplay contest and smash bros tournament. Pokemon wants $4000 that I just don’t have. I told them I would pay it over a year and they denied that. They want it now with in the next 45 days.

I work in a cafe and I literally don’t have $4000. I wish they would have just sent a cease and desist because I had no problem dropping the party but I just don’t have $4000 to pay in the next 45 days.

So I’m reaching out to the PAX video game community. Anything you can donate would be greatly appreciated. I just want it to be over with and not have it escalate further because I couldn’t pay 4k in 45 days. Trust me I will never throw another fandom party again.
Thank you guys so much in advance.

As of today it took only 117 people to raise $4,148 in 6 days for Larkin to pay The Pokemon Company, this is one mistake Larkin will never make again!