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!

Pokemon Company and Lawsuits

     Recently The Pokemon company has been having trouble with other people using their brand. They have recently sued two people over the use of Pokemon.

     The first instance was back in August, The Pokemon Company International, Inc. filed suit against two guys from Seattle. They claimed they broke copyright laws when they organized a Pokemon themed party to mark the kickoff of the PAX Prime gaming convention, the tickets for the sold-out event costed $2.
Here is a poster they made to advertise the event:

They have ran this party annually since 2011, making this year's their fifth annual party. It was said to feature Pokemon themed shots and drinks, Smash Bros. Tournament with a cash prize, Dancing, Giveaways, cosplay contest, and more. The poster for the event contains Pikachu and Snivy two of Pokemon's copyrighted characters, and Pikachu was used to promote it on Facebook. The manager of the restaurant where it was to be held cancelled the party and stressed the fact that it was not the restaurant that organized the event. Pokemon's lawyers say they aim to  "put an end to and obtain redress" for the "blatant and willful infringement." The company is seeking damages, attorneys' fees and an order to stop future parties. Ramar Larkin Jones and Zach Shore are both listed as defendants along with their company Ruckus Productions.

     More recently a Cleveland-based T-Shirt company, named RageOn is facing legal trouble after the Pokemon Company stated that some of the shirts they were selling depicted their Pokemon which infringed on their copyrights. Some of the designs were a "PikaJew" shirt depicting Pikachu as a Hasidic Jew surrounded by money, a Jigglypuff smoking marijuana, Jigglypuff with a black marker, a 'raver Pikachu', and Snorlax surrounded in marijuana leaves. The company RageOn does make other shirts depicting characters from other video games and famous franchises. They filed court documents arguing that the shirts are parodies and "clearly socially and politically-relevant commentary" and asked for the case to be dismissed, stating they are not guilty and did nothing wrong.

     Neither case has been finished yet, but The Pokemon Company sure has been set on suing for copyright infringement. In my opinion I understand why The Pokemon Company has decided to sue in both of these situations. I believe the Pokemon themed party was not harmful as it was a celebration for an event, although using Pikachu and Snivy to promote the party crosses the line as copyright infringement. As with RageOn I think that their shirts are funny but they could damage the brand's name and reputation as a kid-friendly game. Making parodies is one thing but relating it to antisemitic or illegal drugs crosses the line.