×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
NEWS: Bulbasaur Planter Sales Halted for Copyright Infringement


Goto page 1, 2  Next

Note: this is the discussion thread for this article

Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Dessa



Joined: 14 Jul 2004
Posts: 4438
PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 12:33 pm Reply with quote
It doesn't matter if it's called Bulbasaur/Pokemon/etc or not. You can't look at that and not see it as Bulbasaur, and therefore it can be confused with being officially licensed or not. Should've been waiting for the C&D since they started the project.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime
Hoppy800



Joined: 09 Aug 2013
Posts: 3331
PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 12:34 pm Reply with quote
It really does resemble Bulbasaur, not perfectly but pretty darn close. I don't think selling those outside a convention was the best idea.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 6248
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 12:48 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, I can see why Pokemon International send a cease and desist, the thing does look too close to Bulbasaur.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
mgosdin



Joined: 17 Jul 2011
Posts: 1302
Location: Kissimmee, Florida, USA
PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 12:55 pm Reply with quote
True, it's obviously a knock-off. But this :

Quote:
The 3D printer data for the original version is still available for free download.


The problem is no one can stop the item being 3D printed if the pattern software is available. So, this is kind of like closing the Pokeball after the Bulbasaur has fled.

Mark Gosdin
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Joe Mello



Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 2251
Location: Online Terminal
PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 1:11 pm Reply with quote
mgosdin wrote:
The problem is no one can stop the item being 3D printed if the pattern software is available.

But they can stop the selling of the item which is likely the bigger issue here.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Kougeru



Joined: 13 May 2008
Posts: 5521
PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 1:44 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
The original listing did not directly label the design as a Pokémon—Ng listed it as a "succulent monster"


So she/he was trying to claim credit for designing it? That's a whole other issue as well. People say it looks "close"? It IS a bulbasaur. Not all humans look the same and there's nothing on that to say it ISNT a bulbasaur when it's shape is 99% the same (ears look a lil too big but thats it)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address My Anime My Manga
mangamuscle



Joined: 23 Apr 2006
Posts: 2658
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 1:44 pm Reply with quote
mgosdin wrote:
So, this is kind of like closing the Pokeball after the Bulbasaur has fled.


Not only that, they are giving free publicity to the 3d file, many people will disregard this as irrelevant the same twenty years ago way the music industry disregarded the advent of mp3 and the internet, only that this time I bet it ill be from 5 to 10 years until 3d printing becomes as ubiquitous as printing on paper is nowadays. Even metal printing is on the way.

So expect to look back one day to this article as you see a bulbasaur in every garden where a pokemon fan dwells.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
wohdin



Joined: 10 Jun 2011
Posts: 352
PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 2:06 pm Reply with quote
This is why we can't have nice things.

Because 3D printers are still obscenely expensive.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
bastek66



Joined: 07 Jan 2014
Posts: 118
PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 4:15 pm Reply with quote
American copyrights are cancer.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Lain'sHairline



Joined: 15 Aug 2014
Posts: 158
Location: Dallas, TX
PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 4:46 pm Reply with quote
bastek66 wrote:
American copyrights are cancer.


After studying them extensively in college I can't help but second this.

Obtuse, convoluted babbling for money grubbing purposes. Needed, but horribly managed.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime
taco123



Joined: 06 Jun 2009
Posts: 37
PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 5:47 pm Reply with quote
Dessa wrote:
It doesn't matter if it's called Bulbasaur/Pokemon/etc or not. You can't look at that and not see it as Bulbasaur, and therefore it can be confused with being officially licensed or not. Should've been waiting for the C&D since they started the project.

Uh, that's your opinion. To anyone not familiar with the Pokemon franchise, it's just a weird looking animal with grass growing out its posterior. To Nintendo, it's Bulbasaur. However, from an objective standpoint, it has been transformed and minimalized to the point where it no longer resembles Bulbasaur. There's no way Nintendo can prove that its their Pokemon in court.

I can do some cubist piece on a Bulbasaur-looking animal, mass-produce and sell it, and get away with it because Nintendo will never have any proof that I used their IP.

This is copyright abuse. A classic case of a company that can legally bully. Unfortunately, the artist admitted inspiration was derived from Bulbasaur in an interview so now they've lost. But from a legal perspective, Nintendo does not have rights to every single damn thing that looks like a Bulbasaur. If it a Bulbasaur, that's their IP, but if it's been transformed and changed, it's now the artist's IP. That's art. And if it isn't, we're losing art.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Spotlesseden



Joined: 09 Sep 2004
Posts: 3514
Location: earth
PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 8:10 pm Reply with quote
taco123 wrote:
Dessa wrote:
It doesn't matter if it's called Bulbasaur/Pokemon/etc or not. You can't look at that and not see it as Bulbasaur, and therefore it can be confused with being officially licensed or not. Should've been waiting for the C&D since they started the project.

Uh, that's your opinion. To anyone not familiar with the Pokemon franchise, it's just a weird looking animal with grass growing out its posterior. To Nintendo, it's Bulbasaur. However, from an objective standpoint, it has been transformed and minimalized to the point where it no longer resembles Bulbasaur. There's no way Nintendo can prove that its their Pokemon in court.

I can do some cubist piece on a Bulbasaur-looking animal, mass-produce and sell it, and get away with it because Nintendo will never have any proof that I used their IP.

This is copyright abuse. A classic case of a company that can legally bully. Unfortunately, the artist admitted inspiration was derived from Bulbasaur in an interview so now they've lost. But from a legal perspective, Nintendo does not have rights to every single damn thing that looks like a Bulbasaur. If it a Bulbasaur, that's their IP, but if it's been transformed and changed, it's now the artist's IP. That's art. And if it isn't, we're losing art.


But Nintendo doesn't have the right to things look Bulbasaur. That was never in any law. But you don't have the right to based your design on Bulbasaur and sell the product to make money. You can make them for fun, that's all legal. Once you try to make money off other people's design, then that's wrong. Create you own design, stop coping off someones
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
shiranehito



Joined: 27 Dec 2011
Posts: 793
PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 8:21 pm Reply with quote
In the other news, someone got arrested for painting his car black and white like police car. Some people argue "because everyone thinks so, then it is so" and some others say "just because it looks like it, it doesn't mean that it is it."
Now I'm conflicted.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Zac
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 7912
Location: Anime News Network Technodrome
PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 8:33 pm Reply with quote
This was bootleg merchandise full stop and nobody should be surprised or upset by it getting shut down.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website My Anime
TitanXL



Joined: 08 Jun 2010
Posts: 4036
PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 10:46 pm Reply with quote
Joe Mello wrote:
mgosdin wrote:
The problem is no one can stop the item being 3D printed if the pattern software is available.

But they can stop the selling of the item which is likely the bigger issue here.


That's pretty much the whole point. They were making money off it, hense bad.

Releasing it for free isn't some 'take that' to Nintendo by the rebels of the internet, it's actually going to deterrent any future sales of this if people can get it for free now.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page 1, 2  Next
Page 1 of 2

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group