×
  • 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: Japanese Law Office Receives Bomb Threat Following Touhou Project Fans' Trademark Rights Contr


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
510





PostPosted: Wed May 18, 2022 4:06 pm Reply with quote
when you're done taking it easy
Back to top
Regalli



Joined: 26 Apr 2022
Posts: 105
PostPosted: Wed May 18, 2022 4:57 pm Reply with quote
The same ‘not doing due diligence on someone trying to file a mark in a niche you don’t really know that well’ that seems to have led to some VERY odd trademark attempts in the US, I’d assume. (I remember a couple years back a self-pub romance author tried to trademark ‘cocky’ for use in titles and issue Amazon takedowns based off that, as well as the specific font she used for her titles. 1: The font license specifically excluded using it for trademarks. 2: To the shock of approximately no one, ‘cocky’ is a common title element for romances, including ones that preceded this particular author’s particular series. 3: Side note: A surprising number of authors pivot to the field from law careers. You can guess how it went from here.)

Not that that makes bomb threats any more appropriate for anyone involved in this. But yeah, my assumption is that a lot of times these lawyers look at the client’s claim and don’t know enough about the particular subcommunity to realize it’s shaky. And/or assume no one will challenge it even if it IS shaky, because that process tends to be involved.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Nate148



Joined: 24 May 2012
Posts: 465
PostPosted: Wed May 18, 2022 5:13 pm Reply with quote
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Dynamo-



Joined: 02 Aug 2014
Posts: 79
PostPosted: Wed May 18, 2022 5:16 pm Reply with quote
Regalli wrote:
The same ‘not doing due diligence on someone trying to file a mark in a niche you don’t really know that well’ that seems to have led to some VERY odd trademark attempts in the US.


LeBron James tried to trademark “Taco Tuesday” somewhat recently. Lol
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Tripple-A



Joined: 21 Feb 2017
Posts: 383
Location: Hamburg, Germany
PostPosted: Wed May 18, 2022 11:34 pm Reply with quote
Not to approve of the threats, but what kind of idiot thinks that they can trademark Yukkuri?
That's an almost 20 year old Touhou fandom meme, she can't prove that she is the creator of the Yukkuri, ZUN would also have a say in it as the creator of Touhou and last but not least, Touhou in general is beloved partly because of its doujin culture and trying to trademark a meme you've created (which she certainly did not) would go against that spirit.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
MrTerrorist



Joined: 20 Oct 2010
Posts: 1348
PostPosted: Thu May 19, 2022 1:48 am Reply with quote
I haven't heard about Yukkuri for a long time since avoiding it for reasons left best unsaid.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Electric Wooloo



Joined: 19 Aug 2020
Posts: 307
PostPosted: Thu May 19, 2022 2:37 am Reply with quote
MrTerrorist wrote:
I haven't heard about Yukkuri for a long time since avoiding it for reasons left best unsaid.


Same
Thankfully that seems to have largely faded by now
The phrase itself is still around though and the fact that this could be trademarked is ridiculous
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Hoppy800



Joined: 09 Aug 2013
Posts: 3331
PostPosted: Thu May 19, 2022 9:01 am Reply with quote
All parties are dumbasses, the people issuing the threats, the law firm for not throwing this trademark proposal out, and Yuzuha for not only trying to trademark the Yukkuri but charging nearly $800 for a license, even patent trolls charge less for the most part.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
sadoldguy



Joined: 01 Aug 2009
Posts: 66
PostPosted: Thu May 19, 2022 10:06 am Reply with quote
What is it with otaku culture and death threats? Or is this just one of the laws of large numbers that unlikely events are bound to happen with a large enough number of events/people?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Jeff Bauersfeld



Joined: 07 Dec 2015
Posts: 109
PostPosted: Thu May 19, 2022 10:55 am Reply with quote
sadoldguy wrote:
What is it with otaku culture and death threats? Or is this just one of the laws of large numbers that unlikely events are bound to happen with a large enough number of events/people?


The latter. I don't have any data, but I'd imagine any decently sized Fandom or grouping will have more or less the same incidence of death threats. Excitedable, socially maladjusted people can be found everywhere. For instance, there's been plenty of death threats and actual murders of umpires and referees for supposed bad calls in the sports Fandom.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Electric Wooloo



Joined: 19 Aug 2020
Posts: 307
PostPosted: Thu May 19, 2022 10:58 am Reply with quote
sadoldguy wrote:
What is it with otaku culture and death threats?


"What it is" is this is a fandom (Anime/Japanese culture) that you follow and so you're exposed to seeing reports of them more than death threats in the competitive BINGO scene.

Also I'd wager part of it is existing bias against "those weird otaku" in Japan to report more on these things than a death threat from an estranged marriage
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
kakugo complete



Joined: 01 Jul 2020
Posts: 71
PostPosted: Thu May 19, 2022 11:09 am Reply with quote
WANNFH wrote:
Well, it ain't cool to threaten a law office...

be gay do crimes
Tripple-A wrote:
Not to approve of the threats

property can be replaced
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Dark Mac



Joined: 17 May 2008
Posts: 309
PostPosted: Thu May 19, 2022 11:46 am Reply with quote
kakugo complete wrote:
WANNFH wrote:
Well, it ain't cool to threaten a law office...

be gay do crimes
Tripple-A wrote:
Not to approve of the threats

property can be replaced


too bad bombs also kill people inside buildings
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Regalli



Joined: 26 Apr 2022
Posts: 105
PostPosted: Thu May 19, 2022 3:44 pm Reply with quote
Dark Mac wrote:
kakugo complete wrote:
WANNFH wrote:
Well, it ain't cool to threaten a law office...

be gay do crimes
Tripple-A wrote:
Not to approve of the threats

property can be replaced


too bad bombs also kill people inside buildings

Also, even if bomb threats weren’t, you know, death threats, ‘property can be replaced’ is a wild thing to say justifying threats of violence over an intellectual property dispute.

Plus, this was the law firm that got those threats. It’d still be terrible being sent to Yuzuha, because death threats, but the law firm didn’t force her to make a trademark claim with them. It’s most likely she wanted to file the claim first, needed a lawyer, and picked this firm for some reason. The only thing the law firm did wrong was not investigate that this claim is almost certainly not going to stand up once challenged for all the reasons others have brought up. Which, while not a smart move on their part, doesn’t seem to be all that unusual given all the examples of weird (though primarily English-speaking courts) trademarks that were challenged and found to be unenforceable. Niconico Video’s already discussing legal steps. I would not be at all shocked to hear ZUN challenging it, as well. The only thing accomplished here was making the maladjusted jerks who sent BOMB THREATS to a law firm look terrible, and if this is anyone’s first impression of the Touhou fandom as a whole I can’t imagine it’s a good one.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
ximpalullaorg



Joined: 16 Jan 2007
Posts: 396
PostPosted: Fri May 20, 2022 3:35 am Reply with quote
I really wish ANN would have reported the issue before the (stupid) bomb threat, because it is serious and shows (again) the misuse of trademarks and copyrights.

Nico commented today that they're holding a press conference on the 23th 15:00 JST to discuss the actions they will take (they mentioned talking with ZUN and "other parties").
There's a blog post (Japanese only) that explains the current situation:

https://blog.nicovideo.jp/niconews/170666.html

It's also worth mentioning that Yuzuha made a "veiled threat" to go after other synthetic voice movie types . That would mean, however, going after Yamaha and Crypton media as well, and I can see that not ending well for the Vtuber....
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