(10-14-2016, 05:09 PM)EeveeBailey Wrote: The part that I really don't understand though is how Nintendo is willing to drop the banhammer on fangames like Uranium, and yet they seem perfectly fine with fanart of their IP, fanfic of their IP... seriously, go to DeviantArt or FanFictionNet and search "Pokemon" -- I was mindblown at how many search results came up!
At the very heart of it all, isn't creating an interactive story/art tribute like a fangame fundamentally no different than writing fic or drawing art? In all three cases, a fan is repurposing Nintendo's IP to suit their artistic whimsy (without Nintendo's express written permission, at that!). So how is it that Nintendo then allows fanart and fanfiction to exist, but not fangames? Legally right or wrong, it's a double standard.
It's because Uranium is way more prominent than a random piece of fan art.
It seems to me that Nintendo is trying not to be the big bad company that strikes down all fan work (I'm looking at you, Disney), but in order to keep their trademarks, they're legally obligated to protect their intellectual property. As in, if they didn't go after any fan works at all, they could end up losing their legal right to protect their brands against potentially damaging infringement. So they go after high-profile fan works as a way of publically showing that they're protecting their IPs.
Trademark law is kind of bullshit.
(10-14-2016, 01:40 PM)MirceaKitsune Wrote: I also don't think that Nintendo is required to do these things, which is an argument I see commonly used. If anyone wants a good example of someone who doesn't, take Sega... which is pretty much the opposite of Nintendo: As far as I'm aware, they have never once sent a C&D order for any Sonic fangame! Has this ever caused them to lose their IP? Has this ever affected their sales negatively? They're doing perfectly fine... and Nintendo would too, if it wasn't made of such horrible people.
It is truly and honestly a legal requirement. I can only speculate why Sega doesn't do it, but it could be that fan works for their properties tend to either not get the same publicity that Nintendo fan works do, or are clearly parodies that can claim legal protection. It could also be argued that Nintendo might not strictly need to go after fan works, but are doing so just to err on the side of caution.
Nintendo's not the enemy here. Heck, they actually seem pretty lenient to me when you consider how many fan projects they've left alone, even ones that are actually making money off of Nintendo IPs.
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