In a move that honestly doesn't surprise me, the Pokemon Company has sued some people throwing a party, in what is possibly the most asinine thing the franchise has done since Mega Evolutions.

My opinion is as such: This is stupid. Lots of people have pokemon parties using materials they didn't ask for, and to be honest, TPC has bigger fish to fry. Like these delicious copyright infringing apps.

Or countless bootleg t-shirts, shoes, underwear and suspicious video games.

Sure, the pokemon company is well within its legal right to do something so incredibly insane, but it doesn't make them any less of an asshole. They could have just gone as far as, 'Dude, don't do that.', and everything would have been fine. But apparently the anime version of Team Rocket is their legal team with how competent this situation isn't turning out to be.

So, what's your opinion?

That i hate Pokemons even more :P

Wait. The owner of a restaurant was throwing a Pokemon themed party in his restaurant? While I agree it's heavy handed, this no longer sounds quite as ridiculous as you made it sound. He was infringing copyright for commercial use, of course they're going to do something. The fact that he's a fan is irrelevant to this situation.

They are right on.

4000 USD is heavy handed, withdrawing a settlement is heavy handed, but you know what, all I know is I've got popcorn. I want to see if TPC is going to commit to this, in spite of the massive PR downfall it may cause.

Of course NeoGaf is the source :P

Well why not? They link to a reputable source, everything is fine, isn't it?

It's stupid. I can only think that a fan who gets ahold of a thousand Warner Brothers movie posters and then throws a themed Warner Brothers movies to a party and gets sued by Warner Brothers, is about the same level as this.

The themed party would probably be colors, maybe cards, or he staff wearing t-shirts or cosplay (possibly home-made), but at no point do i see any of that as a problem...

^This

If it's in a business premise, for profit, then it's pretty plain and simple to me...

If you said they had tried to sue someone having a private party with a Pokemon theme that would be a different matter, but this seems like a (somewhat heavy handed) but fairly reasonable response.

i concur. it's not like they're suing pokey fans who're throwing a private unadvertised 3DS party or something.

Apparently the party had been held yearly since 2011, advertised using official Pokemon imagery, and charged for tickets (that likely weren't even coming close to recouping his loses). Unfortunately given current copyright laws, a cease and desist would seem appropriate.

But The Pokemon Company went much further than that. According to this guy, no warning was given. They jumped right to suing their own fan for a love of Pokemon and will only settle the case if he provides thousands of dollars in legal fees.

To amend a Game of Thrones quote: ‘A company who sues those devoted to them is not a company that inspires devotion.’ Many titanic corporations want to reap the benefits of rabid fandom, with none of the consequences. They don’t want you to throw a party, paint the colourful characters for a children’s nursery wall, or create fan art expressing your love. They want you to silently slip them your credit card and enjoy your purchase quietly and internally. Shhh. Quieter than that.

Agreed. Honestly, I can't say I feel sorry for this guy.

Prince sued a girl for posting a video of her singing "Little Red Corvette" during her 16th birthday party.

Yes, but the artist formally known as Q was already confirmed nuts.

Seriously... looking further into it I think the guy is a moron.

Nevermind the copyright infringement, his Go Fund Me page is ridiculous...
No wonder they withdrew the settlement...

On top of anything else, he seems to be lying (or bending the truth at least) to make people more likely to donate: He's been doing it for five years... he didn't just decide to do it. He doesn't work in a cafe... he owns the cafe. Yeah, that doesn't necessarily mean he has $4000, but it looks like he's trying to seem poorer for sympathy and to get people to pay his fine for him...

If you're going to use copyrighted materials, from a known litigious company to boot, for a private for profit event by a business... you've got to be prepared for the possible consequences.