Paper Mario Lawsuit Not Worth the Paper It's Written On
Paper Mario Lawsuit Not Worth the Paper It's Written On
June 26, 2008
On Tuesday GamePolitics broke the news that Morgan Creek Productions had filed suit against Nintendo on June 12th over the use of the Hans Zimmer song You're So Cool in a 2004 commercial for GameCube hit Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. The tune was part of the soundtrack of Morgan Creek's 1993 film True Romance.
As we also reported, the suit was voluntarily dismissed just six days later.
Now we know why: inept lawyering on the plaintiff's part.
Charlie Scibetta, Nintendo of America Corporate Affairs spokesperson, forwarded this statement to GamePolitics:
A lawsuit filed by Morgan Creek Productions, Inc. against Nintendo of America was recently dismissed. The lawsuit alleged copyright infringement by Nintendo for its use of the song "You're So Cool" in a Nintendo GameCube television commercial produced by advertising agency Leo Burnett USA, Inc. In response to the lawsuit, Leo Burnett provided Morgan Creek Productions with a copy of a music license entered into between Leo Burnett USA, on behalf of Nintendo of America and Morgan Creek, for licensing of the song. The lawsuit was dismissed by Morgan Creek Productions the following day.
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Posted 11/08/09 at 09:02am
DarkSaber: http://tinyurl.com/yez7jyo
DarkSaber: http://tinyurl.com/yez7jyo
Posted 11/08/09 at 09:01am
DarkSaber: Oh for gods sake, the Gearbox pres is gobbing off about Valve again
DarkSaber: Oh for gods sake, the Gearbox pres is gobbing off about Valve again
Posted 11/08/09 at 08:53am
JDKJ: But cheer up, Austin. If the unemployment rate continues to double-digit as predicted for the next few years, your half-dozen stands a better than likely chance of returning to power.
JDKJ: But cheer up, Austin. If the unemployment rate continues to double-digit as predicted for the next few years, your half-dozen stands a better than likely chance of returning to power.
Posted 11/08/09 at 08:46am
JDKJ: @DS: If he had added the line about "or hiring illegals aliens under the table to work as nannies," it would have been a completely perfect descripition. And, yes, it's about the same difference between a six and a half-dozen.
JDKJ: @DS: If he had added the line about "or hiring illegals aliens under the table to work as nannies," it would have been a completely perfect descripition. And, yes, it's about the same difference between a six and a half-dozen.
Posted 11/08/09 at 08:31am
DarkSaber: My god, that description makes them sound almost Republican. Still what did you expect, Obama is only marginally more left than republicans.
DarkSaber: My god, that description makes them sound almost Republican. Still what did you expect, Obama is only marginally more left than republicans.
Posted 11/08/09 at 01:07am
Austin_Lewis: Health insurance, brought to you by the same kind of bureacrats who couldn't, in timely fashion, investigate the comments of any of the men Obama appointed Czars. Or their past. Or their history of not paying taxes.
Austin_Lewis: Health insurance, brought to you by the same kind of bureacrats who couldn't, in timely fashion, investigate the comments of any of the men Obama appointed Czars. Or their past. Or their history of not paying taxes.
Posted 11/08/09 at 01:06am
Austin_Lewis: Yes, and what a piece of crap it was. Arresting and fining people just because they don't make a personal choice to buy healh insurance, creating over a hundred new bureacracies, and worse.
Austin_Lewis: Yes, and what a piece of crap it was. Arresting and fining people just because they don't make a personal choice to buy healh insurance, creating over a hundred new bureacracies, and worse.
Posted 11/08/09 at 12:24am
ZippyDSMlee: JDKJ:the only trouble is a bunch of witless hacks wrote it....its going to be a train wreck....
ZippyDSMlee: JDKJ:the only trouble is a bunch of witless hacks wrote it....its going to be a train wreck....
Posted 11/07/09 at 11:33pm
JDKJ: BREAKING: In a photo-finish at the wire, House passes health care reform bill. Relatedly, in a fit of pique, Austin Lewis kicks innocent dog.
JDKJ: BREAKING: In a photo-finish at the wire, House passes health care reform bill. Relatedly, in a fit of pique, Austin Lewis kicks innocent dog.
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:27pm
ZippyDSMlee: man I got alot of junk and dup files too >< god I need orginization...and no not the knee capping media mafia kind :P
ZippyDSMlee: man I got alot of junk and dup files too >< god I need orginization...and no not the knee capping media mafia kind :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:26pm
ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:23pm
ZippyDSMlee: beemoh:hey its like 60GB porn,400GB anime 100GB games and crap I have took from all my DVDs, I hate waiting on dvds to install stuff..... oh and 40GB of my porn was in the found.000 folder...mostly corrupted.... least I got names of wut needs to be repa
ZippyDSMlee: beemoh:hey its like 60GB porn,400GB anime 100GB games and crap I have took from all my DVDs, I hate waiting on dvds to install stuff..... oh and 40GB of my porn was in the found.000 folder...mostly corrupted.... least I got names of wut needs to be repa
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:18pm
beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
Posted 11/07/09 at 03:34pm
ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:58am
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:56am
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:51am
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:48am
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:11am
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:07am
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
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Comments
I guess I should have went ahead and made the comment that this was an issue that should've been taken up with the ad agency that Nintendo used but I didn't bother. Inept indeed....
Maybe it's just my time here, but I have an abiding dislike for lawyers who sue first and check facts later....
You're not referring to Jacko, are you? He doesn't check facts later; he blatantly ignores and misrepresents them.
True, but he does check facts eventually, purely to see if there's any possible way of getting out of the hole he's dug himself into.
Fortunately, there usually isn't ;)
So let me get this strait, they sued Nintendo for copyright infringement for a song used in a commercial, but didn't bother to check whether or not the song in question had been licensed to for instance an advertising company for use in a commercial?
That's not inept, that's downright stupid, especially considering the plaintifs themselves licensed the game to the ad company nintendo used for the commercial. They had it in their own records aswell, didn't they simply check to whom the song in question had been licensed and what it was going to be used for?
Apparently not...
This is kinda like when Universal sued Nintendo over Donkey Kong, claiming it infringed upon their copyright to King Kong... and lost, because it turned out King Kong was public domain.
And here's the great part, which I only just found out, after looking it up in Wikipedia: Universal themselves had previously won a suit against RKO Pictures for the rights to King Kong... by arguing that King Kong was public domain.
I would have loved to see the look on both parties faces when this fact came to light. Oh that would be so classic.
That lawyer fails.
At everything.
EPIC FAIL
It's amazing how eager people are to sue Nintendo these days. Sometimes justified, sometimes not. LOL
Wow this lawyer is destined to work for the RIAA. "What do you mean they licensed the song? BLASPHEMY! Everyone is guilty of copyright infringement except the RIAA! *does another coke line*"
-Loudspeaker
"Volume helps to get a point across but sharp teeth are better."
This is right up there when Miramax (I think) tried to sue Nintendo for the creation of Donkey Kong. Basically Nintendo argued that Donkey Kong was a direct representation of King Kong and that Miramax owned the rights to King Kong.
Nintendo was just a little start up in the U.S. at this point, basically 11 guys in an office. Well one of them did some digging and they walking into court with a trial transcript from the 70s where Miramax had successfully argued that King Kong was, in fact, PUBLIC domain.
And no one ever heard of Miramax ever again until Kevin Smith gave them some Dick and Fart jokes.
"You used our song without permission."
"No, you gave us permission."
"...Oh. I'm...gonna go over here now..."
You can still do it, Morgan Creek! Don't let the haters get you down! Don't let them confuse you with their fancy contracts and legalese! Never give up!!!
LOL, lawyers sure seem to have a habit of "sue first, ask important questions like 'before we go though all of this, should we check to see if they really did get & have the rights to this?' later."
Maybe Grand Theft Auto made him do it?
I remember a Sucide Girl getting sued by Nintendo for mentioning Nintendo on her site. The google watching lawyer on the Nintendo legal team leaped before he looked at the site. Nintendo quickly withdrew its suit and gave the girl a free Gamecube.