'Scribblenauts' creator Warner Brothers sued for Nyan Cat, Keyboard Cat easter eggs

mechadylan · May 3, 2013

Sadly, this lawsuit is about money and nothing else; I don't think anyone else will disagree with that. Of course it's wrong to use a copyrighted character without permission; but where's the "cease and desist" order to halt production? Where's the product recall? Where's the criminal suit outlining the crime that "used to" precede civil law suits? In the end, the meme party will not be indemnified by the WB as there was no loss by the IP violation. What WILL happen is that the NyanCat people will be entitled to a percentage of the sales that occurred after this went public (no matter how small the spike in sales.) All this hooplah kinda makes sense when you think about it like this, dontcha think?

UltraHurricane · May 3, 2013

in all fairness, the original creator did copyright Nyan Cat before it became viral, it's kinda absurd to think people no longer own their creations just because it's on the internet

and having it become a meme is no different, everyone is free to share and repost it everywhere, it's when they sell it (either on it's own or in Scribblenauts) without the creator's consent, that's where the real legal problem lies. And if he's being greedy about it, who cares? it's his creation, if he feels that he's being cheated out of compensation, so be it

2ndApex · May 3, 2013

Didn't this guy make money off of a shitty "Official" iOS Nyan Cat game too?

BenRK · May 3, 2013

You guys do know that in one ride in at least Universal Studios Hollywood there is a Micky Mouse cap floating in the water, right? It was on that Jurassic Park ride I believe...

I don't see any lawsuits over that.

Kouen Hasuki · May 3, 2013

Remixed without profit is normally ok but including them in some form in a paid product yea I would sue too

mechadylan · May 3, 2013

BenRK said:
You guys do know that in one ride in at least Universal Studios Hollywood there is a Micky Mouse cap floating in the water, right? It was on that Jurassic Park ride I believe...

I don't see any lawsuits over that.

>implying Disney wants Universal's money

BenRK · May 3, 2013

I'm just saying you have to pay to get in to the park proper. Just asking for assholes to get some sense or at the very least have the entire world play by the same rules. So if they're suing for an easter egg, so should Universal.

Carnivean · May 3, 2013

This is ridiculous, it's clearly an easter egg and wasn't used in any way to try and directly generate profit. It's not like they were selling t-shirts with the characters on or some shit. It'll be a sad precedent set if this is successful.

mechadylan · May 3, 2013

In a perfect world, NyanCat would settle for an "As Seen On Scribblenauts" moniker and call the whole thing a wash.

ferofax · May 3, 2013

PATCH IT OUT.

Their inclusion was a tribute. To get slapped in face for a tribute, a cameo, "Well fuck you too" I say.

caribou007 · May 3, 2013

Most comments I see appear to be negative against the creators of these memes. I have to take a different viewpoint; Warner bros is a money making machine like almost any other company. Basically, it doesn't pay whenever possible, and it gets money whenever possible. To all parties, this is probably just a situation where it's going to pay, and conversely, the owners of the memes are going to get payed. I think it's basically just a financial transaction in one of it's various forms in the business. Ethics and morals aren't even an issue for warner bros, and maybe not for the meme owners either.

UnoAphex · May 3, 2013

Wow that is pretty butt-hurt, Besides it is a little late to get mad about it since it has been in the last two scribblenauts games. Why not get offended then? Why start now? Seems like a quick grab for some kind of cash to me.

ferofax · May 3, 2013

caribou007 said:
Most comments I see appear to be negative against the creators of these memes. I have to take a different viewpoint; Warner bros is a money making machine like almost any other company. Basically, it doesn't pay whenever possible, and it gets money whenever possible. To all parties, this is probably just a situation where it's going to pay, and conversely, the owners of the memes are going to get payed. I think it's basically just a financial transaction in one of it's various forms in the business. Ethics and morals aren't even an issue for warner bros, and maybe not for the meme owners either.

So it's an IOU notice of sorts, except with lawyers? Either way, I still say patch it out. They can have their claims on the currently released, but none on the patched ones.

And patch everything else that can lead to more of this.

Sop · May 3, 2013

The definition of retard.

NO U CANT STEAL MY FUNNY MAY MAYS

Even though the games they in are awesome.

nukeboy95 · May 3, 2013

Ericthegreat · May 3, 2013

Anyone else would be sued for using a WB character, so I say they deserve compensation.

FAST6191 · May 3, 2013

UltraHurricane said:
in all fairness, the original creator did copyright Nyan Cat before it became viral, it's kinda absurd to think people no longer own their creations just because it's on the internet

Barring some interesting moves that the UK are attempting to pull off right now copyright is automatic for all works. You apply for patents, trademarks, service marks and some aspects of things like registered designs but copyright and design right (though it gets called something different depending upon where you are) are automatic, though you can register further (it is failure to do this that led to some interesting things like some films being out of copyright though that also takes some other things -- http://copyright.cornell.edu/resources/publicdomain.cfm)

shadow theory · May 3, 2013

My final in copyright law is in two weeks! Let's see what I remember:
Technically in the U.S. copyright is granted when an idea is fixated in some tangible form. So you don't need to apply for copyright to get a copyright, but you do need to register a copyright to sue for certain kinds of damages. (Europe is interesting because they recognize "moral rights" in some countries which include the ability of an author to eventually say "Yeah, take my name off that, it hurts my rep", or in some cases to be immune from some forms of criticism).

It doesn't need to be used as a tool for direct marketing, the fair use exception doesn't cover commercial works as this certainly is. It's clearly a derivative use of the work which you need permission from the copyright holder of.

Perhaps if the game had created "ByaaaDog" that was summoned by writing in "stupid viral internet meme" they may have been able to argue parody. (claiming that the dog commented on the nature of viral internet memes)

I would not be surprised if the Scribblenauts team didn't know Nyancat was copyrighted (or didn't look into it's origins) and assumed like many internet memes that it's ownership was vague at best. It could very well be that the Nyancat creators didn't know about its inclusion in Scribblenauts until recently.

Rydian · May 3, 2013

An addendum of sorts to the above...

Both memes have registered copyrights, with trademark applications pending

(From the source nobody else read.)

BORTZ · May 3, 2013

It must be petty law suit season.

'Scribblenauts' creator Warner Brothers sued for Nyan Cat, Keyboard Cat easter eggs

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