Nintendo issues takedown to Etikons custom JoyCon shells, which raised $10K for suicide prevention

[PrincessLillie]

Following their controversial takedown of The Big House's tournament due to use of Slippi (a mod that allows Super Smash Bros. Melee to be played online) and their cancellation of the Splatoon 2 NA Open's livestream due to teams showing support to the Super Smash Bros. Melee community, Nintendo has demanded that the Etikons be taken down due to copyright infringement. The Etikons were custom JoyCon shells designed to honor the late YouTube creator Desmond Daniel Amofah, commonly known as Etika. The campaign manager, CptnAlex, had initially been selling the Etikons through an Indiegogo fundraising campaign, and after the campaign had ended, he was selling remaining stock through Etsy until Nintendo's lawyers sent the C&D. This takedown is considered to be controversial because these JoyCon shells were designed to honor the deceased and because all proceeds were going to suicide prevention, and the reason for the takedown is believed to be due to the term "JoyCon" being printed on the shells. The Etikons raised over $10K for the JED Foundation.

Following my request for comment, CptnAlex had this to say:

I just wanted to say that there’s a lot of misinformation and assumptions floating around. I received a C&D for multiple items on my Etsy shop, this was one of them. A lot of people are saying this was a “blanket” C&D and wasnt specifically about these joy-cons, and that’s simply not true. The C&D I received was NOT simply “remove every single item from your shop” - it very specifically listed exactly which items in my shop Nintendo wanted removed. The Etika Joycons, or Etikons, were one of those links they attached. Along with the listing of their trademark for the word Joycon and the trademark for the switch logo. The Etikons are the only item I’ve ever sold with the word Joycon printed on them, so it’s abundantly clear to me that they were specifically referencing and targeting the Etika Joycons in this case, even though they did target other listings at the same time.

Lastly I did want to say that while everyone wants to hate on Nintendo, the lawyer was actually incredibly nice and accommodating. I had numerous back and forth with her in order to get my shop in compliance. Our email chain ended with me asking for licensing, and her passing on my request to Nintendo. While I don’t expect anything to ever come of that request, it was nice that it was passed on instead of a flat denial.

Source: Twitter

 

[Veho]

So what's the solution here? Remove the words "JoyCon" from the casing? Avoid saying the word "JoyCon" in correspondence, product description and advertizing? Never mentioning anything related to Nintendo ever again? Listing these as "random plastic shells for no specific purpose"?
I get protecting one's trademarks and all that, but Nintendo has been incredibly tone deaf in some of these cases.

 

[PrincessLillie]

So what's the solution here? Remove the words "JoyCon" from the casing? Avoid saying the word "JoyCon" in correspondence, product description and advertizing? Never mentioning anything related to Nintendo ever again? Listing these as "random plastic shells for no specific purpose"?
I get protecting one's trademarks and all that, but Nintendo has been incredibly tone deaf in some of these cases.

Removing the term "JoyCon" is a solution, yes, but it's not a very good one. "JoyConBoyz" was like Desmond's motto, so removing it from the shells is a very bad idea.

 

[linuxares]

They have to pull it down. If he use "Joycon" he is using their trademark.
However... - https://trademarks.justia.com/872/09/joy-87209612.html

 

[PrincessLillie]

They have to pull it down. If he use "Joycon" he is using their trademark.
However... - https://trademarks.justia.com/872/09/joy-87209612.html

They don't have to pull it down. They just want to. Just like SEGA doesn't have to take down Sonic fangames and ROM hacks, which they don't.

 

[linuxares]

They don't have to pull it down. They just want to. Just like SEGA doesn't have to take down Sonic fangames and ROM hacks, which they don't.

Sega has then given up their trademark on Sonic.

https://uspto.report/TM/87975683 - apparently they got it later

 

[The Catboy]

I understand copyright and all but Nintendo really just acts like they straight up hate their community and don’t want any means of creative expression if it involves anything remotely using or resembling their copyrighted material.

 

[Bladexdsl]

nintapple they truly deserve that name now. their ways, views, beliefs and business practices are so far behind they are still in the dark ages it's just pathetic!

 

[PrincessLillie]

nintapple they truly deserve that name now. their ways, views, beliefs and business practices are so far behind they are still in the dark ages it's just pathetic!

No, Nintendo is so much worse than Apple.

 

[Arck]

No, Nintendo is so much worse than Apple.

At least Nintendo are not selling their console for three time the acceptable price

 

[Julie_Pilgrim]

Are you fucking kidding me

 

[digipimp75]

It's things like this that make me comfortable in my decision to pirate Nintendo games.

 

[CompSciOrBust]

If you go on eBay or Amazon you can find countless items advertised as "custom Joycon shells" but of course big N goes after the ones raising money for charity. I love Nintendo products but fuck them for doing shit likes this. I get there is a legal requirement to defend their trademark but they're doing it inconsistently and seem to be going after the ones with the best intentions.