Suicide Girls Infringement on Nintendo.

[Nin-Nin69]

For those of you who have not yet explored the depths of the internet, Suicide Girls is an adult site dedicated into showing off the beauty of those girls people look over in every day society. Such as Goths or Punks. It's one of the cleanest and most popular adult sites on the interent. They even recently released a scrapbook of their models. Although I don't recomend you visit it anytime soon unless you're over the age of 18.

Just recently they recieved a letter from Nintendo of America telling them not to use their licences products or name in any fashion.


> From: Stop IP Infringement <StopInfringement@PerkinsCoie.com>

> Infringement of Nintendo Intellectual Property Rights
> IDENTIFIED PROBLEM: Pornographic Web site uses Nintendo in link,
> text, source code, Zelda and Metroid in text
>
> Greetings:
>
> We represent Nintendo of America Inc. ("Nintendo"), the owner of the
> trademark(s) and/or copyrighted works listed above (the "Nintendo
> trademark(s)/works"). It has come to our client's attention recently
> that you are using the Nintendo trademark(s)/works in the hidden
> text/visible text/meta tags and/or title and/or links of the
> above-referenced sexually explicit Web site. This use is
> unauthorized, and we are writing to demand that you immediately cease
> and desist this infringement of Nintendo's intellectual property
> rights.
>
> Nintendo has acquired substantial rights in the Nintendo
> trademark(s)/works. Nintendo's customers--including many children and
> their parents--have come to identify the Nintendo trademark(s)/works
> with the high quality of Nintendo products. Your unauthorized use of
> the Nintendo trademark(s)/works will tarnish Nintendo's reputation.
>
> This infringement of Nintendo's intellectual property rights can
> subject you to sanctions under applicable federal and state laws.
> Accordingly, you must immediately cease and desist from any and all
> use of (1) the Nintendo trademark(s)/works, (2) any other Nintendo
> trademark(s)/works, and (3) any mark which is confusingly similar to a
> Nintendo trademark. This includes, but is not limited to, your
> infringement of Nintendo's intellectual property as explained above.
>
> I look forward to your immediate confirmation that you have taken the
> necessary steps to resolve this matter. To that end, you may contact
> me at either 206‑359‑6742 or StopInfringement@perkinscoie.com.
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
> Melissa Morgan Nelson
> Perkins Coie LLP
> 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4800
> Seattle, WA 98101-3099
> http://www.perkinscoie.com
>
> :ceh
>
> cc: Nintendo of America Inc.
>
> ISP: peter.luttrell@3jane.com
>
> File: 51.13
>
> NOTICE: This communication may contain privileged or other confidential
> information. If you have received it in error, please advise the
> sender by
> reply email and immediately delete the message and any attachments
> without
> copying or disclosing the contents. Thank you.

The funny thing is, there is plenty of Super Mario Bros/Legend of Zelda hentai doshijin out there, but this is a bigger issue.

[mikestorm]

I think the difference here is this site is using Nintendo properties in its meta tags to drive people to this site deceptively.

People search Yahoo for Metroid or Zelda. Consequently, this site has a chance of popping up.

Most of the hentai stuff could be construed as (perverted) fan art. Just my two cents!

[Opaque]

Old news.

Nintendo saw that what they were doing was stupid, unfounded and apologised to SG and offered to send the girl a Nintendo system of her choice and a free game.

[Leviathan]

a Similar Thing Happened to a Web Site Called Crackerjack (Sp?) when they used Pokemon in their one of thier meta tags.

[Eddie G.]

PG-13 (http://penny-arcade.com/view.php3)

Anyway this is pretty stupid, not sure if it's unfair in anyway, however the fact that they really made a deal about this is just stupid. I'm glad Nintendo realized this.

[auto]

There was probably someone working at Nintendo of America that was caught slacking-off by his boss. "Erm, I was on this site because, um, THEY'RE MISUSING OUR LICENSES!!!!!!!!!!11"

[Shnay]

Anyway this is pretty stupid, not sure if it's unfair in anyway, however the fact that they really made a deal about this is just stupid. I'm glad Nintendo realized this.From the sound of the letter Nintendo put out, this was just an unfortunate part of a much larger effort. They claim that there are lots of adult sites out there that will put words like "Nintendo" or "Pokemon" somewhere on their site in an attempt to get kids to inadvertantly visit. If there are a bunch of sites like these, it's understandable that Nintendo couldn't check every single one with lots of detail. So a few sites, like the one in question, that weren't using the licence in a deceptive way ended up getting one of these notices undeservedly.

Nintendo apologized for the mistake and made their peace. I guess the apology could just be a spin effort from Nintendo after they got flak from the gaming community, but I don't see any reason to doubt it.

[SirLemming]

There was probably someone working at Nintendo of America that was caught slacking-off by his boss. "Erm, I was on this site because, um, THEY'RE MISUSING OUR LICENSES!!!!!!!!!!11"Ha. In all seriousness, though, I can just imagine how many people are verbally lynching Nintendo over this, but I think Nintendo had some pretty valid reasoning here. Using someone else's trademarks to promote your product is infringement. I know we all love to root for the underdog, but... Was Nintendo really out of line? If you actually think about it?

[RAINMAN]

Seeing as how they pay lots of money to keep their trademark names and char.. .I say no.

[Shnay]

Ha. In all seriousness, though, I can just imagine how many people are verbally lynching Nintendo over this, but I think Nintendo had some pretty valid reasoning here. Using someone else's trademarks to promote your product is infringement. I know we all love to root for the underdog, but... Was Nintendo really out of line? If you actually think about it?But the site in question wasn't using Nintendo licences to promote their product. That's what other sites were doing, and I think Nintendo is justified in going after them, but that's not what the Suicide Girls site was doing. What happened, as I understand it, was one of the girls on the Suicide Girls site said she enjoyed Metroid and Zelda games in a profile. Having someone just say they enjoy a certain game should not be considered a threat to the licence, no matter what the content of the site is.

As I said before, Nintendo was trying to stop the people who were using their licences in a deceptive way, and this site (which was not doing that) was unfortunately grouped together with the sites abusing Nintendo licences. Nintendo admits to the mistake and apologizes. It's a mildly interesting story, but at this point, there's really no reason to make a big deal on behalf of either party.

[SirLemming]

But the site in question wasn't using Nintendo licences to promote their product. That's what other sites were doing, and I think Nintendo is justified in going after them, but that's not what the Suicide Girls site was doing. What happened, as I understand it, was one of the girls on the Suicide Girls site said she enjoyed Metroid and Zelda games in a profile. Having someone just say they enjoy a certain game should not be considered a threat to the licence, no matter what the content of the site is.

As I said before, Nintendo was trying to stop the people who were using their licences in a deceptive way, and this site (which was not doing that) was unfortunately grouped together with the sites abusing Nintendo licences. Nintendo admits to the mistake and apologizes. It's a mildly interesting story, but at this point, there's really no reason to make a big deal on behalf of either party.Oh, I didn't realize that. People were just saying "Nintendo realized what they were doing was stupid and they stopped". I didn't read your post about the mistake.

[Nin-Nin69]

Even though there was a huge misunderstanding between the two parties, that doesn't stop my coment about hentai doshuijin on the net.

Almost every time I look up one of the female characters or Link on a search engine, hentai spreads like wild fire after all of the news stories and fan sites. Nintendo could easily crack down on websites containing their properies being used in sick and sexual fantasies. If Matt Groening could do it for his properties, then so can Nintendo.

It may be one thing when it's one of the thousands of doshuijins in JPN, but this is hentai pay sites we're talking about. You may say it's fan art, but it is illegal to an extent such as porn sites.

[Shnay]

My guess is that they are going after those sites, Nin-Nin. If the sites don't back down right away, it could take a long time for all the legal procedures to go through. Also, I get the impression that enforcing laws on the Internet can be tough, since it may be harder to track down who is responsible for a site's content.