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Nintendo Forces NES/Famicom Visual Compendium Kickstarter To Change Name

D

DeathSparks

Member
Kickstarter backers hoping for a copy of Bitmap Books' Nintendo Entertainment System visual compendium are in for some disappointment. The House of Mario has shut down the crowdfunding project.

Notice went out today, with less than a day left before the campaign’s successful close. Nintendo cites its copyright for a number of games, including Super Mario Bros., Punch-Out!!, The Legend of Zelda, and Donkey Kong.

“This Kickstarter project makes unauthorized use of Nintendo's copyrights as noted above,” reads a digital millennium copyright act complaint filed by law firm Miller Nash Graham & Dunn LLP. “The description of the book states that it is ‘mainly visual’, and the campaign shows pages of the book which consist simply of large screenshots copied directly from Nintendo’s video games. This campaign also makes use of a mark that is confusingly similar to registered trademarks owned by Nintendo. Specifically, the project’s creator is using a modified version of Nintendo's ‘Official Nintendo Seal’ mark to promote this project. This use of Nintendo's intellectual property may confuse Kickstarter backers into thinking this project is sponsored or licensed by Nintendo, when in fact it is not.”

We’ve reached out to both Bitmap Books and Nintendo for comment. We’ll update as more information is available. You can see a number of sample pages in our previous coverage.
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6c45b876f16dcc4fb22b32e3512c28a0_original.jpg


Source: http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/...al&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Update: The project is back up with less than one day left! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2146199819/nintendo-entertainment-system-famicom-a-visual-com
 
G

Geek

Ninny Prancer
I mean, this really looked like "NES Screenshots: The Book" and I'm surprised it made it this far

The copyright claim makes it pretty darn clear

Description of copyrighted material: The copyrighted material includes images and fictional character depictions from Nintendo's video games, including but not limited to, U.S. Copyright Reg. Nos. PA0000273028, supp. by PA0000547457 (Super Mario Bros.); PA0000427614, supp. by PA0000547456 (Super Mario Bros. 2); PA0000563454 (Super Mario Bros. 3); PA0000356140 (The Legend of Zelda); PA0000427613 (Zelda II – Adventure of Link); PA0000254906 (VS. Excitebike); PA0000260315 (VS. Hogan’s Alley); PA0000583907 (Yoshi(NES)); PA0000254151 (VS. Duck Hunt); PA0000366687 (Ice Hockey); PA0000356141 (Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!); PA0000564771 (Punch-Out!!); PA0000356142 (Metroid); and PA0000115040 (Donkey Kong). Publication of this book will further infringe these and other copyrights owned by Nintendo.

Description of infringing material: This Kickstarter project makes unauthorized use of Nintendo's copyrights as noted above. The description of the book states that it is “mainly visual”, and the campaign shows pages of the book which consist simply of large screenshots copied directly from Nintendo’s video games. This campaign also makes use of a mark that is confusingly similar to registered trademarks owned by Nintendo. Specifically, the project’s creator is using a modified version of Nintendo's “Official Nintendo Seal” mark (protected by U.S. Trademark Registration Nos. 3114368 (Class 16), 3117154(Class 28), 3173562(Class 9), and 1570911(Classes 16 and 28)) and Nintendo’s “Original Seal of Quality” mark (protected by EU Trademark Regisration No. 3475977 (Classes 9, 16, 28) to promote this project. This use of Nintendo's intellectual property may confuse Kickstarter backers into thinking this project is sponsored or licensed by Nintendo, when in fact it is not.
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D

DeathSparks

Member
Geek said:
I mean, this really looked like "NES Screenshots: The Book" and I'm surprised it made it this far

The copyright claim makes it pretty darn clear
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Pretty much, don't ever use copyrighted material without permission, that's copyright infringement.
 
M

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
The part about using screenshots is silly. Like posting screenshots is a copyrights violation?

The use of a similar "seal of quality" is sketchy though, I'll give Nintendo that.

Menitta said:
im_shocked.gif
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Not to start a decade-old console war but... The more-or-less equivalent Kickstarter for a Genesis/Megadrive book wasn't shut down by Sega. Either they got their copyright stuff sorted out properly* and these guys didn't, or... Sega does what Nintendon't? :D (Or Sega doesn't what Nintendoes, I should say... xD)

Edit: I just re-read part of the Genesis KS campaign pitch and they mentioned they were "working closely with Sega" on it and Sega even provided assets. I guess this NES book wasn't like that at all, then?
 
V

Valkerionseven

Member
Saw it coming.

What always does surprise me though is how people think they can kick start projects like this in the first place without the owners permission. I know some don't care but... most seem to.
 
digita1alchemy

digita1alchemy

Member
Nooooooooo

How did the Megadrive book make it through? Did they work with Sega on that?

Edit: Nevermind, that was a different publisher it seems.
 
T

Tempy

don't ask me for codes
PuppetMaster said:
No brainer here. Suprised they thought they could get away with it.
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But they did - they've released ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, etc books. And others have released Super Famicom box art book, Atari 2600 screenshot/box art books etc.

The "Nintendo Seal" issue can easily be fixed by removing their parody version.
 
E

Effect

Member
I'm surprised it took them this long. When I first saw this kickstarter I did wonder if this was being supported by Nintendo. It's not like it was a book about them but actually screenshots of the games themselves. That always felt risky and shady if Nintendo wasn't involved and clearly they weren't.
 
S

stump sock

Member
Morrigan Stark said:
Not to start a decade-old console war but... The more-or-less equivalent Kickstarter for a Genesis/Megadrive book wasn't shut down by Sega. Either they got their copyright stuff sorted out properly and these guys didn't, or... Sega does what Nintendon't? :D (Or Sega doesn't what Nintendoes, I should say... xD)
Click to expand...

that thing was really different. the key here is that they even admitted to the book being "mainly visual." you can only really get away with fair use - real fair use, not what the internet calls it - under the premise of education or criticism.

this is mostly a giant book of images grabbed off an emulator with a tiny blurb about the game next to them.

(also I think that was either official or semi-official)
 
F

Fusebox

Banned
I dunno if I agree with this law, if I buy a game and then take a screenshot of me playing the game and sharpen it and clean it up a bit - isn't it art by that point?
 
M

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
PtM said:
Uh, yes?
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Better shut down NeoGAF with a DMCA then. :p

komplanen said:
They were attempting to publish a product and sell it for money. That's leagues away from "posting a screenshot" and you know it.
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True, but it depends on the context wouldn't it? I'd think having some screenshots in your book would count as fair use, but of course if pretty much all the book's content was just screenshots and they never worked with Nintendo at all or communicated with them to begin with, then yeah, they fully deserve the DMCA complaint.

digita1alchemy said:
Nooooooooo

How did the Megadrive book make it through? Did they work with Sega on that?
Click to expand...
Yes, if you check the link I posted above, they mentioned working closely with Sega, obtaining the rights to various assets, Sega even providing assets, etc.

I was under the impression that this NES-book KS was a similar project, so at first I was surprised that it'd get shut down, but perhaps they weren't. Can't see what the KS page says right now though.
 
K

KingBroly

Banned
Effect said:
I'm surprised it took them this long. When I first saw this kickstarter I did wonder if this was being supported by Nintendo. It's not like it was a book about them but actually screenshots of the games themselves. That always felt risky and shady if Nintendo wasn't involved and clearly they weren't.
Click to expand...

If it was being supported by Nintendo, it probably wouldn't need a Kickstarter.
 
Stiler

Stiler

Member
Would this not fall under fair use? I mean the pictures at least? Using a SINGLE picture from a video game for historical/educational purposes is definitely fair use.

It's not like people are going to buy the book rather then buy a new mario or zelda game.

I mean yea, he should have tried to get permission first to be covered, but in the end it should still be considered fair use if the point of the book is showing the history of nintendo and the graphics/games over its history.
 
O

orthodoxy1095

Banned
Morrigan Stark said:
Yes, if you check the link I posted above, they mentioned working closely with Sega, obtaining the rights to various assets, Sega even providing assets, etc.

I was under the impression that this NES-book KS was a similar project, so at first I was surprised that it'd get shut down, but perhaps they weren't. Can't see what the KS page says right now though.
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Good ol' Sega, still doing what Nintendon't.
 
B

BluePigGanon

Member
Bummer, I was a backer too. I don't really get where the line is with this stuff, magazines have screenshots but not something like this?
 
G

Geek

Ninny Prancer
Fusebox said:
I dunno if I agree with this law, if I buy a game and then take a screenshot of me playing the game and sharpen it and clean it up a bit - isn't it art by that point?
Click to expand...

That depends...

A screengrab from an emulator probably wouldn't be considered a transformative work under US copyright law. A book full of them? Nah.
 
S

stan423321

Member
Stiler said:
Would this not fall under fair use? I mean the pictures at least? Using a SINGLE picture from a video game for historical/educational purposes is definitely fair use.
Click to expand...

The consensus is that it should be an illustration to the commentary, not the other way around. Say, if they released a poster of that SINGLE Zelda screenshot with some random comments, it wouldn't change much. It's still obvious that they're selling the screenshot.
 
T

Tempy

don't ask me for codes
udivision said:
Should've included "reviews" of each game to go with the screenshots.

Call it a "Review of All NES games"
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The book is supposed to have reviews as well as brief description/history of games, and other articles. As well as fanart and homebrew.
 
M

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
orthodoxy1095 said:
Good ol' Sega, still doing what Nintendon't.
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Too late, I already made that joke on my first post :p

Stiler said:
It's not like people are going to buy the book rather then buy a new mario or zelda game.
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Yeah, that's why I assumed there shouldn't be problem with having a book containing some screenshots. That said, I game sales is not necessarily the only angle to copyright enforcement.

KingBroly said:
If it was being supported by Nintendo, it probably wouldn't need a Kickstarter.
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That's a ridiculous and unsubstantiated statement.
 
F

fernoca

Member
BluePigGanon said:
Bummer, I was a backer too. I don't really get where the line is with this stuff, magazines have screenshots but not something like this?
Click to expand...
Usually magazines either receive the screenshots from the original source, or get the permission before been printed.

This had neither sadly.
 
P

PtM

Banned
Stiler said:
Would this not fall under fair use? I mean the pictures at least? Using a SINGLE picture from a video game for historical/educational purposes is definitely fair use.

It's not like people are going to buy the book rather then buy a new mario or zelda game.

I mean yea, he should have tried to get permission first to be covered, but in the end it should still be considered fair use if the point of the book is showing the history of nintendo and the graphics/games over its history.
Click to expand...
as far as I know, fair use in theory still necessitates a reflection over the referenced (!) piece of work. Saying "it's to show [the evolution of] Nintendo games" isn't going to cut it.
 
Z

Zee-Row

Banned
I had a feeling this would happen , I almost put down money. I just wonder why Nintendo waited until the last minute to shut this down?
 
S

Shizuka

Member
Zee-Row said:
I had a feeling this would happen , I almost put down money. I just wonder why Nintendo waited until the last minute to shut this down?
Click to expand...

Maybe to gauge interest and release one of their own someday. Or even to prove there's a market for it and lure other artbook publishers.
 
J

jett

D-Member
I don't understand how is this book different from their Super Famicom one, or the other two visual compendiums they kickstarted successfully. It looked neat.
 
M

MrSaturn99

Member
Got the email about this. I assumed they already had the rights since they did a Super Famicom one, which was apparently pulled from Kickstarter too. Weird.
 
S

SilverLunar

Member
Isn't there another book with the same premise of "all NES games review and screen shots" to visually identify them?

Not sure what it's called, I'll look it up.
 
S

stan423321

Member
jett said:
I don't understand how is this book different from their Super Famicom one, or the other two visual compendiums they kickstarted successfully. It looked neat.
Click to expand...

Super Famicom book used covers (marketing material) instead of screenshots and the commentary was more substantial, so here're two differences.

The other books didn't deal with Nintendo, so there's that.
 
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