Square Enix fight against piracy

[Gingerbread Lesbian]

Remember those crooks selling unlicensed sword replicas from the Final Fantasy series? To be blunt, the folks over at Square Enix weren’t very happy about it, having slapped four wholesalers with a lawsuit last February. Turns out Square Enix have reached an agreement with the defendants named in the case. In addition to issuing the apology below, the wholesalers have agreed to pay a consent judgment for $600,000 out of court. The wholesalers named are Edgework Imports, Inc., Top Swords, Inc., and Wholesale Gallery.

“We regret having sold unauthorized replica merchandise based on the FINAL FANTASY franchise to our customers. We would not have begun importing and selling these swords if we knew that Square Enix would respond so aggressively to stop us. We will never make this mistake again.”

The fourth defendant, California-based Pacific Solutions Marketing, has entered into a separate settlement agreement of which details were not provided. Additionally, all parties named in the settlement have agreed to cease selling such items on popular online marketplace locations such as Amazon and eBay.

Source: N4G

 

[Fusionist]

Whoa O.O

I admit this isn't a subject I'm familar with, so maybe I'm not comprehending this right, but did the sword people not say tell people buying their swords that they were based off the concepts from the games of SE? How was it wrong for them to sell it?

So, what's next? Cosplayers wearing outfits that's too identical to the characters their dressing up as?

Or does SE also sell their own version of the character weapons and what not ?

 

[Gingerbread Lesbian]

It's because the people who made and sold the unauthorized replica don't hold the rights to do. I think but I'm not entirely sure on the matter, but you can make Square Enix replica as long as you a)Don't claim it's your own or say it's official, b)Don't make a profit/sell the replica items and maybe c)Give your items to other people...I don't know whether the last one is correct but I'm pretty sure the first 2 are law.

I think the difference is between this and cosplaying is that cosplayers themselves don't make money from dressing up and are promoting Square Enix games - not making money. Plus I think it would be very difficult to slap a court case on cosplayers as there will be millions of them promoting several games for several companies so taking one of them to court would set a precedent on taking them all to court...and it's not worth the hassle to be honest, plus I think companies, along with Square Enix promote and welcome cosplaying.

Something along those lines, I think.