POL slammed by Joystiq - POL's not just lying to Pokémon fans anymore

[Archaic]

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/04/pokemon-online-taunts-nintendos-lawyers/

A group of dedicated Pokemaniacs have slathered what we like to call "lawyer bait" all over their massively-multiplayer online RPG project called, creatively enough, Pokemon Online. In a move sure to attract those slippery law-hounds, POL is even using Nintendo's own artwork, game assets and displays advertisements on their site.

The game is in early beta stages and you can't do much more than run around and get into a few simple battles for now. Who knows how far they'll get before the inevitable flood of cease-and-desist paperwork arrives? It's a shame, too -- Pokemon is one of those franchises that begs to be MMORPG-ized. Rename the project, slap a new logo on there and overhaul the graphics and POL might just survive. Otherwise, prepare for massive damage.

Just to give you a little more context, here's two selected quotes from their comments there. One is a moderator from a respected general gaming forum. The other, is mine.

I'm a moderator at GameDev.Net, which is a fairly popular community for hobbyist, amateur, indie, and pro game developers. Some time back, Pokemon Online posted a thread in the forums asking for contributors.

Several members raised concerns about the legal status of the project. The poster assured us that Nintendo had authorized the project, and went so far as to post a copy of the letter that Nintendo had sent him, authorizing the project. We thought this was a little unusual, to say the least.

Another moderator contacted a legal firm who represents Nintendo and whose signature appeared on the letter which the POL developer had presented. We were informed that the letter in question has been forged and that Nintendo had never given any sort of consent.

So just remember. They're not just copyright violators, they're liars. If they tell you they have been granted permission to do any of this, they're just making it up.

Posted at 1:35AM on Mar 5th 2007 by Promit Roy

My name is Liam Pomfret, more commonly known as Archaic, and I'm the webmaster of Bulbagarden, a popular Pokémon fansite, and host of the original POL project, back in 2000-2001.

Haris, the organiser of this new POL project, contacted me on occasions throughout 2006, first attempting to get his project hosted by me (which we refused, citing concerns by our former staff member and original POL programmer Konidas), and then asking for affiliation with me. On July 6th last year, I received an email from him, showing a supposed email he had recieved from Melissa Morgan Nelson at Perkins Coie LLP (ie. Nintendo's laywers), showing that he had received permission for the project.

That of course was a baldfaced lie. While I assumed as much from the beginning, I did contact Melissa, who confirmed that fact for me.

I'd be most happy to put up copies of my email correspondence with both Haris and Melissa, should anyone want to see them.

Long story short...this POL project is a stain on the Pokémon internet fandom. Haris has been banned or blocked on every respectable Pokémon forum, with his posts and those promoting POL deleted on sight.

Hopefully, after an article like this, on such a well visited site, perhaps the news will get around a little more, and NoA might actually decide to follow it up and shut it down. They've turned a blind eye with community projects like Netbattle before (even allowing threads discussing it to be stuck at the top of their official forums), but that's where the thing was run by respected members of the fandom. This....well, to say that it isn't would be an understatement.

Posted at 6:56AM on Mar 5th 2007 by Archaic

 

[eX.A.K.R.]

All I want to say is... this is just blatant, too in-your-face to be believable...

 

[Archaic]

Would you like to see the emails then?

 

[Vagabond Aeon]

Would you be willing to make them available?

If what you say is true, it's really low of them. A shame, really... I'd like to see a Pokemon MMO someday.

 

[paperfairy]

Wow. At the moment, POL and BMGF were liek, big forums for me; I was even going to make maps for POL. But now that I've learned this.... I'm certainly leaving there. It's a shame too, because I devoted at least 30+ hours to that place, and the mod team seems reallly cool.

Oh well.

 

[Kthleen]

If what you say is true, it's really low of them. A shame, really... I'd like to see a Pokemon MMO someday.

Indeed. It makes me quite sad, as I was really looking forward to the project coming to fruition....

 

[Porygon]

Indeed. It makes me quite sad, as I was really looking forward to the project coming to fruition....

Unless I'm mistaken, none of this never implies it's going down. It just says it's likely to, since since stuff like this happens.

 

[Doctor Oak]

It would never have been finished anyway. None of these things ever are. It's been 10 years, why do people still not realise this fact?

 

[paperfairy]

This is definately as far as anyone's gotten, however.

 

[Archaic]

Dear Mr. Pomfret,

Thank you very much for contacting me. The letter below appears to be forged. I will follow up with Nintendo of America.

Best Regards,
Melissa

-----Original Message-----
From: Archaic [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Sun 7/9/2006 5:41 PM
To: Nelson, Melissa Morgan (Perkins Coie)
Subject: Re: http://www.pokemonol.net

Dear Melissa Morgan Nelson,

I was recently forwarded the below email from a user I know only by the
name of "Haris". Given that I was the one who made the initial report to
Nintendo's legal department regarding his website and it's project
(through a contact form on Nintendo.com), I was just wondering if I
could please get confirmation from you that this is not a spoof. I have
found this person to be entirely untrustworthy in my dealings with him
up to this point, and I wouldn't put it past him to try and fake an
acceptance of this kind to give his project an image of legitimacy. That
he hasn't been crowing this from the rooftops makes it seem even more
suspicious, given his past actions.

I understand fully if this perhaps may fall under confidentiality, and
that I may be unable to be told any details regarding this issue. If my
suspicions are correct however, I hope that you will be able to act
quickly and accordingly to resolve this issue.

Kind regards,
Liam Pomfret
a.k.a. "Archaic", Webmaster/Owner, Bulbagarden.net


> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: [email protected] <[email protected]>
> Date: Jul 6, 2006 9:24 AM
> Subject: Nintendo Letter of Acceptance (Pokemon Online)
> To: [email protected]
>
>
>
>
> I am Haris, the webmaster/founder of Pokemon Online (POL). POL is a
> pokemon MMORPG. Recently you expressed negative views regarding POL.
> This was unjustified since you are making assumptions based on
> personal opinions and not circumstantial evidence. I have evidence
> (included in this email) to support my argument that POL is completely
> legal and is supported by Nintendo. I have included Nintendo's letter
> of acceptance in relation to the MMORPG, Pokemon Online (POL):
>
> Re: http://www.pokemonol.net
>
> Acceptance of Nintendo Intellectual Property Rights
>
> 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 game hosted
> on the above-referenced Web site. We have reviewed your project and
> have decided to inform you of our policies regarding the usage of
> Nintendo trademark(s)/works in your game. This use is authorized, and
> we are writing to inform you that your game is acceptable in relation
> to Nintendo policies. This is providing your game remains freeware and
> does not gain any profits from the above-referenced website or any
> other external sources. If you fail to abide by this policy we will
> expicitly 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 would 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.
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
> Melissa Morgan Nelson
> Perkins Coie LLP
> 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4800
> Seattle, WA 98101-3099
> http://www.perkinscoie.com
>
>



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[eX.A.K.R.]

Would you like to see the emails then?

Maybe you misunderstood me - what I meant was that I can't believe this is happening...

Really - I can't believe someone could snoop to that low for these kind of things. Intellectual property infringement is one thing; counterfeiting a letter, complete with a forged signature, to fool the fandom is another.

I urge everyone who ever was connected to this project to publicly announce that they sever all ties with this project, lest the whole fandom gets pulled down into a blackhole of legal insanity.

 

[Archaic]

Ah, I see what you mean. Well...sadly, I have less faith in humanity in general. ^^;;

I had been prepared to just leave them alone and let Nintendo stomp them when the time came, but with the news that they'd actually attempted to approach other sites with the same bullshit story, 9 months after they've first tried it with me, I just felt that I couldn't let them get away with it any longer.

 

[Archaic]

Just for the record BTW....PPN's pointed out to me that the URL in the email I recieved is different to their current URL, which is http://www.pokemononline.org/

I'm not sure if they just lost the original URL, or if they got taken down once before, or what.

 

[paperfairy]

Apparently, the old host just kicked them off the server. He was a big bag of douche.

I just withdrew from the Mapmaking Team of POL, simply because of this. Thanks for showing me Liam. ^_^

 

[Nando]

Liam...

Doesn't this look a little familiar?

This is a site where you aren''t just a fan - you''re a member. This is a community. This is where you can contribute on your own time, as much or as little as you want. This is the ultimate Pokémon MMORPG. This is Pokemon Online.

Sounds like the greeting I've seen on another popular Pokémon site, blatantly stolen with a few edits....

 

[Archaic]

More than a little familiar indeed. Bloody oath, does his thievery know no bounds?

 

[Nando]

I need a good laugh. Does Nintendo in fact actually know the extent this has gone to?

 

[Water Pokémon Master]

That slogan is dumb anyways.

This will most likely be shut down. An Apprentice-like program was created on the internet to play the PTCG, and that was shut down too, even though it would seem blatantly obvious to anyone there were no ill-intentions and the game was only to test decks on the net. Nintendo is protection-happy with Pokemon.

 

[Archaic]

Which program was that, WPM? Apprentice has never been killed off, so I would've been surprised that another was. Was it one of those that used actual images of the cards, which is a bit more threatening to them than those using just abstractions?

I need a good laugh. Does Nintendo in fact actually know the extent this has gone to?

Their lawyers do. Who knows if the company itself does though.

 

[Doctor Oak]

That slogan is dumb anyways.

This will most likely be shut down. An Apprentice-like program was created on the internet to play the PTCG, and that was shut down too, even though it would seem blatantly obvious to anyone there were no ill-intentions and the game was only to test decks on the net. Nintendo is protection-happy with Pokemon.

Netbattle hasn't been touched despite the obvious infringements it causes. Though the TCG and the Games are controlled differently by different departments so maybe that's just the Games side letting it slip by more.

To say Nintendo is "protection-happy" with Pokemon is also a bit silly too, as Nintendo has and still does work hand in hand with Pokemon fansites, who not only obviously break copyright by using Pokemon images etc but quite clearly break copyright in using ROMs and downloaded episodes. Not to mention the fact that the games are illegally hacked (from illegal ROMs for that matter) to provide the Internet's vast array of images from the games.

We get away with a lot more than we're in any way legally entitled to in the interests of free marketing and publicity.