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Nyan Cat creator Christopher Orlando Torres and Keyboard Cat's owner Charles Schmidt have filed a copyright and trademark infringement lawsuit against Warner Bros. and 5th Cell over their creations' appearances in the Scribblenauts series.
The complaint, filed on April 22nd, alleges that developer 5th Cell did not seek permission to include either copyrighted character in their published products or in related promotional material. The original Nyan Cat and Keyboard Cat videos have each been viewed tens of millions of times on YouTube, making them "extremely valuable for commercial uses," according to the complaint.
"Plaintiffs claim that Warner Bros and 5th Cell's trademark infringement was willful and intentional and are requesting an award of treble damages and requesting the case be deemed exception under 15 U.S.C. ยง 1117(a), thereby entitling Plaintiffs to an award of reasonable attorneys' fees," intellectual property-focused attorney blog Milord & Associates notes.
Plaintiffs Schmidt and Torres additionally seek an injunction against the sale of Scribblenauts products until the matter is resolved.
The Scribblenauts series allows players to summon a wide variety of memes during gameplay, for both practical purposes and comedic effect. Keyboard Cat has appeared in every series entry to date, while Nyan Cat is a more recent addition, appearing only in Scribblenauts Unlimited.
Related Posts:
- This Is Happening: Scribblenauts Sued Over Cat Memes - rockpapershotgun
- Nyan Cat creator explains why he feels he should be compensated for Scribblenauts inclusion - GoNintendo
- Two Meme Creators Are Suing The People Who Made Scribblenauts - kotaku
- Keyboard Cat, Nyan Cat Sue Warner Bros. - IGN
- Keyboard Cat, Nyan Cat creators suing Warner Bros. for appearances in Scribblenauts - GoNintendo
Replies:
also you're granted an automatic copyright upon creation of the work in the US, Gold; you just have to prove you created it
also why aren't the meme creators suing the millions of internet users who have copied/reproduced their memes without their consent (hint: copyright enforcement defeats the point behind memes)
i mean, seriously, this is a whole new level of stupid
whether or not you're making any money off it makes no difference under copyright law, though (this is why piracy is illegal)
also nyan cat in scribblenauts is in a completely different style from the nyan cat meme, especially in terms of facial structure; "ideas" aren't protected under intellectual property laws, so if Poptarts can't explicitly sue the creator of nyan cat for having a body shaped like a Poptart (it can be gotten away with by calling the body a "breakfast square" or something), i doubt the nyan cat creator can sue scribblenauts for having a "cat character with a body of a breakfast square that flies with rainbow exhaust"
unless, of course, the term "nyan cat" is trademarked--which is a much stronger legal protection than copyright, and which scribblenauts uses--then the nyan cat creators definitely have a case