JanAnimations Hit with C&D from Hasbro

[QuickLime]

They were NOT free publicity, they were making T-shirts (With Button Mash on them) and selling them, profiting from a creation that was NOT theirs.

[Bellosh]

I think that aside from the swag Jan was selling, what may have killed his channel was the fact that his animation too closely matched the show. Companies have an even greater incentive to issue C&D orders if they get the belief that an unauthorized work could be confused for an official product. This is why I believe Hasbro Legal won't be bothered to go after fanfics and fanart, since nobody in their right minds could mistake that sort of thing as an actual corporate product. But when an animator deliberately emulates the same animation style of FiM and even throws in a couple official characters to boot, things get really clouded.

[Needlemouse]

They were NOT free publicity, they were making T-shirts (With Button Mash on them) and selling them, profiting from a creation that was NOT theirs.

I was not aware of the t-shirts. I was merely referring to the animations.

[elsporko]

While I agree that it is within a company's right to defend their copyright - at this point they've more or less reached the point where it's become less like defending copyright, and more like just having an itchy trigger-finger on C&D orders when it comes to larger projects that have genuine effort put into them.

The only other copyright holder I know of that goes this out of its way to kill high-grade, fan-made content is Square-Enix when it comes to the Chrono Trigger franchise. Heck, could you imagine if other franchises were shut down as readily? Touhou would be dead in the water if it got even half the level of copyrighted content disdain from its makers that Hasbro dishes out. The Fantasy Kaleidoscope series, for example, would never have made it past the first episode if Team Shanghai Alice handled fan-made content the way Hasbro does.

Again, I get it, defending copyright, yadda, yadda. But there comes a point where you're less defending your copyright, and just plain killing free publicity and discouraging fans from being creative. Hasbro is very much reaching that point, if they haven't already done so.

Copyright laws in Japan are different and not as strong nor is it defended the same was as in America

Large projects are often targeted because they are typically the most known and the most likely to compete with official project If Hasbro doesn't stop this project it makes it harder for them to defend later cases The fact that in this case it looks similar to the show and uses official characters makes it even more justified

[DerpyHoovesFan]

i seriously cant believe this!!! didn't jan animations have a thing with hasbro in order to make lets go an meet the bronies video for the documentary?,,,seriously this is this worst news ever, i loved jan he has been around for ever,

once again, this is why we cant have nice things,,, tis a sad day

just in case you want this listen to this song again before it goes forever

http://youtu.be/yjlr2y32tQY

Welp, it's gone...

[Needlemouse]

Copyright laws in Japan are different and not as strong nor is it defended the same was as in America

Chrono Trigger is a Japanese franchise first and foremost, and it has had several fan creations shut down. Similarly, Sega of Japan regularly would shut down vids on YouTube that were protected by Fair Use. The copyright laws' specifics are different, but fundamentally the protection of fan-based work tends towards the same function. It really does just come down to Hasbro's legal department being trigger-happy with its C&D's aimed at high-profile content creators. Again, I do not deny their right to do so - but there's a point where a person might be exacting that right in a fashion that may end up being counter-productive.

Imagine if LucasFilm (or now Disney, I suppose) were to begin sueing people for making lightsaber battle videos with high production values. Or heck, Death Battle pretty much infringes on copyright thoroughly - and they make a profit off of it. And not every character used is from Japan. Many of them are very much U.S.-based franchise characters. Rooster Teeth should've been C&D'd off the map, based on the arguments in support of Hasbro's actions, but instead Bungie embraced them and acknowledged their creativity.

So again, I don't refute the right to defend one's copyright - but going after content creators which in all truth and reality, contrary to insistancies that their copyright would weaken, do not do a thing to harm their end paygrade, is not an action that benefits them in the least. All it does, at the end of the day, is discourage fan-created content.

[elsporko]

I was referring to Touhou more with the Japanese comment The understanding I have is that it is easier for third parties to be able to use characters and to give consent for their use This is how people can sell porn with licensed characters

The reason for the Chrono Trigger projects being shut down is because they got too big and could have interfered on sales of games if Square chose to actually do something with the franchise The thing is just like the projects Hasbro goes after is that the sequel and 3D remake were ignored until they gained popularity Its actually a kindness of Hasbro that they aren't being stricter with their copyrights

I think the Star Wars situation is sort of different because fan films predate internet popularity but also show how if a situation isn't controlled early it can be hard to reign in later There is an established culture of allowing Star Wars fan films which would make it hard for Disney to stop them now

[Needlemouse]

The reason for the Chrono Trigger projects being shut down is because they got too big and could have interfered on sales of games if Square chose to actually do something with the franchise The thing is just like the projects Hasbro goes after is that the sequel and 3D remake were ignored until they gained popularity Its actually a kindness of Hasbro that they aren't being stricter with their copyrights

Okay, I gotta harp on this a bit here. At which point has Square-Enix ever given a heck about Chrono Trigger? For one thing, the DS re-release that they peddled out came about YEARS after any of the 3D remakes were gunned down. And at the time, Square-Enix had absolutely zero intention of doing anything with the franchise. Same goes for the fanmade sequel. That thing was not interfering with any sales at all.

The argument that the 3D remake and the sequel would interfere with sales would imply that back in 2005~2010, Square-Enix was still making a profit off of selling the PS1 versions of Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross. Something which I sincerely doubt, unless some Square-Enix employee was literally sitting outside of retailers with a pickup truck foll of copies of the games, trying to peddle them off to people as they left stores. They were losing absolutely zero profits from those projects, and they were not interfering with any Chrono Trigger-related projects because there were none. Just as there are none now as well. They made a quick buck riding the fans of Chrono Trigger with the DS release (which only came about after people badgered them for eons for a new Chrono Trigger game -- which they didn't do, and instead we got the re-release instead), and now they're satisfied to wait another 10+ years before they pull it again with whatever new handheld console is out at the time.

Square-Enix has no interest whatsoever in the franchise, but are simply happy to make sure that nobody ELSE can do anything with it either.

Also, in regards to Disney not messing with the fans of the Star Wars franchise.. yeeaaahh, you should talk to some of 'em so far. A LOT of Star Wars fans are not happy at all with how Disney's been taking an axe to entire chunks of canon. And it's entirely likely that Disney won't stop there if they find some means to keep at it.

I will restate here that I don't disagree with the concept of defending one's copyright - I just believe that there's a limit to how far you can go with defending copyright before you go too far and it stops being in good taste or sense, and just becomes policing entertainment.

[elsporko]

Square-Enix has released two sequels to Chrono Trigger (One Japan only) and has released the game itself twice I wouldn't say the DS release was just for a quick buck since they added content and changed the ending to tie it in better with Chrono Cross While the series is not given enough attention Square still felt it was worth protecting as many fan sequels would hurt their sales if they finally did release something official If they really didn't care they wouldn't have taken the effort to go after the fan projects From what I've heard the real problem with getting a sequel is that the old team behind it are busy with the online Final Fantasy game They don't want other people to do anything with it because they may decide to do something in the future

[Needlemouse]

See, that's where you're wrong. Square-Enix didn't release anything besides the DS release. Everything else you mentioned was SQUARE - prior to being merged with Enix, with Enix becoming the dominant, surviving company in that merger. Square-Enix is also the group that kills off the fan projects. Square-Enix has not done a single thing for the Chrono Trigger series save for the DS release, and saying "Oh, well we might return to it someday. Maybe. Sure. Something like that." is basically an excuse to not let other people do stuff with the franchise. And considering the abysmal experiences that the online Final Fantasy games are (and the utter trainwreck that was Square-Enix trying to shoehorn Dragon Quest X into being an MMORPG as well), I don't feel the people who are still left working at Square-Enix are competent enough to produce a gem like the one they created all those years ago. Under Square-Enix, the Final Fantasy brand has grown stale, crusty and devoid of all the charm and engaging gameplay that their games used to have.

[elsporko]

Why should they let anybody do something with Chrono Trigger What right does anybody have to the Chrono franchise

[Needlemouse]

I dunno, Toriyama has some pretty big claims to it. Then again, that's probably it. They're being stingy because every time they have to release something from Dragon Quest or Chrono Trigger, they need to pay Toriyama his dues.

Also, I think you underestimate how incredibly petty and immature the top dogs in Japanese gaming companies are. Capcom's top figureheads, in particular, are outright insanely petty and small-minded. There's a reason Inafune has openly criticized them as being incapable of understanding the industry and being stuck in their ways.

[tacobob]

From JanAnimations:

"Hasbro’s legal department gave permission to put Don’t Mine at Night back online.

Situation is still evolving, which is why I am not really able to pull out an announcement/explaination video yet. I appreciate your patience."

[elsporko]

I dunno, Toriyama has some pretty big claims to it. Then again, that's probably it. They're being stingy because every time they have to release something from Dragon Quest or Chrono Trigger, they need to pay Toriyama his dues.

Also, I think you underestimate how incredibly petty and immature the top dogs in Japanese gaming companies are. Capcom's top figureheads, in particular, are outright insanely petty and small-minded. There's a reason Inafune has openly criticized them as being incapable of understanding the industry and being stuck in their ways.

Actually its more likely that masato Kato the story planner and script writer of Trigger and the main guy behind the sequels was working on Final Fantasy online and now it looks like he left the company

Chances are without him being the main push for the story and sequels nobody else is interested I doubt it has anything to do with a guy who did designs for the first game

But you haven't explained why Square should let people who don't have the rights to the franchise do something with it without permission

What right does anybody have to use intellectual properties for profit or possible profit when they did not have a part in creating it or compensating the owner of the rights

It sucks to not have some on the content but companies should be allowed to protect their holdings

[FrankT]

From JanAnimations:

"Hasbro’s legal department gave permission to put Don’t Mine at Night back online.

Situation is still evolving, which is why I am not really able to pull out an announcement/explaination video yet. I appreciate your patience."

So, they've started to redeem themselves... I never thought I'd see the day!