Prepare for trouble, and make it double. The Pokemon Company shut down a Pokemon-themed party that was planned for Pax Seattle.
It may not have been an attempt to protect its world from devastation but The Pokemon Company filed suit to protect its intellectual property, which includes the beloved poke monsters from its Pokemon video games and trading cards.
Organizers of the "5th Annual Unofficial Pokemon PAX Kickoff Party," which was scheduled for Aug. 27, promoted the event using a fly featuring the iconic Pikachu and snide-looking grass-type Snivy.
Before the party kicked off, The Pokemon Company filed suit in US District Court for the Western District of Washington at Seattle.
The lawsuit alleges that the party's organizer, Ramar Larkin Jones and Zach Shore, advertised "Pokemon themed shots and drinks," a Smash Bros. competition for cash, dancing, contest and a "Pokemon mashup."
The Pokemon Company said it believes the defendants will attempt to infringe on its intellectual properties again, so it's asking for the privileged to add "additional acts of infringement" to the lawsuit.
The "defendants have copied, created derivative works of, distributed copies to the public, and/or displayed publicly Pokémon Works without the consent or authority of TPCi, thereby directly infringing TPCi's exclusive rights under Section 106 of the Copyright Act 17 U.S.C. § 10 [Remedies for infringement: Damages and profits]," stated The Pokemon Company in its suit.
Because the party is believed to have gone on for four years, among other reasons, The Pokemon Company is seeking statutory damages in the higher end of the range provided for in the Copyright Act.
The Pokemon Company says it invested more than $6 million in advertising and promotions in 2014, and that was just for its trading card game.
On one side, it may seem as if The Pokemon Company brought a weaponized drone to a knife fight. From the other side, The Pokemon Company, despite how lovable and adorable its characters are, is a company, a for-profit company.
"TPCi has been and will continue to be damaged, and Defendants has been unjustly enriched, by Defendants' unlawful infringement of TPCi's copyrights in an amount to be proven at trial," The Pokemon Company stated in its court filings.
