You think you're making a cool cosplay music video, and then Square Enix slaps you with a lawsuit, and you're forced to pay $325,000 for paying tribute (*cough*) to one of their properties.
That's exactly what happened to Korean producer “Phantom Productions.” It seems that they used unauthorized bits and pieces of the Final Fantasy VII Advent Children film in their video. That was f-up number one. The other, of course, was that they used the video for commercial purposes. Korean courts sided with Square Enix, and the makers were ordered to pay 400,000,000 won ($325,000) settlement for copyright violation, says Sankaku Complex.
Those with a Nico Nico Douga account (Japanese) can watch the video here. The rest can check it out at Sankaku. If you can read Japanese, the viewers are laughing heartily, especially at the mid-video dance sequence.
If I was Square Enix and saw this piece of sh*t, I'd sue too.
[Update: English-language press release was just sent out on this suit over “Sonata of Temptation” by popular Korean pop singer IVY. Check out the full release after the jump.]
Tokyo, Japan (August 5, 2009) Square Enix Co., Ltd.’s (Square Enix) copyright infringement lawsuit against Korean entertainment production company Fantom Entertainment Group (Fantom) and music video producer Hong Jeong-ho resulted in a damage award of 300 Million Korean Won (approx. US$244,000) to Square Enix at the conclusion of the trial in March 2008. Following an appeal lodged by the defendants, on July 3, 2009, the Seoul High Court ruled that Fantom and Hong Jeong-ho should pay 400 Million Korean Won (approx. US$326,000) to Square Enix.
In light of this development, Mr. Yasuhiko Hasegawa, Square Enix's General Counsel: “We have been consistent in our claims during this lawsuit regarding the value of FINAL FANTASY® VII ADVENT CHILDRENTM and our FINAL FANTASY series, as well as the damages the company has suffered as a result of the modification and adaptation made without obtaining permission. The initial amount awarded in this case, 300 Million Korean Won, was the largest the courts in South Korea have ever awarded in cases infringing one single work of art, and having this figure increased to 400 Million Korean Won following an appeal by the defendants is further affirmation of the severity of this copyright infringement as well as the recognition and value the FINAL FANTASY series has attained in South Korea. Square Enix will continue to take decisive action against any infringements upon our intellectual property, recognizing that this property is one of our most crucial resources.”
(Summary of Events)
In March 2007, Fantom began the for-profit online distribution of a music video for the song “Sonata of Temptation” by popular Korean pop singer IVY containing an unauthorized live-action scene-for-scene adaptation of a scene from FINAL FANTASY VII ADVENT CHILDREN. In response to an injunction filed by Square Enix, the Seoul Central District Court ordered Fantom to cease distribution and sales of the video as of April 6, 2007, and subsequently, on March 13, 2008, ordered Fantom to pay damages of 300 Million Korean Won. Fantom and Mr. Hong Jeong-ho appealed this decision and the case was elevated to the Seoul High Court, which on July 3, 2009, issued the decision ordering Fantom and Hong Jeong-ho to pay damages of 400 Million Korean Won.
About FINAL FANTASY VII ADVENT CHILDREN
Released in September 2005, FINAL FANTASY VII ADVENT CHILDREN is a CG animated film which was published as a sequel to FINAL FANTASY VII, a PlayStation® game shipped in January 1997. The film has been released in both dubbed and subtitled versions in 70 countries, and has shipped over 4.1 million DVD/UMD discs worldwide without theatrical screening or TV animation. In April 2009, it was released on Blu-ray Disc™. The film has received great praise, as evidenced by special invitations to the 61st and 62nd Venice International Film Festivals in 2004 and 2005, as well as being honored with the “Prix Zone05” at Zone05 in France, the “Honorary Maria Award” at the Festival Internacional de Cinema de Catalunya in Spain, and the “Best Visual Designer Award” at the 11th AMD Award in Japan. It was released in Korea in June 2006 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
Contest:
1:40 PM on 08.05.2009
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Methinks it's time for a divorce, and I'm dead serious. Square needs to get away from all the bad publicity that they've been getting.
Square's new proposed business plan:
Stop rehashing the same games on multiple consoles
Listen to your fans
Support your fans, don't sue them
Split from Enix
Announce the FFVII remake; whilst people are lost in the confusion, use this opportunity to reintroduce yourself to the public
Remake Secret of Mana for the PS3
Start making good RPGs again
You're welcome.
Anyways, the Chrono Trigger C&D thing still shat on their image. They've basically been treated like garbage since their merger.
I also saw a Korean hardcore band playing a live set aired on tv and they played a Killswitch Engage song and a Comeback Kid song, and gave no credit as to actually wrote the songs.
If America was going to rip something off they'd usually at least buy the rights to it first.
This is a blatant copyright violation dude, and a legit case at that. I understand people arent fond of them (at least theyre not activison), but this is a legit case, as they used it for commercial purposes, trying to make cash from square enix's work. They also have a legit case against the fan made Chrono Trigger game. Even if I dont personally agree with the suit, they have the case, as it should technically be a violation of the End User License Agreement. Im interested to see how that case turns out.
Don't get me wrong! I was ranting and raving about how right they were even about the Chrono Trigger case.
I just think they're shooting themselves in the foot at this point: pretty soon, their public image won't be able to sink any lower.
haha, sorry, I read your comment wrong. Like I said, theyre in their right to sue, but it doesnt mean they should sue the fan project. This shit however? Yeah, Im fine with this.
If anything it serves to promote it. It's not like Square's in the business of making cosplay music videos - and this comes very close to bumping up against the "fair use"/"parody" exemptions that are present in US copyright law. It's not quite there (and I have no idea if the same exemptions apply here) but it's still a case of SE just being douchebags.
This is not some cosplay video, its a video clip. They used the movie, reproduce it and made money out of it, without even asking...
easy case. 325,000 might be a bit much since I know they couldn't have made that much money off of the sale of the video, but I'm not a judge.
Fans doing what they do, is hardly breaking Square coffers.
As everyday passes, I beginning to hate you more, Square.
No. Case and point, they used exact pixel by pixel replicas of characters that are plain and simple: Square property.
Like I keep saying though, Nintendo loves these fan creations, and even went so far one time as to say "it's free promotion, and we love our fans".
THAT was my point above. Here we have Nintendo, who gets more commercial usage out of their IPs than anyone else in the business, and they're building their reputation off of it instead of making a quick buck off people who love their work.
SHOULDA WENT TO NINTENDO!
For instance, it annoys me that so many awesome LBP levels are taken down for tributing other games/shows.
At least this isn't like Disney suing a children's daycare for painting some Disney characters on their indoor walls. It's early brand-recognition, people!
However, it's not as if the music video producers were trying to discretely steal S-E's property. They credited S-E in the video and stated that it was from a scene in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Obviously, this has no legal standing if S-E never gave that permission, but still.
Even though S-E are totally open to pursue the lawsuit, it's not as if the music video harmed their own profits in any way. If anything, it promoted Advent Children, because the song was very popular in Korea when it first came out. (the "hand" part of the dance became very famous, and was imitated on Korean variety shows for a long time)
I'm convinced that they're only concerned about the money now. Sure, every business is concerned about the money, but I think a lot of game developers still have the passion for creating. I don't think Squenix has that passion anymore. Even their character designs seem carved from a standard JRPG template, despite how crazy and wacky they might look. Watching the Final Fantasy XIV interview, it just looked like a couple of annoyed businessmen takin' care of business. You can tell when a developer, or a producer, or a community manager cares about the game they are talking about. Their eyes light up, and they are genuinely excited to tell everybody about the cool, unique features of their new game. The Pixeljunk shooter video comes to mind. Squenix just doesn't seem to have that anymore.
tl;dr - Square has lost it.
now get to makin that Chrono Cross sequel.
Hopefully they just stick to profitable situations. Oh wait.
"... is Korea."
"...heavy ripping-off lol!"
"Don't underestimating FF fans!"
Uh...huh...
TRIBUTE? YOU STEAL MEN'S SOULS AND MAKE THEM YOUR SLAVES.
pay our games and stfu.
we dont need free advertising for our products nor do we want that!
so dont dare to even talk about 4 years old projects of ours.