Nintendo tries to shut down Mario fan game. Is Zelda Classic next?

[ekolis]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...t-shouldnt-be/

To be honest, I'm surprised Zelda Classic has survived this long. Is Nintendo finally toughening up?

[ctrl-alt-delete]

We need to hire this guy.

[Nicholas Steel]

I imagine the fact that it was open source is what killed it. I don't know why that would be why, but it's a pretty safe guess.

[Anarchy_Balsac]

It might be because he was collecting donations specifically for the development of the software.

[ekolis]

The donations might be a factor, yes.

ZC isn't open source?

[SUCCESSOR]

It might be because he was collecting donations specifically for the development of the software.

Bingo. Money involved -> shit-canned.

[Anarchy_Balsac]

Bingo. Money involved -> shit-canned.

Yeah, because Nintendo has specifically said they're ok with fan projects insofar as no one makes money from them. The donations were probably seen as a workaround, whether or not they actually were. This is the exact reason I refused to accept any donations I was offered when I made the Marauder Shields Video Game, because EA certainly would have come after me for that.

Stilll, I think the guy should try and talk it out with them through mediation or such. He'll have to drop the donations, no doubt, but I suspect Nintendo is more than willing to settle this rather than spend money suing him.

[CJC]

Nintendo IS aware of Zelda Classic, but I believe we have been ignored because the main draw of the program is the custom quest creation, not the emulation of the original game. Not that it represents any legal acknowledgement, but Nintendo even mentioned us in their magazine right after Twilight Princess was announced.


I think this guy got shut down for several reasons, the three biggest being donations, open-source code, and very limited 'extra content'. It sounds like his site was little more than a reverse-engineered copy. I don't know how his site was set up, but it may have also had advertisement revenue (which is revenue that legally belongs to Nintendo).




If Nintendo were to change their mind about Zelda Classic, we wouldn't be in tremendous danger financially as the program has never (and WILL NEVER) generated revenue. Legal action would be no more extensive than a cease-and-desist.
Also, it might be possible to relinquish the rights of the program to Nintendo, where they could offer it on their own web-page as a fan-service and generate their OWN advertisement revenue.

[Dashie]

Wait....who is new person for Nintendo? We know owner of Nintendo already dead. But who is replace for him?

[Zim]

I am actually C.E.O. of Nintendo.
Link, Zelda, Ganon, etc. are all trademarks and copyrighted, in opposition to that, with Z.C., the engine itself, source, and everything else are all original.
As long as noone is making any money selling things with these trademarks in them, then there's nothing to sue over, because there's no trading being done, it's all GIVING.
In addition to that, the acquisition, manufacture, and distribution of actual hardware and software is a totally different story than a bunch of people buying or otherwise obtaining their own equipment and writing their own games with pictures of Zelda and Link in them, as long as noone is undercutting the companies that sell materials, do programming, ship the products, retail the final products, etc. there's nothing being lost by Nintendo in those instances.

Also, if you own an actual picture of Link, you have the right to copy it as many times as you like.