02-15-2015, 07:20 PM
Have two updates on 'Last Year':
Hello everyone and happy Friday The 13th! I wanted to mark this day with an update on whats happening with the copyright infringement claim. It's a little overdue but with legal issues like this it's always a bit tricky or uncertain how much can be said out in the open.
As you know the owners of Friday The 13th (Crystal Lake Entertainment and Sean Cunningham) have made several complaints that we're profiting from their brand. They've made quite a few requests to remove and change things... which in some cases are valid (like removing the poster from the video...fair enough!) But in other cases the complaints have been farther reaching and frankly a bit silly. Unfortunately, until they officially withdraw their copyright claim to Kickstarter the page is inaccessible to everyone and I can't access most of it either…It's basically held hostage until Kickstarter receives a complaint withdrawal notice from them, regardless of how far reaching or silly their claims may be. If the worst case scenario were to happen and they shut us down, and I'm not saying it will, you will all receive refunds as the first priority.
As for their complaints here's the camp example from their lawyer:
"Level 1 of the game is called Silver Lake Summer Camp. This, of course, is an infringement of the now famous Crystal Lake Summer Camp, the location of the original Friday the 13th horror film."
Bruce Isaacs | Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
865 S Figueroa Street, Suite 2400 | Los Angeles, CA 90017
Tel: (213) 633-6808 | Fax: (213) 633-6899
Email: bruceisaacs@dwt.com | Website: www.dwt.com
I simply responded to him with this:
"The term "Silver Lake Summer Camp" is a completely different term than "Camp Crystal Lake" including it's geographical location. It is drawn from the real world location of Silver Lake, California, as shown here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Lake,_Los_Angeles"
They seem to have removed this particular item from the list of their complaints…but they are still not happy. Here's an update from them as of today:
"James:
We still have three objections:
1. You still make specific reference to our title “Friday the 13th.” You need to eliminate that.
2. There is a still frame in which the killer’s mask looks like Jason’s mask. You need to eliminate that. And, the juxtaposition of the title and the mask strike us as an intent to profit off of our protectable elements.
We are not pleased that you raised over $100,000 by making use of our protectable elements and reserve all rights, at law and in equity.
Bruce Isaacs | Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
865 S Figueroa Street, Suite 2400 | Los Angeles, CA 90017
Tel: (213) 633-6808 | Fax: (213) 633-6899
Email: bruceisaacs@dwt.com | Website: www.dwt.com"
To this I responded with:
"Bruce,
1. The dialog clearly states "INSPIRED by films like Friday The 13th.." Inspired by is the keyword here as there is no law against stating inspirational pop culture references. No reference was made to this being an official license or anything misleading. 4000 backers will testify that they were fully aware of this.
2. You'll need to provide visual examples of which art piece and mask you are referencing so that I have a clear understanding of what exactly to fix. "
They are grasping at straws and I've been going back and forth with their lawyer, editing the video and sending it back to them, fixing concept art to their liking, etc. until they are satisfied to the point that they'll release their stranglehold on the Kickstarter. I'm happy to remove items such as the poster, however, making us fix concept art and saying things like Silver Lake can't be used is completely ridiculous and unfair.
I'm sorry that you guys have had to deal with this on a freshly funded project...The good news is that the money is in safe keeping and not a cent has been spent or will be spent until this is resolved. They say they are not happy we raised money using their brand but if the worst case scenario were to happen then money would be refunded to all of you first and not a cent given to them. I'm not saying the worst case will happen...I just want to make it crystal clear that my goal is to move forward on development and stage 2 funding as planned, but, if something were to prevent this from happening then the first priority would be giving you refunds.
If they try and make further claims that you guys were "confused" or misled or whatever into thinking this was somehow officially related to Friday The 13th then I'm really going to need your support to prove otherwise.. In fact I need your support now. Personally I felt it was quite clear we were inspired by Friday The 13th and other classic horror games...we are not in any way affiliated with them or profiting from them. They just see dollar signs in their eyes now and they want a piece of the pie. Luckily, a very well known copyright lawyer has contacted me to offer us his help to fight them if needed. Hopefully it doesn't come to that since we don't have time to waste...but we have the firepower if necessary.
Thanks for your support guys..I'm annoyed, angry, frustrated too. Any support, emails, and statements from you guys are incredibly helpful to get this sorted out. I get a feeling they don't want bad publicity for themselves by picking on the little guys and angering 4000 backers but you never know.
As always you can reach me at lastyearthegame@gmail.com with any comments, questions, concerns, etc. and I'll do my best to respond as fast as possible.
Hopefully next update will be via official Kickstarter channels.
I'll keep you posted on the latest news once I hear back but don't hesitate if you want to let others know what is happening.
Have a great weekend everyone!
James
--------------------------------------------------------------
Hey everyone just a quick update and a huge thanks for the amount of support in the past couple days. It looks like things are going on the track of being resolved in the coming days! Also I just wanted to ask a quick favour to please refrain from emailing the lawyers or any of the people who filed this since we don’t want to anger them further. I should have redacted their email address but I just wanted to make it transparent. We don’t want to poke the bear!
James
Hello everyone and happy Friday The 13th! I wanted to mark this day with an update on whats happening with the copyright infringement claim. It's a little overdue but with legal issues like this it's always a bit tricky or uncertain how much can be said out in the open.
As you know the owners of Friday The 13th (Crystal Lake Entertainment and Sean Cunningham) have made several complaints that we're profiting from their brand. They've made quite a few requests to remove and change things... which in some cases are valid (like removing the poster from the video...fair enough!) But in other cases the complaints have been farther reaching and frankly a bit silly. Unfortunately, until they officially withdraw their copyright claim to Kickstarter the page is inaccessible to everyone and I can't access most of it either…It's basically held hostage until Kickstarter receives a complaint withdrawal notice from them, regardless of how far reaching or silly their claims may be. If the worst case scenario were to happen and they shut us down, and I'm not saying it will, you will all receive refunds as the first priority.
As for their complaints here's the camp example from their lawyer:
"Level 1 of the game is called Silver Lake Summer Camp. This, of course, is an infringement of the now famous Crystal Lake Summer Camp, the location of the original Friday the 13th horror film."
Bruce Isaacs | Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
865 S Figueroa Street, Suite 2400 | Los Angeles, CA 90017
Tel: (213) 633-6808 | Fax: (213) 633-6899
Email: bruceisaacs@dwt.com | Website: www.dwt.com
I simply responded to him with this:
"The term "Silver Lake Summer Camp" is a completely different term than "Camp Crystal Lake" including it's geographical location. It is drawn from the real world location of Silver Lake, California, as shown here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Lake,_Los_Angeles"
They seem to have removed this particular item from the list of their complaints…but they are still not happy. Here's an update from them as of today:
"James:
We still have three objections:
1. You still make specific reference to our title “Friday the 13th.” You need to eliminate that.
2. There is a still frame in which the killer’s mask looks like Jason’s mask. You need to eliminate that. And, the juxtaposition of the title and the mask strike us as an intent to profit off of our protectable elements.
We are not pleased that you raised over $100,000 by making use of our protectable elements and reserve all rights, at law and in equity.
Bruce Isaacs | Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
865 S Figueroa Street, Suite 2400 | Los Angeles, CA 90017
Tel: (213) 633-6808 | Fax: (213) 633-6899
Email: bruceisaacs@dwt.com | Website: www.dwt.com"
To this I responded with:
"Bruce,
1. The dialog clearly states "INSPIRED by films like Friday The 13th.." Inspired by is the keyword here as there is no law against stating inspirational pop culture references. No reference was made to this being an official license or anything misleading. 4000 backers will testify that they were fully aware of this.
2. You'll need to provide visual examples of which art piece and mask you are referencing so that I have a clear understanding of what exactly to fix. "
They are grasping at straws and I've been going back and forth with their lawyer, editing the video and sending it back to them, fixing concept art to their liking, etc. until they are satisfied to the point that they'll release their stranglehold on the Kickstarter. I'm happy to remove items such as the poster, however, making us fix concept art and saying things like Silver Lake can't be used is completely ridiculous and unfair.
I'm sorry that you guys have had to deal with this on a freshly funded project...The good news is that the money is in safe keeping and not a cent has been spent or will be spent until this is resolved. They say they are not happy we raised money using their brand but if the worst case scenario were to happen then money would be refunded to all of you first and not a cent given to them. I'm not saying the worst case will happen...I just want to make it crystal clear that my goal is to move forward on development and stage 2 funding as planned, but, if something were to prevent this from happening then the first priority would be giving you refunds.
If they try and make further claims that you guys were "confused" or misled or whatever into thinking this was somehow officially related to Friday The 13th then I'm really going to need your support to prove otherwise.. In fact I need your support now. Personally I felt it was quite clear we were inspired by Friday The 13th and other classic horror games...we are not in any way affiliated with them or profiting from them. They just see dollar signs in their eyes now and they want a piece of the pie. Luckily, a very well known copyright lawyer has contacted me to offer us his help to fight them if needed. Hopefully it doesn't come to that since we don't have time to waste...but we have the firepower if necessary.
Thanks for your support guys..I'm annoyed, angry, frustrated too. Any support, emails, and statements from you guys are incredibly helpful to get this sorted out. I get a feeling they don't want bad publicity for themselves by picking on the little guys and angering 4000 backers but you never know.
As always you can reach me at lastyearthegame@gmail.com with any comments, questions, concerns, etc. and I'll do my best to respond as fast as possible.
Hopefully next update will be via official Kickstarter channels.
I'll keep you posted on the latest news once I hear back but don't hesitate if you want to let others know what is happening.
Have a great weekend everyone!
James
--------------------------------------------------------------
Hey everyone just a quick update and a huge thanks for the amount of support in the past couple days. It looks like things are going on the track of being resolved in the coming days! Also I just wanted to ask a quick favour to please refrain from emailing the lawyers or any of the people who filed this since we don’t want to anger them further. I should have redacted their email address but I just wanted to make it transparent. We don’t want to poke the bear!
James