Square Enix Sues Final Fantasy Cosplay Parody for $325,000
- Categories: Anime, News
- Date: Aug 5, 2009 21:43 JST
- Tags: Comparison, Copyright, Cosplay, Final Fantasy, Korea, Square Enix, Video Gallery
Square Enix has sued the producers of a music video containing cosplay recreations of scenes from its CG movie Final Fantasy VII Advent Children, and has been awarded a 400,000,000 won ($325,000) settlement for copyright violation.
The basis of the case is that Korean producer “Phantom Productions” violated Square’s copyrights and used “modified” sections of the movie without permission, in a successful music video used for commercial purposes. Korean courts agreed, and ordered Phantom to pay damages.
It is certainly undeniable that the video resembles the movie very closely. Whether it actually used sections of the movie as Square’s lengthy crowing insists is less apparent, though courts recognised the fact, so it is presumably the case. However, it does appears that the commercial cosplay was also an issue…
You can see the music video below:
Nico has spliced Advent Children together with the cosplay for comparison purposes (this is not the version made by the Koreans!):
Japanese commentators’ usual hatred of Korea is readily apparent in the general response, which is delighted. However, Japanese producers are famously no stranger to occasionally making “tributes” to other works, so there seems to be a double standard at play.
Additionally, a substantial number of Japanese cosplayers freely make unauthorised use of copyrighted properties in commercially created parody works, some on a highly commercial basis.
Whether parody or plagiarism, cosplayers will doubtless be concerned if the precedent spreads beyond Korea, none more so than TMA…











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WHAT THE HELL SC!???? FUCKING OLD!!?!?????????
http://release.square-enix.com/news/j/2009/08/9r25uovmh.html
Notice the date on their press release.
They rape the FF again
Fuck the Koreans for doing this to a Legendary name, curse them.
Oh fuck of square enix is nothing more than a game with the same basic theme and same basic characters.Ive seen RPG's with a more creative spotlight then final fantasy! If you have any right to dis a country then go jump off the fucking planet you retarded japan obsessed fag.
ah if you do not like it get the fuck out of this form bitch
2harsh.
I guess...Man I got low down my temper
I'm more insulted by the constant horrible abuse of Beethoven and other classical composers by people that can't write music
Should they sue the make of Dead Fantasy as well??
Old news is old.
i thought this was an AV for a second. no tifa titties? nigga please i'm outta here.
I remember an interview of "Weird Al" Yankovic I have heard - Weird Al is one of the best maker of parody music and videos, the reason he never get sued for his work is simple, he always ask permission so nobody gets bent out of shape.
Parody is not an issue in this Korean MV, it's clearly reproduced the scene and costume for it's own commericial purpose, not a parody intended to pay homage to FF7AD, so saying it's a parody in court would not make it a vaild defense anyway.
Cosplay is not an issue here either, it's clearly for commericial purpose here, so it breaks the unwritten rule where copyright owner usually don't sue if the cosplaying is for private interest.
What about TMA making cospr0n? Clearly they are for a commercial purpose,
full of copy MV from thailand "FF8 and FF10 fusion"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUnJ3S97aPI
the ONLY CG in the music video is special effects there is no Footage from advent children this BS would never fly in the US
Old news. I heard about Square Suing the korean company that made this music video about a year ago.
a bit late to start suing. this video has been around for years
LOL PWNED! hahahaha
This one enter in my grey area.
It goes like this:
My personal morals and principles are ALWAYS against big corporations trying to sue others for copyright infringement... mainly because I'm against copyright laws.
I personally think that copyright laws as they are today create a miriad of problems that is so deep in our culture people can't, won't, or just refuse to see.
- Families living on the sucess of their parents even when they don't deserve it and have contributed nothing to society;
- Anonymous singers that has fortunes enough to feed the starving population of an entire African country only because they made one record that had sucess in the past;
- Corporations that has so much money from charging absurd prices on their products who fuels Associations like RIAA and MPAA to sue individuals who commited no crimes but try to make a living;
And the examples go on.
With a culture like that, also tons of people not only accepts that, but also grow up trying to be part of it.
To make a big invention and retire for the rest of their lives, to make one big music hit thinking of the money and not on the fans, to use the legal system milking money from others...
BUT, if we are to conform with present laws and how big corporations act, yes, this lawsuit is to be expected.
And everything who copies, be it a tribute or not, should be worried too.
Basically it goes like this: Big companies like Square Enix, tons of Hollywood studios, and record labels conveiently pick what they should or shouldn't put a lawsuit on.
It's like a mining process. Some people who copy their content will have the money to pay, and people/fans/local justice system will agree said people deserved that lawsuit.
In this specific case Squeenix hit jackpot.
In other cases, like let's say, a cosplayer who yes, gets some money from it, but not much. A lawsuit will result in loss of money, in fans protesting, in the loss of free publicity, and in contradicting the common sense that cosplay is a harmless and even profitable copy of their content. Some will call it "tribute", but if you think straight, any copy can be considered "tribute".
So yeah, it's our old rotten pure capitalist math. Nothing else.
The very same idea applies to fansubs, fanart, videos that are removed or not from YouTube, and stuff like that.
Unfortunately, it's the age we live in. Corporation rights always superseed that of individuals.
Haha Koreans. Fuck them.
obvious troll is obvious.
Wow that was really well done... and I kinda like the song too. Do I spot Reno among the dancers in the dancing scenes?
Old news is old.
WTF IS THIS CRAP!>:(
아이비 좆됐내..
Whatever the outcome of the suit, I'd like to see what the director of that video would do with a good full-length feature script. If the video is any indication, the visual effects alone would be worth a look.
Damn Korea~
K-pop = insta-fail. The video was a good attempt but the adult models were fail. Now I see why SquareEnix wants to sue them xD
one thing is for sure
that's an ugly as tifa
tifa has bigger boobs too lol
Compare to getting sued by a student this seem perfectly normal.Now we all know where SE got their money to buy Edios.
pfft they should be paying the directors of the music video. The video is better shot than most Japanese theater movies and videos put together.
Shameless KimuTifawww
I think SE should also sue the company for choosing a butt ugly girl to cosplay Tifa. That's a grave insult to the very pretty Tifa. XD
You get what you deserv...
Violation of the (c) what would they expect, cookies? :P
it's ok because it's like advertise...
what a kill joy, square are
And people will continue to zombishly throw money at SE so they can support their many lawyers to sue fans who do this.
That's why SE games are so overpriced.
never have i rofled at an article so much. SUCKS TO THEM! LOL
parody lame
Square won in Korean court!?
how unusual...
well anyway, justice has won.
cosplay is OK, but this was too commercial.
I'ma get flamed by all of you for this I guess, but honestly, nobody noticed the script at the start in the ottom saying that this a recreation of the scen from FF vii AC for commerical usage? Of course I could be making a fool out of myself with posting this, but you guys are being idiots for being so obsessed with it. And no I do not dislike SE nor do I dislike Korea, I have the FF vii AC dvd, I liked it, and yes I did like this video, even though it was yet another fur elise one
humm surely someone's gonna sue them for using beethoven's 5th? or did they pay their dues for that at least?
This is crazy that Square would sure for so much money.........damn
OMG that was FULL of FAIL!!! ripping of FFVII like that... I REALLY wonder what they were thinking when they produced that video, and surely, SURELY, they must've seen FFVII Advent Children to get the Ideas.... sometimes i wonder about some people, but they got what they deserved :D
what is this music at second video. so nice
It looks a bit too much like the ripped material to be called a parody or rendition, besides they made this video for monetary purposes. If it was a bunch of cosplayers just having fun I'd call bullshit, but this is a professional work.
Also about the double standards: happens everywhere, Japan is no exception.
Exactly, this isn't a matter of 'parody' or plain old 'cosplay' this is scamming another persons work. So many other comments don't see why they are suing or they say it's just like cosplaying at a convention. What? Have you seen how they stole another persons work? That's not parody, that's called stealing. Figure it out people.
the music video is utterly black fro the whole 4 minute with text running but still no music??
is it broken link?
They copied to make money, they have to pay money. Perfectly alright.
Not the best stuff, still probably better than anything Hollywood can produce.
Hmm.. Korea? Bet some are claiming "We did this first!!" just like Robo Taekwon V..
yeah im not sure where you heard this from...
and im sure pepero has never claimed its first anywhere...
Robo Taekwon V?
I thought "The Japanese giant-robot manga and anime Mazinger Z was popular in South Korea at the time of Robot Taekwon V's creation, and Kim Cheong-gi freely discusses the influence of Mazinger Z on his cartoon, saying he wanted to create a Korean hero for Korean children."
i know japanese cultural products were banned in south korea until 1998...
exactly, he doesnt say his was first and that his is better or the original.
And Pepero.
Can i see where you got your sources from.
Square Enix should be humble and thankful that people actually have parodied their second worst movie ever...
Needless to say that the worst of the worst was Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. ( ゚,_ゝ゚)
I was unaware Square had made any other movies BESIDE those two.
You forgot Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals, Fanal Fantasy: Unlimited, and Final Fantasy: Last Order.
agreeed
So they made a pop video with a scene graph of FF:Advent Children, the base tune of 'Für Elise' with Korean/English vocals.
Guess Beetoven has it good to have died deaf, or he would rotate in his grave..
Anyway, can't very much sympathize with inhibiting artistic expression due to "intellectual property" considerations. It's actually not a scarcity. It's just bullshit of our modern society.
Well, don't forget about the U.S. music "artists" who have used other pieces of classical music for their own.
"Guess Beetoven has it good to have died deaf, or he would rotate in his grave.."
Very true. The crap is everywhere ...
JIGATENAI! eAè
They should have had to pay more for involving Advent Children with this sad example of music.
My point exactly.
A rather slow reaction?
Not surprising. It's a complete rip off.
This is all old news to me. This lawsuit was filed a long time ago-last year I think. But yeah, the whole thing was their fault for playing off something that's already multi-billion franchise. It makes me sad to think that's the only reason they did it. Though the song itself isn't too bad, I'm sure they could have thought of something better to use than FF. Oh well.
They ask a fugly korean bitch to play as Tifa? In their face they get sued
Apparently Korea doesn't have parody laws
They really don't.
Many of their TV shows use music, graphics, and sound effects from other works.
The problem is that they chose square to rip off. Am I the only one who sees them as one of those 'we'll sue you' corporations?
i think Square went after an American sword internet site for selling non licensed Final fantasy swords.
lulz.
Obviously this is too close to be a parody. But there are unique scenes in the clip: the somersault kick of the female protagonist for example (Tifa in the original does an air throw).
Anyway, the producer for this videoclip should do the live-action movie of Dead or Alive, Dragonball Evo, King of Fighters, Street Fighter II (the one with Chun-Li for example) and Tekken, since some of choreography is quite good when compared to the movies that are made by Hollywood.
nice music but dumb producer
She's definitely no Tifa... I mean, I wouldn't mind if any of the Girls Generation girls did a video copying AC, but eww...
I do not want any of the girl generation to have to pay for such video.
Isn´t this old news?
Or have they done it again?
If they´ve done it again, man SquareEnix keeps getting money. I just hope they bring it good use.
No.. it's the same one... apparently they appealed last time, which just came to conclusion right now... unfortunately for them, it just increased the money they must pay to SE from US$244,000 to US$326,000....
ok. Then I know. Thanks for the info :)
Lol just watched the video.....not sure what to say =))
I'm quite impressed they done it quite faithful to the orginal.I guess that what would be more or less what FF would look like IRL
They should add some extra to the bill for tainting a holy name of Advent Children with this shitty video, and most of all, this shitty music.
Oww, my ears hurt..
actually now they can use this money to fix up FF13
OH truth.
When the hell did Final Fantasy become holy?
With the release of Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy IX.
I rest my case.
Amen to that.
Advent Children was a fan wank, and a terrible one at that. You FF7 fanatics are really being milked (of sperm, probably).
oww, now mah butt hurt.
Yes it was and I came buckets.
Who cares if there was no plot plus a lame excuse to revive Sephiroth?
It was all just eye candy, delicious candy.
@OnionKing: I'd say it was one of the best movie i've ever seen. The action scene is High Nitro-fueled Adrenaline, for my kind of taste that's almost perfect *thumbs up*
Agrees with the anon above ~ visuals will never make up for a bad story. No matter how masterful the technique, a painting of poop is still poop.
I wasn't really wowed by its visuals either. AC boasted technical prowess, but when it came to finding its own cinematic style, it was pretty darn mediocre.
Hey, nice rock video XD
If only the news report has being cut off...
Not that the music doesn't suck, but Advent Children was pretty stupid too. Or at least heavily disappointing
Yea I did enjoy the music.
Anyway I think the animation and acting is done a lot better than anything Hollywood has produced, in the case of anime adapted movie that is. But I do agree with the copyright issues =D
Does the parody forgiveness apply in Korea? This could have gone their way if they produced it in the U.S and most of Europe as far as I know.
They could of gotten away with it if the ask permission. I do agree it would of counted as a parody but they didn't bother use that in there own defense.
I dunno it could count as parody and parody can be sold commercially.
Honestly even if they included the whole fight the fight least less than a minute, I think this is a case of corporate assholery.
If they were trying to profit from this film which is a music video without the consent of copyright owners then yeah Squarenix as the right to sue.
I kind of feel bad for the Artist who made the Video it cost her money.