Police raids on Square Enix have been followed up by furious excoriation by SNK Playmore, condemning them for “major criminality,” “completely insincere conduct,” and “pernicious conduct” by way of explanation – and confirming that the company is so adamant that certain Square Enix executives should be arrested that it has targeted them individually with criminal charges.
With distribution of Square Enix published manga Highscore Girl now largely suspended over the apparently unauthorised inclusion of SNK characters and police having raided their offices in search of evidence, SNK Playmore has let rip on them in a series of published statements.
The first SNK ever even heard of the matter was when the anime adaptation was confirmed and the studio responsible approached SNK themselves directly in order to confirm the rights last summer, they say.
They set about rectifying matters immediately, but got nowhere and eventually sought to have charges filed against Square Enix in May of 2014.
Having made the incredibly modest demand that Square universally cease all of their “highly illegal” publication and distribution of Highscore Girl, they were repeatedly ignored:
“There was not a shred of sincere conduct from them.
There is no way we could possibly countenance this kind of pernicious conduct from a major listed company, who should themselves be very much concerned with protecting copyrights and taking a firm stance against this sort of activity.
Our firm will take similarly severe measures to protect our games and characters from infringing usage in future.”
The “unavoidable” criminal charges of copyright violation were in fact filed against not only Square Enix the company, but also individual members of their publishing arm, raising the rare prospect of their employees actually being arrested.
This very criminal lawsuit SNK filed against Square Enix is only the beginning of Square Enix’s demise, due to the sheer fact Square Enix has already been known for sending C&D letters to fans creating fan-based stuff they didn’t have intent on making money on.
Further more since plea bargains are forbidden in Japan, Square Enix has gotten itself in a *very tight spot* in addition to the fact that due to violating over 100 copyright infringements, this alone means Square Enix will have to defend those over 100 copyright infringements as violating them in Japan is either 10 years in prison, 10 million yen or a combination of the two (SNK will likely for for the max penalty).
Since its unlikely that Square Enix didn’t ever asked neither NetherRealm Studios nor Universal Studios for permission to use Mortal Kombat & Jurassic Park I highly suspect a lawsuit coming from them as well (despite Sega making the Jurassic Park arcade doesn’t mean they own Jurassic Park since they only got the licenses for it back in the 1990s which by now are more then likely expired)
For those who wish to see the proof of this, here are the links as seen below…
http://www.goodmanga.net/high-score-girl/chapter/12/5
http://www.goodmanga.net/high-score-girl/chapter/13/2
If any one who works for NetherRealm Studios as well as Universal Studios is reading this, you guys need to sue Square Enix as soon as possible, especially if they been using your stuff without permission to begin with.
So, how long til SNK sues Nathan Barnatt “Keith Apicary” for repeatedly saying “Neo-Geo” and using a MVS unit with actual footage of “Metal Slug” in a Neo-Geo tribute video?
The gaming industry really is s♥♥t these days. Nothing but scandals & scummy lawyers suing or shutting down anyone that disagrees with them.
SNK has been rather sue happy when in regards to ither people using their IP since around 2001 when they sued a company who used to work with them for using SNK IPs. This is normal from them. Also koreans have nothing to do with it as all rights to SNK IPs were bought back by the original CEO when he founded Playmore in 2001. The only Korean made games in the series done by Eolith were 2000 and 2001.
You people need to do your research before acting retarded.
I’ll keep this short and sweet, just to be clear.
Have a look at SNK’s staff and characters. What do you see? That’s right, Koreans everywhere.
Now which country is currently in the process of either stealing or destroying anything and everything Japanese they can possibly get their paws on – attempting to steal Takeshima with unlawful military force and revisionist claims, stealing IP from Sony and Panasonic through industrial espionage, attempting to kill Japanese citizens (Osaka May 2013 stabbing), unlawfully infiltrating Japanese naval territory in breach of international treaties (fishing boat incident), stealing idol/manga/anime culture and spreading libel that would get any country not coddled by the US hit with international sanctions?
That’s right, Korea. Exactly when Square Enix is finally winning out, due to them actually utilizing original IP and not just grabbing everything they see, filing the serial numbers off and possibly making it Korean, SNK decides to roll out that good old Korean weapon – the baseless, frothing, revisionist libel designed to convert Koreaboos and delusional neckbeards to their thieving rampage.
I’d still side with them over filthy chinese.
And not a single f♥♥k was given by the public but the Japanese police be like……they have donuts in there!!! Raid them!!!!