The Mugen Fighters Guild - I got a C&D mail from Interplay...

Basara Lapis

I got a C&D mail from Interplay...

#1 September 05, 2023, 02:25:51 am

Take better care of the plants around u or become
the fertilizer that feeds them.The choice is yours

Guys, I need your guidance about this since I don't know what to do... I wanted to necro/revive this 10+yo thread about this issue and/or mention this in the CF Revival thread I made, but I think a new thread here is the proper way to follow to say this.

Most of you know about ClayFighter: Infinite Clayfare, my personal fullgame project which is the compilation of all my work I made for MUGEN until now. I thought I won't be noticed by Interplay, but now I know I did... but not the way I would liked to. Checking my Gmail yesterday (mostly cleaning mails) I found this one from Interplay's lawyer Christopher Nelson:

Spoiler, click to toggle visibilty

As you can read, it's a Cease and Desist about my fullgame and all related to ClayFighter (included a direct link to my site apart of the CF page I made for IC). The mail is from July 18th and I just saw it yesterday, and meanwhile I continued with the promotion and even released the Beta 2 in August.

You all know that MUGEN itself and all content on it is marked as non-profittable, so I couldn't use it to get money, it if I could do it (like passing the game to IKEMEN for example) I won't do it anyway since I love this game series. But seems that Interplay guys are just businessmen that just want money and don't care about videogames anymore: I can't ignore a mail like this, but either I want to answer with something that I'd regret later (I'm so angry with all of this BTW), especially because the same guy was the one behind the cancellation of ClayFighter: ReSculpted, another CF fangame. And maybe he doesn't know about MUGEN, so yeah, I could stop my game and delete all the promotion and the twitter (maybe I could rename it as @basara.kun as my MUGEN general account), but he could think that I could continue when he see my chars and the others from MUGEN and not just made by me... since he linked me Ultra ClayFighter, a romhack not made by me.

I want to delete the mail and continue as nothing happens... but what about he and Interplay really make legal actions?? I mean, I'm from Chile, technically they can't do nothing, but there's a precedent here about "Miel Gibson" case (a small honey maker that has a wordplay between "miel", honey in Spanish, and the actor, whose laywers threatened them), so I'm not sure if I'm safe here...

tl;dr Interplay wants to make legal actions about my game and I need your help, guidance and/or opinions about what to do in this case... maybe about how to make a mail clarifying about I don't have intentions of use their properties in a bad way but as a way of fanart. I read you, people...

Rest in peace, Toriyama-san...
Normal WIPS - ClayFighter - Ideas - Anti-Gouki Project - Lifebars - Facebook - X

CinderFallFan

Re: I got a C&D mail from Interplay...

#2 September 05, 2023, 06:36:40 am

Some guy with nothing better to do in his life
Nothing should exist in MIDI
Online

Ah god damn it.

Sorry I don't have any advise right now as I am not an expert on this whole legal shit...and that's all I got to say at this point. Sorry again.

Don't think...obey

PotS

Re: I got a C&D mail from Interplay...

#3 September 05, 2023, 10:29:39 am

I think you're out of luck here. The wisest thing to do is probably what ReSculpted did, sadly. It's probably still OK to release individual characters and stages. You should clarify that you're not involved with the rom hacks, too.

You can help with Ikemen GO's development by trying out the latest development build and reporting any bugs on GitHub.
My Mugen and Ikemen content can also be found here.

Basara Lapis

Re: I got a C&D mail from Interplay...

#4 September 05, 2023, 08:29:59 pm

Take better care of the plants around u or become
the fertilizer that feeds them.The choice is yours

Now that I'm more calm and focused about this, maybe that should be a way to follow. But anyway I',m making a mail to clarify my project wasn't made for profit and I'm not affiliated with any other CF project...

But yeah, probably I'd to cease Infinite Clayfare eventually... but at least my CF content for MUGEN won't stop (but maybe I should take a rest from it)

Rest in peace, Toriyama-san...
Normal WIPS - ClayFighter - Ideas - Anti-Gouki Project - Lifebars - Facebook - X

Laharl

Re: I got a C&D mail from Interplay...

#5 September 06, 2023, 12:27:03 am

I see you.

there is also the possibility its a fake copyright claim are you 100% sure its actually interplay? Anyone can use a fake name to pretend to be someone else. Can you post the Cease and Desist letter maybe we can debunk it if its fake?

Cybaster said, May 21, 2013, 04:37:37 pm

You'll fix chuchoryu ? Sounds like a plan. How about you code him from scratch instead ?

TurnPile

Re: I got a C&D mail from Interplay...

#6 September 06, 2023, 01:35:33 am

仮面ライダーグランドジオウ
The Scavenging Time and Space God

Guess Chris Nelson got bored and noticed your game, so he did the first thing being a lawyer: sue you!
Proof that copyright and IP laws are bullshit still. The company over the person, I say.....

Basara Lapis

Re: I got a C&D mail from Interplay...

#7 September 06, 2023, 02:51:16 am

Take better care of the plants around u or become
the fertilizer that feeds them.The choice is yours

Laharl said, September 06, 2023, 12:27:03 am

there is also the possibility its a fake copyright claim are you 100% sure its actually interplay? Anyone can use a fake name to pretend to be someone else. Can you post the Cease and Desist letter maybe we can debunk it if its fake?

I posted the mail in the spoiler and yes, I confirmed it's official. The mail comes from interplay.com has all the looks that is official, so I won't risk this time

Rest in peace, Toriyama-san...
Normal WIPS - ClayFighter - Ideas - Anti-Gouki Project - Lifebars - Facebook - X

O Ilusionista

Re: I got a C&D mail from Interplay...

#8 September 06, 2023, 03:36:28 pm

A living Mugen dinossaur :)
23 years of Mugen O_o

Wow, they sounded so petty sending you that request. It's a shame that a company would decide to treat their fans - who are trying to keep a series alive - so unfairly.

EgyLynx

Re: I got a C&D mail from Interplay...

#9 September 06, 2023, 07:44:46 pm

Why,

How usually is getting Stop project at that reason at MUGEN/Ikemen?
I REALLY hope at Basara get them clean at it just what our Mugen master said.

If not:/ well... let´s just hope BEST!

Hey, can i help, or maybe i need help

Basara Lapis

Re: I got a C&D mail from Interplay...

#10 September 06, 2023, 10:30:55 pm

Take better care of the plants around u or become
the fertilizer that feeds them.The choice is yours

Well, with the help of various people on Discord, I made an answer mail where I specify that my game as well MUGEN are not made for profit but as a fanart and a homage to the series and clarify I got no relation with other projects out there. It would be nice that they understand and leave me continue with this, but the truth is... probably they won't give a damn and want the C&D anyway, so the most secure option is to finish this...

Let's see if they answer back and I'll tell you about it

Rest in peace, Toriyama-san...
Normal WIPS - ClayFighter - Ideas - Anti-Gouki Project - Lifebars - Facebook - X

Basara Lapis

Re: I got a C&D mail from Interplay...

#11 September 07, 2023, 02:42:07 am

Take better care of the plants around u or become
the fertilizer that feeds them.The choice is yours

Ok, this got out of control, so I think you deserve this... here's my answer mail to Interplay so now you all can read about it:

Rest in peace, Toriyama-san...
Normal WIPS - ClayFighter - Ideas - Anti-Gouki Project - Lifebars - Facebook - X

Last Edit: September 07, 2023, 02:55:56 am by Dr. Basara Kilnklein

OroCrimson

Re: I got a C&D mail from Interplay...

#12 September 07, 2023, 04:56:15 am

Dr. Basara Kilnklein said, September 05, 2023, 02:25:51 am

I mean, I'm from Chile, technically they can't do nothing

I suspect even if this is the case, they can still put that pressure on MFG, AK1, and Mediafire, and anywhere else your content is hosted. I'm not sure what countries they operate from, but they could send a C&D to these organizations and demand they take down your content and depending on where they operate from they would have to comply. Your webpage is hosted on MFG afaik so they could be targeted instead.

In fact, I'm surprised they asked you to take down the Mediafire link instead of asking Mediafire. Mediafire is usually quick to take down content when they get a copyright takedown request.

Tiger-Boy

Re: I got a C&D mail from Interplay...

#13 September 07, 2023, 05:54:15 am

"I'm Bal... I'm Veg...*Sigh* Just call me 'Claw'."

Dr. Basara Kilnklein said, September 07, 2023, 02:42:07 am

Ok, this got out of control,

I don't believe it has gone out of control. It's important that the MUGEN, IKEMEN, OPENBOR and similar game comunities are aware of this.
I personally have not seen CAPCOM or SNK going after MUGEN creators, as long as the projects are kept non-profitable.
The C&D letter is simply absurd. Most likely they don't know what MUGEN is.

To quote one of the people that have read this letter:
"They're afraid fans might be able to create a Clayfighter game that's actually good!"
I agree with this.

If your resolution is what you wrote is your response, I will respect that. I just hope you got an advice from someone who is actually a lawyer.

But if I may give an advice:
If they ask you to surrender the project to them, just say that you deleted it.

"Remember kids; Curiosity created MUGEN!"

Check Out Cammy-Delta-Red-Development HERE

Pacsonic

Re: I got a C&D mail from Interplay...

#14 September 07, 2023, 07:46:53 am

This is probably the first time I saw some company go after some MUGEN creator.

I'm just curious. Who created ClayFighter? The person, not the company. And have you thought of seeing what he/she thinks of your Clayfighter MUGEN projects?

Last Edit: September 07, 2023, 03:44:11 pm by DS

oscarlin814

Re: I got a C&D mail from Interplay...

#15 September 07, 2023, 04:24:42 pm

If I remember, something similar happened with BlazBlue? Either ways, this is absolutely pathetic. MUGEN's ToS literally states that you can not use MUGEN commercially, this is ridiculous.

Roman55

Re: I got a C&D mail from Interplay...

#16 September 07, 2023, 04:58:11 pm

Hick-spanic
the dawn away

oscarlin814 said, September 07, 2023, 04:24:42 pm

If I remember, something similar happened with BlazBlue? Either ways, this is absolutely pathetic. MUGEN's ToS literally states that you can not use MUGEN commercially, this is ridiculous.

Melty Blood. I forgot the circumstances but eventually they just gave up.

might as well shill: https://twitter.com/FraudKrew
the streams are here: https://www.twitch.tv/robotboombox

oraora?

Re: I got a C&D mail from Interplay...

#17 September 07, 2023, 05:44:08 pm

9, shiroto and m3, mugen authors of melty blood series' websites were taken down including the files they uploaded to file sharing websites, these were during the old window mugen era before electbyte's return during the first mugen rc phase, disappointed to see this is happening again, now with clay fighter series

when i was looking at the tweet from O Ilusionista a while ago, he seems to have some ideas to help basara kun on solving the issue, we shall see how it goes and pray that everything will goes well

when will this personal crises ends? it just won't stop!

YochiThMaster333

Re: I got a C&D mail from Interplay...

#18 September 07, 2023, 05:52:44 pm

Gotta Mugenize 'Em All

oscarlin814 said, September 07, 2023, 04:24:42 pm

If I remember, something similar happened with BlazBlue? Either ways, this is absolutely pathetic. MUGEN's ToS literally states that you can not use MUGEN commercially, this is ridiculous.

Well, true, but you won't be safe from C&D letters and/or DMCA takedowns anyway, even if it is centered around one or two franchise(s) from different companies, no matter if the franchise itself is alive or "dead" (i.e. no more new games or media in this franchise but is still owned by the company, which even includes Interplay's ClayFighter), and no matter if your fangame was not meant to be made for profit, as the company or its lawyers will highly think that the fangame in question causes some copyright infringement (which it did eventually happen to our man Basara himself that I currently feel sorry for him).

Odb718

Re: I got a C&D mail from Interplay...

#19 September 07, 2023, 11:58:58 pm

Shame on you!

Look up when their last trademark was registered. I'm not saying 1 thing or the other; But if they really try to come after you, you'll have something

vVv Ryuko718 Updated 10/31/22 vVv

xcheatdeath

Re: I got a C&D mail from Interplay...

#20 September 08, 2023, 12:23:41 am

commissions open bang my line

^ it was 2020, funny enough there was a gap from 1993-2019

My stages folder:
https://app.mediafire.com/g5pnpb2im4lqa

Want a screenpack ported to ikemen? DM's open
Want a stage remade with parallax & possible super jump? DM's open

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