Former Pokemon Company Chief Legal Officer Discusses When They Take Action Against Fan Projects

Much like Nintendo, The Pokemon Company has a reputation for being litigious against Pokemon fan projects, with some of their more famous takedowns being against big fangames such as Pokemon Uranium and Pokemon Prism.

In an interview with Aftermath, former Pokémon Company Chief Legal Officer Don McGowan revealed a little bit of the company’s process when it comes to handling fangames. According to McGowan, a fangame would typically attract their attention through news articles written about the project, although a takedown typically won’t happen until the fangame starts getting funded through Kickstarter or some other means.

Aftermath: How does The Pokémon Company handle Cease & Desist letters with regards to fan projects? How did you find them, and where did you draw the line on what’s allowed and what the company thinks needs to be shut down?

McGowan: Short answer: thanks to you folks. I would be sitting in my office minding my own business when someone from the company would send me a link to a news article, or I would stumble across it myself. I teach Entertainment Law at the University of Washington and say this to my students: the worst thing on earth is when your “fan” project gets press, because now I know about you.

But that’s not the end of the equation. You don’t send a takedown right away. You wait to see if they get funded (for a Kickstarter or similar); if they get funded then that’s when you engage. No one likes suing fans.

Based on McGowan’s account, it seems profiting off a fangame is the major sticking point that prompts The Pokemon Company to send cease & desist orders.

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