Someone Not Named ZUN Trademarked "Tohou Project"

Wow, the troll's attempt to trademark the other two names should have been proof enough that it's a troll. Whoever shot ZUN down must have been either stupid or malicious.

edited 3rd Jul '12 8:50:06 AM by Medinoc

Or both.

Regarding ZUN not registering Touhou Project, remember that it's a conscious choice on his part, so the fan creations can flourish without any obstacles. The troll is taking advantage of his goodwill.

edited 3rd Jul '12 9:28:18 AM by atrican

Couldn't he register it to keep control and make it clear in no uncertain terms that he supports fan-made works?

Under the law I think you lose the trademark if you don't defend it. Registering it means he would have to stop fan works which is something he doesn't want to do.

I think the issue would become even more complicated when more licensees (such as book publishers and PVC figure makers) are involved.

Now, here's a better explanation of the situation. Off on a Technicality in fact applies better to the troll than to ZUN himself. The very reason he was denied 東方Project and 上海アリス幻樂団 was that the phrases had already been used by ZUN, so only 東方プロジェクト got passed.

Full recap: Troll filed a trademark request for 東方プロジェクト, 東方Project and 上海アリス幻樂団. The last two were denied on the basis that they were already in use, and only the first one (not used by ZUN) got through. ZUN objected to the first one, but the court now decided the troll does have the right to own it.

So the real problem is that despite fully acknowledging the situation, the court still allows the troll to have 東方プロジェクト. This case is a demonstration why the copyright holders always register as many variations of their title as possible.

edited 3rd Jul '12 9:44:47 AM by atrican

Well, my faith in Japan has been restored, but that was a very mean action by that troll.

I bet it's a disgruntled fan like the Brony who got the, then-officially acknowledged, fanbase mascot removed from the show because the new canon didn't match the fanon.

The new canon Taoist characters didn't match up with Random Touhou Forum's fanon Taoist characters?

Here's a question.

Can the guy sell the character rights to anime studios? Or did he just get the name?

Character rights fall under copyright, not trademark.

So at worst its just a dick move that won't do much. Thats good.

The fuck? I'm actually curious about that and I don't even care about MLP. What exactly happened?

edited 3rd Jul '12 11:09:47 AM by TheFoxsCloak

i believe he's talking about the whole "derpy" debacle that happened some odd months back

he also has his facts wrong but this isnt the MLP topic so i wont go into detail

Not an expert: not a Brony. All my friends are however.

Anyway, the fanbase has an unofficial mascot: Derpy. She was a nameless background extra with crossed eyes from an Off-Model mistake. She became the Brony mascot and a ton of fanon has been written for her, like being a muffin fanatic. She makes background appearances, kinda like a Wheres Waldo thing.

Second season, the developers decided to make her canon. She appears in one episode, with dialogue, and referred to by name. The voice actress supposedly got confused as to what gender the adorable cartoon horse was and gave her a deeper, "male" voice.

It seems they didn't get her right. So some pissed off Bronies decided to fake being parents of mentally handicapped children and claim she's an offensive stereotype. She's goofy, she's clumsy, and the voice makes her sound slow. So now the episode was edited, she's no longer referred to by name and they either re-dubbed or cut her dialogue, and she's once again a Funny Background Event.

So, among something like thousands of overwhelming positive "Wow, thanks for acknowledging us, we feel appreciated" responses from the episode, a dozen or so fake "WE ARE OFFENDED" letters got it removed. Because... I don't know, she didn't have a muffin? They forgot some catchphrase the fans assigned her?

Back on topic: ZUN is fine for now, but I wonder what kind of headaches can be made for him in the future. Are the characters protected by copyright? Can somebody try and steal Reimu from under him?

edited 3rd Jul '12 11:20:57 AM by Rotpar

Wow, that seems...incredibly petty and not at all surprising.

rotpar you seem to be igoring the fact that the lead writer for that episode has a mentally handicapped child and when she learned that "derpy" can be used as a mocking name for the mentally challanged she felt terrible about using the word in a show for children.

im not saying that i like the fact that the name was changed on a knee-jerk reaction, but i am saying that you're incredibly biased.

edited 3rd Jul '12 11:39:19 AM by Metaflare

*shrugs* Don't get too sidetracked people

edited 3rd Jul '12 1:02:06 PM by SpookyMask

@Topic:

This is gonna end in only one way. The troll is officially fucked.

Rotpar, it was actual concerned people who made complaints. Not petty fans pretending.

I disagree with the idea that it was offensive in the first place, but yeah.

Actually, trademark law is rather lenient in aspects... For example, I bet you did not know that "Linux" is trademarked to prevent others from trademarking it. However, the use of the Linux trademark is offered for free to anyone making a Linux distribution.

Just because you trademark something doesn't mean you have to get paid to let someone else use the trademark.

However, you do not have to worry about copyright. Currently, under copyright law, anything that is created that would apply under copyright applies automatically under copyright unless a person explicitly waives those rights. Because ZUN created the Touhou games, he automatically owns the copyright on everything he created for Touhou.

edited 3rd Jul '12 8:54:52 PM by GameGuruGG

Why would you have to pay to let someone else use your trademark? Same with copyright (or in Linux's case, copyleft): you can let someone use it as much as you want; it's yours.

Actually, it is correct that they have to protect it or you lose it.

In which case, ZUN could simply ask for an e-mail asking while he sends one that sends yes. >___>

edited 3rd Jul '12 4:30:26 PM by burnpsy

Yeah, a company has to defend against any unauthorized use of trademark to retain it but as long as the trademark is authorized to be used, there is no issue.

Laws may be somewhat different in Japan

yeah, really. The Touhou fanbase is not one you want to piss off...