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Charlie the Unicorn creator: "MultiVersus is a game by Warner Bros, a company with an annual revenue of around 40 billion. Here they are using my work, without permission, to advertise their game." (x.com)
submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by nanoUFO@sh.itjust.works to c/games@sh.itjust.works
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[-] bilb@lem.monster 4 points 15 hours ago

Are pop culture references theft? No.

[-] stinky@redlemmy.com 0 points 5 hours ago

Plagiarism is theft, idiot.

[-] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 5 points 12 hours ago

There's more going on.

I’ve seen a number of references to my work in big-company projects before. For example, there’s a dead unicorn with an enchanted kidney named Charlie in World of Warcraft. This is fine! It’s completely within fair-use laws. Using my audio directly is not fair use.

Copyright law, at least in the United States, is heavily weighted towards protecting large corporations. Warner Bros is one of the largest media companies in the world, and it often uses IP law like a weapon against smaller artists. Notable examples include MeatCanyon, whose clear fair use parody video “Wabbit Season” was forcibly removed from YouTube, and Vera Drew, whose parody film “The People's Joker” received a cease and desist letter from WB, initially derailing its film festival premiere schedule.

So WB wasn't just making a reference, but also lifting audio from Steele's work while also shutting down other's fair use parodies.

this post was submitted on 25 Dec 2024
358 points (97.9% liked)

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