Korean rips off Final Fantasy, gets sued

[Shrygue]

via Computer and Video Games (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=177360)


A Korean music video company has been forced to pay up a total of $23,900 (approx. £11,700) for making a music video that looked too much like Final Fantasy VII.

The video, starring Korean singer Ivy (who's fit as you like, by the way), parodies Final Fantasy VII with a fight in a church scene fans of the game will recognise.

Understandably, Square Enix cast level 100 lawyer magic on the video maker Fantom Entertainment, for half-inching their IP.

Fantom was fined $10,900 after the Seoul Central District Court judge Gu Hoe-geun ruled that they had "illegally used 80 percent of the storyline, setting, characters and their styles of dress and their demeanours from video game Final Fantasy VII."

The company director was fined a further $6,500, as was the video producer, who said he "wanted to contact Square Enix to get permission, but couldn't find their contact info," reports Kotaku. He'll know better next time.

You can view the offending video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6m01X8Qzkw, which you should then follow up with further searches for Ivy videos for additional perving.

[JKKDARK]

But it's not really useful for Square-Enix. £11,700 is nothing for this company.

[pibs]

Damn that video is horrible!

[mike_jmg]

Level 100 Lawyer Magic LOL

The song sucks, but the video is very well made for a simple music video

[quzar]

I'm much more shocked that they were able to:

A) claim that a recreation of coreography was infringing on the copyright of the film
and
B) enforce a copyright in korea o-O

[idapimp]

that was really bad. i dont know how they could directly rip it off that bad and put crappy music to it and NOT think that they needed permission. damn retards.

[acn010]

im also amazed o_O'''''
music was horrible and it didnt link the video at all

[BurningRage]

but isn't this old already? i mean the bad video appeared !months! ago already.... don't know why it took squenix soooo long to sue them :/

[koh-kun]

I'm sure they sued right away but the process took long. or something.

[JKKDARK]

but isn't this old already? i mean the bad video appeared !months! ago already.... don't know why it took squenix soooo long to sue them :/

Maybe they didn't notice it before

[Buddy4point0]

hahahhahahah that looks exactly like ff.
lol @ the lawsuit though, that is absolutly pocket change for the company.

[Shadowblind]

Since when do parodies apply as copyright infringement?

[Buddy4point0]

Since when do parodies apply as copyright infringement?

its a real music video, like that goes on tv, that you pay for.

they were making money off it.
non-profit, collage, thats parodies.
making money, pro, thats copyrite infringement.

[quzar]

its a real music video, like that goes on tv, that you pay for.

they were making money off it.
non-profit, collage, thats parodies.
making money, pro, thats copyrite infringement.

That's 100% wrong. Parody regardless the purpose and use is legal. Non-profit/educational use of copyright is not automatically legal, but companies usually grant free use to such institutions.

This though, was not a parody at all. They weren't trying to make fun of FF, they were recreating it.

[Buddy4point0]

That's 100% wrong. Parody regardless the purpose and use is legal. Non-profit/educational use of copyright is not automatically legal, but companies usually grant free use to such institutions.

This though, was not a parody at all. They weren't trying to make fun of FF, they were recreating it.
and thats 100% right.
thanks, i donno what i was thinking.

[Broadus]

Fan fiction authors beware!

[ZeakStarwind]

Copying something as this is wrong, but I actually like the video. Yeah the music didn't go good with it, but they sure made the video look like something it was intended to be.

Moving along now....

[The_It]

lol not only was the video not very original, but the music sounded like a classical song that has been flushed down a toilet, then screamed at, then recorded while all of that was going on.... not like I know what that would sound like >_>

I wouldn't risk getting sued for making something like that.

[blaz3d]

thats how the scene should have ended, with tifa kicking his ass limit break sytle! Theres no way you could ever avoid a law suit for that video, not even in Korea;)

[Ultima Chocochu]

I watched like 10 seconds of it, it sucks.
If I was SquareEnix I'd so for not only ripping off Final Fantasy VII, but making it look bad.