Ars Technica Tears Open Little-Known Developer for Blatant IP Abuse
Little-known Google Play developer Andev created Era’s Adventure 3D - a game that’s like many on Google Play in that it provides a simple experience that’s backed by blatant ripping off due to Google’s lax approval process. In this specific case, though, the imitation is a little less subtle, if you could ever call it that, in its title character:
Does he look familiar? He should. I know it seems a little silly but this little fella is the title character from the game and that explains the somewhat shoddy 3D model. The word from Andev seems to be one of complete and utter ignorance after Ars Technica tore them a nice one open about the whole ordeal – everyone seems to feel the same way about the whole ordeal: wondering how you can be a fan of gaming and not know that the character – Yoshi, in this case – is a copyrighted trademark of Nintendo and has been for many, many years, appearing in many, many games.
While promising to change the model to be a little less… infringing, Andev’s Botond Kopacz states that “…since no assets are stolen from any Nintendo game or website and the Yoshi’s name is not present anywhere, there is no copyright violation. [There would be] at least pattern violation if the 3D model is detailedly registered in the US pattern database.” This sounds a little hokey to me, really, because it’s a clear copyright violation but since the specific 3D model he bought from TurboSquid didn’t turn up in any USA database, he assumed that it was okay to use.
So, there you have it, folks: a clean-cut case of ignorance that was thrown way out of proportion by the gaming community, even after the developer promised to change things up so as to not cause so much commotion. Still… Yoshi? Why couldn’t it something a little less obvious… like Godzilla, or something?
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