Fans are expressing their concerns after The Pokémon Company seemingly used fan-created music in a recent trailer for the Pokémon Scarlet & Violet DLC, The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero. The uproar began shortly after today’s Pokémon Presents wrapped up. While many tuned in for updates on things like Detective Pikachu Returns and the aforementioned add-on content, musician NightDefined (a.k.a. ND) noticed that some of the footage featured music they created. In many cases, it might be an honor for a fan to see their Pokemon fan music creation used by a company they admire, but for ND, it was also a surprise.
I hope he sends Nintendo a DMCA takedown.
That would be very entertaining, but anyone who is fanatical enough to make pokemon fan music probably wouldn’t dream of causing their favorite company harm.
Or, more accurately, they aren’t prepared for the legal battle that would ensue
Which they would definitely win.
Even if it’s based on the existing song, parody and sampling precedent make it clearly free use. However the creator definitely owns copyright on the specific creation.
Even if they would, look what at happened to Bleem. They successfully argued in court that the PS1 emulator they were selling was legal, but Sony kept suing them until Bleem went bankrupt paying legal fees. That was an actual corporation, too. What hope does an individual artist have?
While you have a point, the emulator scene is untested and legally dubious.
There is nothing dubious about copyright infringement. Doing what Sony did would easily be considered abusing the legal system and no judge would stand for it.