Thursday, April 1, 2010

Game Nutz Podcast suspended (April Fool's Day)

EDIT: This was an April Fool's Day gag that got dragged out due to scheduling conflicts. For more info, please read the comments, and/or listen to Episode 36.

Starting with the episode "Fillercast 1," we have been using the classic Super Mario Bros. coin sound for bleeping expletives in our podcasts. We did this without considering the legal ownership rights of the sound. Today we received a letter from Nintendo's Legal Department concerning the sound.

Here is an excerpt:

"It has come to our attention that you are utilizing on your Podcast, Game Nutz Podcast (gamenutzpodcast.blogspot.com), a sound effect from a Nintendo video game title without written consent from Nintendo of America or its Parent Company. This letter constitutes a demand that you immediately cease utilizing, reproducing and distributing Nintendo's proprietary sounds and remove all uses of said sound from past Podcasts.

...

"This letter constitutes notice to you that your actions are illegal and may subject you to criminal prosecution and civil liability. We will be monitoring your Podcast to see if you are in compliance with the law and reserve the right to take
all steps necessary to protect Nintendo's rights.

Sincerely,
NINTENDO OF AMERICA INC."

There's a bunch of legal jargon in the second paragraph I edited out, but you get the gist. While we have agreed to cease and desist usage of the sound in future episodes, Nintendo is requiring that we pay back royalties for each past usage (Giant Corporate Hate episode, we're looking at you), or else face further legal action, up to and including a pending lawsuit. Until these payments are made in full, there will be no new episodes. We apologize for any inconvenience, and hope that you will continue checking for updates in the coming week, and ask that you show your support by visiting our stores located on Rt. 5 in both Sherrill and Canastota, NY and making a purchase from our wide variety of video games, systems, and accessories. Thank you.

11 comments:

Unknown said...

OH NO! WHAT ARE YOU GUYS GONNA DO!?!?! IS THE PODCAST DOOMED?!?!?













BTW.... happy April 1st

tacopill said...

This sounds like what happened to Brawl In The Family. It seems Nintendo Legal Department Has really been busy lately.

倫音 said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Unknown said...

HA HA... you're a terrible person. :-P

Boter said...

*sniff* I'm so proud of claw... he finally brought "nintendo" above "pspgo" as our most commonly talked about item.

We'll post another podcast this week talking about this as they're unfolding. I know that some only listen to the podcast, and don't read the blog posts.

tacopill said...

wait, does that mean it's an actuall letter, and not an April Fool's Joke?

"MasterClaw" said...

We are not currently at liberty to discuss any details beyond what we have already described in the original post. Please stay tuned.

Dax Strife said...

Wait, you're serious? Crap, sorry guys, I meant that "You're a terrible person" thing in jest.
Never post serious news on April 1st without a "not a joke" disclaimer.

Boter said...

We definitely have news regarding this; Claw's on podcast editing duty for the one recorded a couple days ago, we're looking at a mid-week release as we don't have anything planned for next weekend either. We'll update things in the podcast. Stay tuned!

"MasterClaw" said...

Sorry we dragged that out for so long, but without a podcast for that week, we needed something for entertainment!

As for the letter, it is a real cease & desist letter from Nintendo... only it was originally sent to an emulation site requesting they take down Nintendo copyrighted ROMs! I copy/pasted the letter and changed a few names and key words so it would reflect our unique "situation." This way, everything looked authentic! I edited out the middle paragraph in case anyone was actually ambitious enough to look up the laws and statutes listed in it. (I am so proud of myself! LOL)

Hope you all enjoyed the gag and don't hate us or unsubscribe because of it! We've got plenty more great gaming news and discussions to come!

tacopill said...

ok.....