Scratch

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bump.

No he isn't. There is NO WAY that a few copyright infringements would provoke that sort of action. If Namco did try to shut down the website, I'm sure MITs lawyers would have something to say about it. 

AHHH!!!! Conflicting!!

Here is my speech:

Well, if Namco is immature enough to shut down a children's website, for admiring Pac-Man, and being creative... Then... Well, they are bullies who over react to children imitating their stuff. Besides, with us doing that, they should be flattered that it had a positive impact on kids. Such a positive impact, that they would attempt to make their own. If Namco can't except that, then they are a bunch of ignorami who aren't smart enough to encourage their fans. If Scratch does get shut down by Namco, then we can go petition in the real world. If every single one of us who is on the supporting list, goes and tells friends, family, family's friends, people at school, and other people to tell everyone they know, that Namco, the creators of Pac-Man, decided to shut down a children's website, for imitation of Pac-Man. And to tell them, to tell everyone they know, to tell everyone they know, and so on, and so on.

To add to that, I thought that it wasn't illegal to copy someone's work unless the person tried to copyright the facsimile. If it wasn't illegal, then Namco would be in a very bad position to force someone to delete a project. Much less sue Scratch for the creativity of a project. Besides, with the strong limitations of Scratch, I don't see how it could be an exact copy. One reason being: Pac-Man doesn't use a green flag, or a stop button. Pac-Man also doesn't use building blocks for programming. Even if we were to go deeper into the programming of Scratch, I'm sure that the way they programmed Pac-Man is not like smalltalk. Come to think of it, the projects made in Scratch are definitely not made the same way Namco Made Pac-Man, so they can't be exact copies, and like I said before, if you haven't copyrighted it, then it probably isn't illegal.

Namco shouldn't have taken down the Scratch project for three reasons. The project was not copyrighted, it couldn't have been an exact copy, and Namco is wrong to abolish of children's creativity. I could be wrong about this, but I'll say it anyway, I thought that if you copied something, it was okay. But if you copyrighted a copy of something that was already copyrighted, it would be illegal, and I don't think that the project was copyrighted by the user. It couldn't have been an exact copy because the original Pac-Man was not a Scratch project. Albeit this is not a legal reason, it's still just plain rude. Namco was immature enough to stoop as low as to remove a child's creativity. This is how children learn. They copy what they already know, and use the knowledge from it, to create their own things. Kids learn to draw, by drawing what they've already seen, they learn to write by copying what they have seen written. This is how children learn. This is how education works. But evidently, copyright comes WAY before the way kids learn.  We are the future, and if Namco is shutting down Scratch projects for recreating Pac-Man, then they have a LOT more stuff to do with flash creations, and other websites.

Altogether, we figure that Namco is just a bunch of jerks who don't care about children. I mean, my first project was a failed attempt at Space Invaders. You don't see Tomohiro Nishikado yelling at me. I think Namco is just screwed up.

Oh yeah, and I agree. Put me on the list.

Last edited by henley (2010-08-11 10:00:58)

scratch_yoshi wrote:

henley wrote:

AHHH!!!! Conflicting!!

Here is my speech:
[one long speech later]
Oh yeah, and I agree. Put me on the list.

I read that whole speech, and, yes, you are wrong. If you copy ANYTHING copyrighted and called it your own(you don't have to copyright it), you have infringed a copyright. Infringing copyrights is illegal. No conflict intended.

Yes, but they didn't call it their own.

Everyone knows Namco made pacman. So even if that user said pacman was all HER/HIS idea, nobody would believe her/him, anyway...

Think about that, namco. And henley's speech, too 

@Adrian: Check this: http://scratch.mit.edu/forums/viewtopic.php?id=42364

Last edited by Survivorduck (2010-08-11 12:55:48)

pika100chu wrote:

adriangl wrote:

Wait, wait, wait-what is all this Pac-Man stuff? What exactly happened, because I really have no idea...

Namco removed a Scratch project because they thought it was copying pacman, when it wasn't an exact copy.

Wow, that's pretty low for a professional gaming company to take down a game that can't compare to the real thing(no offense, but it is true), that is for educational purposes!

Add me. I have a feeling someone will post a Cool story bro thing.


or

Last edited by GarSkutherGirl (2010-08-11 13:33:58)

Unfair THERE"S A VERSION OF PACMAN ON EXAMPLES SO THIS GUY LOSES HIS STUFF BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO NAMCO

shadow_7283 wrote:

Here's the official take-down notice...

So, both, then.  I think they clearly win legally on the trademark issue but if you hired a good lawyer you might win on the copyright issue.  But IANAL.

bharvey wrote:

henley wrote:

I thought that it wasn't illegal to copy someone's work unless the person tried to copyright the facsimile.

Are they complaining about a copyright violation, or a trademark violation?  I believe that if you called the project something other than "Pacman," and maybe changed the shape of the pacman figure in some way, you'd be in a better position to argue your case.

Back in the days of Microworlds (a direct predecessor of Scratch from the MIT Media Lab via Logo Computer Systems Inc), they published a sample project named "Snackman." 

this. And even the pacman images are fine as long as they aren't ripped from the originals. so my opiunion is, they have every right to change the name, but no right to remove the project.

pika100chu wrote:

scratch_yoshi wrote:

henley wrote:

AHHH!!!! Conflicting!!

Here is my speech:
[one long speech later]
Oh yeah, and I agree. Put me on the list.

I read that whole speech, and, yes, you are wrong. If you copy ANYTHING copyrighted and called it your own(you don't have to copyright it), you have infringed a copyright. Infringing copyrights is illegal. No conflict intended.

Yes, but they didn't call it their own.

Did they give credit to Namco?

bawmp