Twilight Producers Aggressive IP Enforcement Strikes Again: Temporarily Shut Down Silly 8-Bit YouTube Game

from the oh-come-on dept

Fri, Jul 2nd 2010 1:05pm — Mike Masnick

It seems that some creative folks put together an 8-bit Twilight YouTube video game. Yes, it's exactly what it sounds like. Using YouTube as their platform, they put together what looks like a classic 8-bit video game to the plot of Twilight. It's actually kind of neat that they used YouTube to make what's effectively a "choose-your-own-adventure" type game. But, of course, when it comes to any and all things Twilight, you have to deal with producers Summit Entertainment who are notoriously over aggressive in sending out the lawyers over pretty much any ridiculous thing they feel violates their rights.

So... it didn't take long for Summit to issue a DMCA takedown on the game, which caused the game to disappear. Thankfully, however, after a conversation between Summit and the game makers, the game has been put back up. But, again, it does seem problematic when we need to live in such a permission culture, where doing something creative like this leads to takedowns and legal threats.

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Filed Under: 8-bit, copyright, games, twilight, youtube
Companies: summit entertainment

38 Comments

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Dark Helmet (profile), 2 Jul 2010 @ 1:09pm

Dear lord...
When is this Twighlight crap going to go away? The only thing it's good for is Failbook fodder....
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Phillip Vector (profile), 2 Jul 2010 @ 1:27pm

Didn't Google just win a safe harbors case that prevents DCMA takedowns or some such? I didn't read much on it, but I feel I'm missing the point.
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- Mike Masnick (profile), 2 Jul 2010 @ 1:57pm
  
  Re:
  Didn't Google just win a safe harbors case that prevents DCMA takedowns or some such? I didn't read much on it, but I feel I'm missing the point.
  
  No. The safe harbors mean that *because* Google *does* take down such things when it gets sent a takedown notice, that it is not liable. It doesn't mean Google gets to ignore takedowns. In fact, it might mean Google has to deal with even more takedowns.
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  - Phillip Vector (profile), 2 Jul 2010 @ 5:40pm
    
    Re: Re:
    But couldn't it adopt a position (if it wanted to) of "We are like craigslist and not going to take anything down even with a takedown notice"?
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Jul 2010 @ 1:31pm

It also inspired an excellent xkcd comic.

Seriously though, isn't this 8-bit Twilight thing a parody?
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- Sethumme, 2 Jul 2010 @ 5:56pm
  
  Re:
  You're right, this most definitely IS a parody.
  BELLA: "Since when do you shoot lightning?"
  VICTORIA: "Uh, well, they changed actresses so now I can do that."
  BELLA: "But in the movie you didn't do that either."
  VICTORIA: "Oh...um...well...DIE!"
  -from Turn Edward Down clip, following the motorbike scene.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Jul 2010 @ 1:34pm

Let me save TAM the trouble.

mike, it's Friday, which means there must be more to this story.
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- Anonymous Coward, 2 Jul 2010 @ 2:02pm
  
  Re:
  no, it is more like mike attempting desperately to get more seo keywords on his site. it is also a fairly lame story. he is still ignoring the fact that terry mcbride announced many lilith fair concerts have been canceled because of poor ticket sales. sort of screws up the "sell the scarce" when nobody is buying!
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  - Anonymous Coward, 2 Jul 2010 @ 2:12pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Well, why aren't they buying? Maybe because all girl concerts seem lame today? We're still in a recession? Concert tickets are priced too high? You're a moron?
    
    Really, it's a mystery.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 2 Jul 2010 @ 2:15pm
    
    Re: Re:
    yeah, I mean... it's not like folks don't have lots of disposable income right now, or that underemployment is at an all time high and unemployment is headed that way. I wonder why Terry McBride (I don't even know who that is BTW) cant sell her/his appearance? I'm also just guessing here, but McBride sounds like a country singer... hmmm I wonder what his demographic looks like? How is that demographic doing in this economic climate? I'm sure none of that has anything to do with why no one wants to go see manufactured pop artists who fake southern accents and sing about the same four subjects endlessly.
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  - JJ, 2 Jul 2010 @ 2:22pm
    
    Re: Re:
    > he is still ignoring the fact that terry mcbride announced many lilith fair concerts have been canceled because of poor ticket sales. sort of screws up the "sell the scarce" when nobody is buying!
    
    Logic fail by ee trollings. He seems to think that because one concert series (a lame, out of date and uninteresting one) is having a bad summer - which is explained by numerous factors) it condemns basic economics.
    
    Of course, by ee trollings' own logic, this means that any time a CD fails to sell well, it "sort of screws up the 'sell music' concept" right?
    
    TAM hasn't quite figured out that a single failure data point is meaningless in showing whether or not a concept can work. No one ever said that all concerts will make money. But, because he has no other original thoughts in his mind he has to pretend that's what people said.
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    - Anonymous Coward, 2 Jul 2010 @ 2:30pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      hua, so... you're saying... he's just here to state one message over and over again, never addressing the issue, just chiming in with a copy paste agenda? Why would he do that? I mean..... you think hes being paid to do it? Or do you think maybe he just believes that anyone reading these posts might think that he has a valid point, when all he does is Ctrl+V then abandon the debate when points are scored against him?
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      - RD, 2 Jul 2010 @ 3:33pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        "Or do you think maybe he just believes that anyone reading these posts might think that he has a valid point, when all he does is Ctrl+V then abandon the debate when points are scored against him?"
        
        Actually, thats exactly what we think of him and his ilk.
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    - Anonymous Coward, 2 Jul 2010 @ 10:38pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      jj, with due respect, mike recently attempted to show that the "donate" tv show that raised 20k is some how proof of an entire business method. it is a single event, and yet it proves something.
      
      on the other hand, we have tons of canceled tours and shows this year, and one of the highest profile is lilith fair, which brings so many of the top women acts together for one (normally very entertaining) day. even packaged together, the public is not buying. yet, this buying is what is support to support the entire music industry now. music is support to be free, and the scarce concerts are suppose to pick up the slack. yet, here we face a simple fact: people stopped being willing to pay.
      
      mike totally ignoring the situation (and mcbride is one of his poster children for the new music industry) makes me think he cannot for the life of him find a way to spin it positively or show that it isnt the start of the end for the "sell the scarce" as a business model. has the public already figured out they are getting stuffed by over expensive concert tickets? i notice he didnt touch the bon jovi situation either, very similar problems.
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      - PaulT (profile), 3 Jul 2010 @ 2:46am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        "one of the highest profile is lilith fair"
        
        Who? Seriously, I've never heard of her.
        
        Maybe instead of bitching, you'll actually explain who she is and why she's "high profile", and why this single cancelled tour is important.
        
        "it isnt the start of the end for the "sell the scarce" as a business model"
        
        Maybe you'll explain why it is. Gigs get cancelled all the time - yes, even in the old business models - and the reasons range from the fact that the acts are shite to some kind of economic downturn. You know, like a worldwide recession that limits peoples' disposable income. You might even have heard about something like that happening right now, that affects every industry.
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        PaulT (profile), 3 Jul 2010 @ 3:35am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        Hmmm... OK, I've looked at the Wiki link and it appears that Lilith Fair is a travelling music festival from the 90s that has just been revived after 11 years. I'm sure that if this was a first, TAM would be talking about how it was a "failed experiment" or some such crap.
        
        Either way, festivals do get cancelled due to soft sales, the brand name is hardly a household name and it seems like a gimmicky "girls only" brand whose gimmick in the "girl power" 90s doesn't have the same appeal in the modern day that it did then. There are, of course, other festivals that have sold out in the same time period, some of them dealing with independent acts, but our resident moron will of course ignore those in favour of his preferred narrative.
        
        Perhaps TAM would like to explain why this "disproves" the idea of selling scarcity when a majority of other festivals are doing well?
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        Anonymous Coward, 3 Jul 2010 @ 11:30am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        "Wouldn't we pull in more people if we had both female and male acts in this festival?"
        
        "We don't need more people!"
        
        "Festival's been cancelled, not enough people, apparently."
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  - Anonymous Coward, 2 Jul 2010 @ 3:08pm
    
    Re: Re:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilith_Fair
    
    Who wants to go to a misandryst concert?
    
    I'm betting many women are having a hard time convincing their partners to accompany them to such events :)
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  - Anonymous Coward, 2 Jul 2010 @ 3:32pm
    
    Re: Re:
    "he is still ignoring the fact that terry mcbride announced many lilith fair concerts have been canceled because of poor ticket sales. sort of screws up the "sell the scarce" when nobody is buying!"
    
    A) has nothing to do with the topic of this article
    B) Just because you are a musician, the world does NOT owe you a living, or riches. You have to earn it which leads to:
    C) Maybe they suck and no one is willing to pay to see them. See B).
    D) You have not disproven "sell the scarce" one iota with your weak, specious and misguided rant.
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  - Phillip Vector (profile), 2 Jul 2010 @ 5:43pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Weird Al tickets used to cost around $250-$300. I recently bought tickets to his Portland, OR show for $125 and for that, I got some scarce goods along with it. Yeah, it's still expensive, but My Weird Al beats your Terry McBride in understanding the "Sell the Scarce" strategy.
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  - Gordon, 3 Jul 2010 @ 12:35pm
    
    Re: Re:
    by Anonymous Coward, Jul 2nd, 2010 @ 1:34pm
    
    Let me save TAM the trouble.
    
    mike, it's Friday, which means there must be more to this story.
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    by Anonymous Coward, Jul 2nd, 2010 @ 2:02pm
    
    no, it is more like mike attempting desperately to get more seo keywords on his site. it is also a fairly lame story. he is still ignoring the fact that terry mcbride announced many lilith fair concerts have been canceled because of poor ticket sales. sort of screws up the "sell the scarce" when nobody is buying!
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    Has anyone noticed that lower case AC has pretty much just admitted that he is actually TAM? lol
    Troll.
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    - Anonymous Coward, 9 Jul 2010 @ 12:50am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      We can quote this for the next time he says "i am not tam, stop calling me that."
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Jul 2010 @ 2:01pm

"it does seem problematic when we need to live in such a permission culture, where doing something creative like this leads to takedowns and legal threats. " - mike, one day you will learn that being "creative" is more than piggybacking on someone elses hot product. it is cute, but it isnt particularly creative. it is instead incredible derivative.
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- Anonymous Coward, 2 Jul 2010 @ 2:01pm
  
  Re:
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parody
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- Anonymous Coward, 2 Jul 2010 @ 2:02pm
  
  Re:
  Care to show us your art?
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- Anonymous Coward, 2 Jul 2010 @ 2:11pm
  
  Re:
  Suing people for nefarious reasons isn't creative. Why not be creative instead of wasting your resources and the resources of everyone else suing everyone for no good reason.
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  - TAMTARD, 2 Jul 2010 @ 2:15pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Hey now! You shouldn't comment on the law unless you consult a lawyer. Just like you shouldn't comment on the arts unless you consult an artist.
    
    What double standard!?!
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- Anonymous Coward, 2 Jul 2010 @ 2:25pm
  
  Re:
  Please elaborate? What game is this derived from? Also, please explain how you can't see the creativity in this? I see it FAR more creative than ANY other sanctioned schwag? Have you seen those awesome key chains or the cheap plastic crap BK is giving away? THIS is the future of your business bucko, you should be calling these guys and offering them anything they want... including promotion, damn, you fellas really are stuck on the idea of forcing everyone to "pay, pay, pay" it's not gonna play out like that... I know for a fact, I also think you know it deep down, but you already have the wheels in motion and your just trucking toward the edge of the world.
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- Anonymous Coward, 2 Jul 2010 @ 3:16pm
  
  Re:
  You mean like how the movie producers are piggybacking on someone else's hot novel?
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- John Smith, 2 Jul 2010 @ 3:23pm
  
  Re:
  Me and maybe a few others are curious to see what you are calling "creative" in Twilight. Care to point us to the creative plot points of that story so everybody can marvel of how innovative, original the goth Capulet vs Montague is!
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star-crossed
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- RD, 2 Jul 2010 @ 3:30pm
  
  Re:
  "it does seem problematic when we need to live in such a permission culture, where doing something creative like this leads to takedowns and legal threats. " - mike, one day you will learn that being "creative" is more than piggybacking on someone elses hot product. it is cute, but it isnt particularly creative. it is instead incredible derivative."
  
  And what the god damn fuck do you think creativity IS?? You think EVERY creative thing is created 100% wholly originally with ZERO connection to anything that has come before? Time to put up or shut up: show us this vast archive of 100% original works that dont "piggyback" on ANY other product, idea or prior work. Please. Time to prove it or get the fuck out, I'm sick of you idiots proclaiming that any derivative work is "not creative" or valid.
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- Anonymous Coward, 6 Jul 2010 @ 5:38am
  
  Re:
  TAM Wormtongue speak with forked tongue!
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interval (profile), 2 Jul 2010 @ 2:41pm

I watched it
I had to see what all the hype was about, so I ppv'd the original. And to be honest, I enjoyed the first half of the thing. Then, I dunno, it kinda turned into a total teenage-fangirl-vampire mess. I predict kids will look at you with their typical empty shrug if you ask them about Twilight in about a year. Some other pop-consumer-culture craze will have caught hold of them.
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- PaulT (profile), 3 Jul 2010 @ 2:55am
  
  Re: I watched it
  I think the studio realise this as well. Why do you think they're rushing the movies out every 6 months?
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Davey, 3 Jul 2010 @ 1:09pm

There's IP cover for moronic posing?
Wonder how their IP reads? "Creepy androgynous undie models go into fatuous brooding poses while practicing near-turnip-level acting chops"?

But ya gotta admit this bunch of vampires stays in character at every level. Do ya think their bloodsucker lawyers could get me royalties on my turds?
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Jane, 7 Jul 2010 @ 10:17am

Looks like the whole set of videos is down! Anyone know what happened?
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hmm (profile), 11 Mar 2011 @ 5:26am

ok
How about the lawsuit gets held at a specific time of day?
Oh I don't know, say around the time the sun is just setting beyond the horizon and darkness is slowly moving in.

I'm not sure what we could call this time of day, perhaps nearly-darkness-not-quite-but-getting-there-light?]

There's probably a shorter name but it escapes me for the moment.......
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hmm (profile), 11 Mar 2011 @ 5:28am

also
whenever TAM posts, it would simply be easier to just have the next post say "OK tam has posted" then everyone forgets whatever he put...rather than allowing him his feeble attempts to derail the comments section with weird/paranoid/jealous rants....
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