The Dumbest Lawsuit in Gaming History

Mario is a fairly uncontroversial fellow that I would fathom his mouth is as clean as Sora's domain and his games stay clear of any particularly controversial topics but in 2008 despite Nintendo's best efforts this character became embroiled in one of the strangest incidents in recent gaming history there were threats of lawsuits allegations of stolen property and even discussions about potential cover-ups but today this bizarre series of events has been largely forgotten by the world and so today I would like to delve into the events of 2008 as we cover the strangest Nintendo controversy that you've never heard of [Music] hi there welcome to Thomas game Doc's Paper Mario the thousand-year door is by most measures the best in the series it had an incredible story memorable locations and a cast of truly unforgettable characters but of course customers aren't going to know any of that without a little prompting in the form of advertisement and so in 2004 around the time of paper Mario's release Nintendo partnered up with an ad agency called Leo Barnett if you're unaware ad agencies are the companies who create the ads you see on TV a business in this case Nintendo of America approaches the ad agency in this case Leo Barnett and says hey we've got a new product coming out could you make us an advert and Leo Burnett gets to work putting together their commercial and so in the lead up to paper Mario's release Leo Barnett were working away on their commercial for Paper Mario the thousand-year door they envisioned a sort of serene calm commercial heavily focused around the games central gimmick of a paper world and before long the commercial was complete let us pause for a second to appreciate their handiwork [Music] Mario's newest adventure unfolds as he takes to the sky land and sea and Paper Mario the thousand-year door only for Nintendo GameCube rated E for Everyone what did you think very serene very common wasn't it and that's in large part thanks to two facts firstly the beautiful nature cinematography that much is clear but another factor is just as crucial if not more so the music here's a short clip [Music] it really suits the commercial doesn't it and if we do a little research we can find out in the name of that song it's called you're so cool by Hans Zimmer and if you recognize that name it's because Han Zimmer is a world-renowned film music composer he worked on the soundtrack for inception for example and is thus responsible for the moi sound in every film trailer throughout the early 2010 it's called inception in this case the song you're so cool is taken from the 1993 film true romance in fact it's not a very Nintendo suited film the lead writer was none other than Quentin Tarantino a man not known to shy away from violence however the fine folks at Leo Burnett decided that this song was perfectly suited to the commercial and so that is the song they chose and with the ad filmed edited and completed it was broadcast across the United States of America and all seemed to be well but under the surface trouble was brewing but it wouldn't bubble up until four years later in mid-june 2008 a lawsuit was filed against Nintendo alleging copyright infringement the plaintiff was one Morgan Creek productions the movie studio who produced the true romance film from which the commercials music was taken here's the claim they filed against Nintendo sometime within the past three years Nintendo used the sound recording of your so cool without authorization in a television advertisement for the Nintendo GameCube plaintiff is informed and believes and thereon alleges that Nintendo also used the sound recording at issue here in in other forum in order to generate sales for their product that's right four years after Paper Mario the thousand-year doors release Morgan Creek noticed that Nintendo had used the song you're so cool without any kind of permission without any kind of license and thus illegally and before long the news broke and numerous headlines each more extravagant than the last spread the word of this upcoming suit readers foretold a major legal battle perhaps even similar in scale to the now infamous Donkey Kong lawsuit of the 80s who had win this lawsuit would Nintendo finally be brought to their knees thanks to the thieving of Morgan creeks music but then only six days later the lawsuit was dropped without any explanation Morgan Creek offered no reason for retracting their lawsuit and the public were left mystified could Nintendo have pulled some strings behind the scenes was there some kind of foul play going on here when asked for comment Morgan Creek simply replied no comment this didn't bode well thankfully Nintendo were a little more forthcoming and only a few days later they explained the whole issue and they didn't mince their words either the lawsuit alleged copyright infringement by Nintendo for its use of the song you're so cool in a Nintendo GameCube television commercial produced by advertising agency Leo Burnett USA Inc in response to the lawsuit Leo Burnett provided Morgan Creek productions with a copy of a music license entered into between Leo Burnett USA on behalf of nantou of America and Morgan Creek for licensing of the song the lawsuit was dismissed by Morgan Creek productions the following day yes you heard that right Leo Burnett the ad agency behind the ad did indeed purchase a license for the song clearly Morgan Crete had either forgotten this maybe they lost the contracts or if we're taking a more cynical perspective perhaps they wished to make a quick buck off Nintendo as it were either way days after Morgan Creek submitted their lawsuit Leo Burnett showed modern Creek their copy of the music license which they did in fact purchase in retrospect it's not hard to see why Morgan Creek didn't give much in the way of an explanation whatever we you take this was an altogether embarrassing incident for Morgan Creek and I'm sure one which they wished the world would forget I suppose this video is probably not helping with that sorry hey thanks for watching for more forgotten chapters in the history books of video games be sure to subscribe and follow me on Twitter if you want to either way I'll see you next week bye [Music]

Channel: Thomas Game Docs

Views: 1,372,167

Rating: 4.8923006 out of 5

Keywords: Nintendo, Mario, Lawsuit, Paper Mario, GameCube

Id: KTyGbT5jMmo

Length: 7min 57sec (477 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 29 2019