Police Pinch Pokemon Pre-release Photographer

[John Funk]

Police Pinch Pokemon Pre-release Photographer

A man who snapped photos of unreleased Pocket Monsters from Pokemon Black & White before the game's release has been taken into custody by Japanese police.

Back at the beginning of September, we rave reviews [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/103180-Update-Your-Pokemon-Black-White-Starters-Could-Evolve-Like-This].

The guy who leaked some of that info in the first place, though? He's not doing quite so hot: Makoto Sekiguchi of Yokohama is currently in police custody. The 27-year-old Sekiguchi took pictures of then-unreleased 'mons such as Chaoboo [http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Chaoboo_(Pok%C3%A9mon)] - the first evolution of fire-pig Pokabu - with his mobile phone, and uploaded them to the internet at approximately 8:00 PM on September 1st. He is being charged with copyright infringement.

It's unclear just which Pokemon Sekiguchi reportedly leaked, or if his photos are the ones that we originally posted on September 1st. The timing and specific content would seem to match up, but the only Pokemon character in question mentioned by name is Chaoboo - so there's currently no way to be sure until more information is released.

While it is currently unknown how Sekiguchi obtained the images more than two weeks before the issue of Monthly CoroCoro Comic in question shipped, Chikusei City police are reportedly investigating the matter.

In his deposition, Sekiguchi said that he "thought [he] would show everyone the characters that haven't been made public yet." Hope it was worth it, man.

(AnimeNewsNetwork [http://www.nikkansports.com/general/news/f-gn-tp0-20101102-697566.html])

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[Onyx Oblivion]

How much would it suck to go to prison for this and have to tell other prisoners what happened?

Prisoner: What you in for? I killed 5 people.

Photographer: I leaked early pictures of new Pokemon.

Only the above would be in Japanese.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Oh dear.

You have heard how we treat Harry Potter fans who do that...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Deathly_Hallows#Spoiler_embargo

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

OH the things people will do. Well that's what you get when you break copyright laws.

 

[icyneesan]

Man if the judge was a serious hardcore fan of Pokemon...

Judge: LIFE IN PRISON.

Copyright laws. Srsbsns.

 

[dickseverywhere]

ugh, companies get way too much power with this kind of thing. i mean if it was company secrets that he was leaking to another company then it would be a bit more serious but it was drawings that were going to be made public soon after anyway.

Oh dear.

You have heard how we treat Harry Potter fans who do that...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Deathly_Hallows#Spoiler_embargo

spoilers + megaphone + crowd of fantards = maximum lulz!

 

[TheAmazingTGIF]

Mr. Funk: you get awarded bonus points for some truly sweet alliteration.

OT: at least they didn't pull a whats-her-face, the hack that wrote the Twilight shit, and completely cancel the entire thing because someone leaked it.

 

[RikSharp]

I'm a serious hardcore fan of Pokemon and I love to see next gen pics!

exactly, the only people who would want to see them are fans of the series...
showing these early was done to generate interest, not to "steal" from "the man"

 

[Tim Latshaw]

He only did it hoping he would end up roughly interrogated by a squad of Officer Jenny's. Sicko.

 

[Gxas]

How is it copyright infringement, exactly?

Maybe I'm not as savvy on copyright laws as I thought I was, but I don't see this as infringement.

 

[Cgull]

I can't help but feel that arresting someone over some leaked Pokemon photographs is both sad and an over-reaction, what exactly is the point? What's going to be achieved by it?

 

[Twad]

..so what?

That kind of stuff is basically a free publicity stunt for nintendo.

 

[Danpascooch]

Completely ridiculous, why would Nintendo do this? All it achieves is negative PR.

anyway, as per my usual grammar naziness I have to point out this quote from the article.

He is being charged with violating copyright infringement.

He is being charged with violating Copyright law, or he is committing Copyright infringement, he is not violating copyright infringement, that is a double negative.

I like to think my little edits help the integrity of the article, but honestly I think most people just think I'm an asshole for it, lol.

 

[Rabarberskurk]

Pokemon: Serious business.

 

[Buchichu]

Nintendo is being completely retarded about this pokemon thing...they're also threatening sites like serebii.net to take down pictures of this gen's pokemon.

get a grip, you psychos.

 

[Eri]

Sorry but that isn't violating copyright. Try again.

 

[icyneesan]

Man if the judge was a serious hardcore fan of Pokemon...

Judge: LIFE IN PRISON.

Copyright laws. Srsbsns.

I'm a serious hardcore fan of Pokemon and I love to see next gen pics!

Personally I hated seeing them, as it ruins the fun of guessing what the next gen will look like. It was sorta like when MW2 came out and everyone got hyped, but they kept releasing videos of all the awesome parts in the single player so when people actually played it, it wasn't as fun as it should have been...

I really wish they'd stop showing all the content after the first hour or so of the game, it just spoils it :\

 

[Prof. Monkeypox]

I don't think this is such a big deal. At most, he should get a small fine. The images were going to be released soon anyway, all he did was give Nintendo a bit of free publicity.

Also, I don't really know how copyright laws work (besides a basic working knowledge), but I don't think this counts as a copyright violation.