What you see below is a list of various actions that SEGA and Nintendo have done to take down fan content, and the year it happened. Nintendo is far more strict than the lenient SEGA, as I’m about to show you. The two companies enforce these copyright laws in their own respective ways. No two companies fit the term “apples and oranges” than SEGA and Nintendo. With that said, gaming companies vary on how they treat fan-made content. The rules of copyright are picky, and in some cases complicated, but they’re there. In other words, it’s to “protect their IPs” and so they don’t lose money. ![]() In this case, you will see companies be more strict about trademarked material than, say, a Let’s Play series on YouTube. ![]() If a company ignored infringements of a trademark, the protection afforded by it gradully vanishes and it could even go away completely, causing the company to lose money (this is why the Streets of Rage 2 remake had been taken down, although to be fair, “Sonic the Hedgehog” is also trademarked). As for trademarks and copyrighted stuff, companies have just as much of a battle in earning these things as the fan may have with their own content of it, if not more so. However, the owner doesn’t have to grant this license if they don’t want to. By doing so, you have been given consent to use the material. You can also seek a license of the content from the owner. The best example is YouTube’s copyright system, where anyone can claim to be the creator of content and knock out your videos, regardless of whether they’re the original creator or not. The problem that faces fan content creators is holes in the system. Why? Because obviously you’re not actually using the copyrighted content. However, if your content is a parody of the copyrighted content, you can get away with it. If you use that copyrighted material in any of the methods I listed above, the company technically has the excuse to take it down. If a company has trademarked something, that makes it also difficult for you to use. It is made even worse if you are selling the product that contains any copyrighted material, such as the company’s logos and characters, without their permission. Anything that was not granted permission by the original creator is in fair grounds to be flagged. Let me start by saying that Nintendo and SEGA have more power to take down fan content than you may realize. SEGA and Nintendo’s relationship, past and present, is purely coincidental. This is because Nintendo is the most infamous for how they treat their own fans’ copyrighted material. ![]() To clarify, this is not because I hate Nintendo or because I want the console wars back. In comparison, I will be using Nintendo as an example. ![]() However, I wanted to elaborate more on this topic. You may recall that our own Noah touched upon this somewhat in an article on his own. This includes videos, fan games, fan sites, pictures, music and more. This month, I wanted to take a moment to discuss SEGA and how they treat copyrighted material from fans. It’s time for the newest installment of In-Depth, where I do a case study on various aspects of Sonic and SEGA with sources and research presented for your convenience.
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