Epic threatens to curb stomp fan for Gears of War 'Munny' doll

by James Ransom-Wiley on Mar 8th 2007 3:21PM

Emilio Lopez's custom Gears of War doll certainly appears professionally made -- enough so that we expressed a desire to see it manufactured and sold at retail. The doll even came in a mock retail box when Emilio presented it to his cousin as a Christmas gift. But, like any other do-it-yourself Munny doll, Emilio's creation is merely a personal homage to Epic's game; not a mischievous business venture. Nevertheless, when Epic and its legal hounds caught wind of the doll, they issued a cease and desist order, claiming Emilio's creation is an unauthorized use of Epic's trademarks. Epic has requested that all trademarks be removed from the doll, packaging, and Emilio's website. Ironically, the logos Emilio used were apparently taken from a fansite pack that Epic had issued. C'mon Epic dudes, please, back off.

[Thanks, Hugbees]

cease & desist

Source

Tags: DIY, Doll, Epic, GearsofWar, GoW, Munny, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (59)

Haaawwww man!!!! I want one of those??? Where did you buy it?? How much is it??? Can you get Cole too??? Thats well the 1337357 thing i have ever seen. Must own one!!!

I would understand selling it but posting it and saying "Hey, look at this, it's totally cool." He's not even making any money off of the thing being up on his website!

Man, don't these guys have anything better to do? If they really wanted the rights to the doll they could have just bought them.

Nice writeup, James! If they continue to press Emilio, maybe we can drum up support here. I could understand if he was selling it, but c'mon.

The posters here are so woefully ignorant. But ignoring that point, you know you'll buy Gears 2 and Unreal 3 when it comes out, so stop acting like you won't.

Epic is right, so just take your medicine.

So now paying homage to a character is illegal. Send them the letter back and tell to "TAKE IT REALL DEEP IN THEIR A-HOLE". I wish it was me they sent the letter to. I would to fight them in court and have them pay for my lawyer after the judge tells them to wake up and smell the coffe. It was a gift to his brother you idiots, not for sale , not for distribution, not to impress you a-holes!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I should buy a munny and make a Berserker doll, than post them at epic forums. I probably will too watch......LMAO

For all of those people claiming "Epic HAS to do this otherwise..." and then go on to state how the criminal justice system will break down and it'll start raining cats and dogs...

Here's a fine example of common sense and trademark/copyright law in action. (Or rather, "inaction").

The anime/fansub community. The companies in charge of the licenses turn a very deliberate "blind eye" on the people "messing" with their IPs because they've learned that it's THOSE people who built and make up their market and that a show's popularity in the P2P-scene more than often translates into high sales-numbers.

So shut up about what Epic HAS to do. They don't have to do jack shit about this. If anything they should send the guy a congratulatory letter, instead of lashing out at him.

The good thing about anonymous communities is that if you attack one member, you're at the same time insulting all of them. And all of them will feel attacked.