Fallout 3's 'Vault Boy' now delivering pizza, copyright infringement

by Ben Gilbert on Nov 16th 2009 10:00PM

Ever since Fallout 3's Vault Boy went to space in Mothership Zeta, we've been at a loss for where to find the congenial gent. Alas, we never expected to see his mercurial face gracing the cover of a Massachusetts pizza shop's menu. Expresso Pizza of Billerica, Ma. put the young lad to work on the menu's cover, holding a pizza and pretending he's a waiter. We all know you're a Capital Wasteland Wanderer, silly Vault Boy!

The only question now is "How long until Bethesda shuts this down?" We contacted the Fallout publisher to find out its reaction, and were told, "Well he is a big part of our Fallout brand and is copyrighted, so, yeah, deciding on your own to use him to promote your business or product, or to sell stuff, or whatever, without getting permission from us ... not a good idea." Ruh oh!

(Thanks, Dan)

[Via BadCartridge]

Source

Tags: badcartridge, bethesda, Bethesda-Game-Studios, bethesda-softworks, copyright, copyright-infringement, expresso-pizza, fallout, fallout-3, massachusetts, pizza, reddit, RPG, vault-boy

Reader Comments (99)

"Democracy is Non-Negotiable!"

i'm kinda surprised at the responses this is getting... imo its more homage/flattery than trying make some sort of profit from the pipboy logo :(

why do people take the lawyers side when this sign was probably designed by a fan of the fallout series...

"why do people take the lawyers side when this sign was probably designed by a fan of the fallout series..."

Because that theoretical fan is using the image to make money. But we assume things here, it might not be the owner. It could be whomever the owner hired to make the logo.

While businesses have the right to shut any IP use down (witness the early days of the web, like Star Trek and X-Files), these days it's usually only when you're trying to make a buck off their stuff.

Copyright infringement? Why the hell do you always have to get weird shit when we order pizza. Is pepperoni not good enough for you?

i hate it when they go for the pineapples on the thin crust, but man, that copyright infringement is just so much worse.

I do enjoy a nice copyright infringement stuffed crust, though.

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/images/2008/02/20/monopoly.jpg

We all wish we were falloutboy at heart :D

i bet you do uber pudding boy

Mmmmmmm Pizza Perk

We have Simpson's pizza just down the road, with a badly stretched jpeg of that family on the banner -_-

I think it's fair enough. I always liked the ice cream vans with Disney characters painted all over, though maybe they were paying for that privilege.

I would totally sign up for a vault right now. Considering I live on the East Coast, MW2 has got me in a scare. SIGN ME UP FOR VAULT 142! BIATCHES!

I thought you were supposed to live in the mountains...hiding from the Russkies...

Fuck no. Special agents don't do shit after what happened to Allen.

Now, we play Scrabble and do crosswords. Man, life has gotten so much easier.

No wonder we can't find Bin Laden...

Nah. I know where Bin Ladin is. Fucker just got a triple word score with "zeugmatography".

So far, it's 2,003 to 2,002. US is winning, but for how long?

DAMMIT MAKAROV, STOP STEALING VOWELS!!!!!!!!

Say hi to Putin for me.

now we all know whats special about special agent steve.

My imagination? My mom says its my Hulk underwear, but I think it's really my Superman undies. Nothing better than Superman guarding your crotch.

Ya but lady panties always seem to make him fly away.

Wow and the dumb thing is that they thought they would get away with it.

I hope you guys will continue to follow this story and what the publisher's response is.
Hell, I;d love for someone to call the pizza place and ask what the hell were they thinking.

"Wow and the dumb thing is ..."

You're telling me there is a smart thing about all this?

probably a young designer wasn't really trying and decided to borrow from somewhere on the internet, who even read the internet these days?

There's a place in my town (can't quite remember what it is exactly... dry cleaning place maybe) whose logo is identical to Vault Boy, except with slicked back black hair. I only realised it recently.

did you seriously narc on some tiny pizza restaurant to a big corporation

snitches get stitches brah

Shit just got real.

Hey, bros before hos. The bro doesn't like being misused...

Yeah, it's a pretty mean move. But then again I guess this gives Joystiq a good position with Bethesda.

And in totally unrelated news, Miyamoto's birthday is today.

your name has dong inside of it. haha...what? LOOOK AT MY AVY MAN

@PedoJokerBear:
Why so lecherous?

@ Manuel Dongalero

i was thinking the same thing. nobody likes a little tattle tale Joystiq!

I was thinking the same thing!

Joystiq Snitchedd!!1

snitches get stitches but the people who give the stitches get a good ol heap of JUSTICE!!

They're not the only ones using Vault Boy to shill something

http://totallylookslike.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/fallout-2-vault-boy-totally-looks-like-dutch-tile-selling-boy.jpg?w=401&h=271

They are Dutch, leave 'm alone! They are also the cheapest ones available for tiles, or that's what the ad reads.

TADDLE TALES!!!

down voted for improper spelling.

RADIOACTIVE PIZZA =D

Pepperoni pizza - WG 2 HP +10 Rads +8

Mmmm...Brahmin.

Hmm, they might actually not have much of a case here. /Copyright/ protection isn't usually available for characters, unless they amount to "the story being told." In effect, a character's whole persona is copyrightable, but the image of a character might not be.

This is the sort of thing trademark protection usually covers. Copyright, not so much.

You have no idea what you're talking about.

Actually, he doesn't have it completely right, but he's not totally wrong either. If I remember correctly the law reads something to the effect that a work of art as a whole can be copyright, but not necessarily parts of it. For example: Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali features melting clocks prominently. Just because the piece itself is copyright doesn't mean nobody else can use a melting clock in their artwork, they simply cannot duplicate the entire painting. Depending on how they rule it, they could say that it's not a significant enough piece of their IP to hold its own copyright. (Let me be clear here that I don't believe they'll rule that way though). If however, Vault Boy was trademarked, not copyright, there would be no way anyone could use it. Whatever though, you get the idea.

Really Avatar? Cause I'm halfway done with law school, specializing in Intellectual Property, and just spent two weeks talking about the copyrightability of cartoon characters. Thanks for your input though.

Gaiman v. Mcfarlane, 360 F.3d 644 (7th Cir. 2004) (a character is copyrightable when what is protected is "what he knows and says, his name, and his . . . features").

Warner Bros v. ABC, 720 F.2d 331 (2d Cir. 1983) ("In determing whether a character in a second work infringes a cartoon character, courts have generally considered not only the visual resemblance but also the totality of the characters' attributes and traits.")

Visual representation of a character /by itself/ usually isn't enough. Since there aren't any backstory or character traits appropriated other than visual appearance, they probably don't have a case.

BTW, this is exactly why Disney /trademarks/ most of its characters in addition to having them copyrighted.

Am I the only one who got the Scooby Doo reference?

ROOBY ROOBY ROO!

You might be the only one who cared.

Who is this Doo chap?

For those who don't live in New England, it's pronounced
'Bill•rik-ah'

Well that's stupid. Almost as bad as Pittsburg....

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Fallout 3's 'Vault Boy' now delivering pizza, copyright infringement

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