Take-Two to Thompson’s promoters: Don’t use our stuff

The above banner isn’t a pretty picture, but it’s an apt one. In its original, full-color form, that was previously the banner for Jack Thompson‘s debate tour on videogame violence.

First covered by Game Politics, Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of Jack Thompson’s nemesis, sent a pretty impressive warning to Wolfman Productions, Thompson’s promoters for his upcoming debate tour. Simply put, they wanted Wolfman Productions to stop showing the Grand Theft Auto logo you see above. They’ve already replaced it with a picture of an explosion, though that hasn’t really stopped Thompson from fighting back.

He had to email Take-Two back. Here’s a small bit of that letter:

Are yÂ’all threatening CBS and ABC and “Rolling Stone” and every gaming site and magazine in the universe, or just my college debate booking agent because you and your bullying company think they can get away with it?

Â… I am going to have am absolute ball pointing out to the world that Take-Two, the self-righteous, great defenders of “freedom of expression,” simply CANNOT abide Jack ThompsonÂ’s agent using allegedly protected trademarks of Take-Two. Freedom of expression my butt.

We can understand that a lawyer has to be aggressive if he intends to win, but his email doesn’t make much sense. They’re not “allegedly protected trademarks”, just actual protected ones. The idea of fair use allows copyrighted images to be used under instances of criticism, commenting, or news reporting, among others, but the use placed upon the now-removed GTA logo was to advertise an upcoming debate tour that had nothing to do with Take-Two and is a commercial venture.

Sigh… Jack Thompson, we just don’t know how to quit you. In any case, if you want to know more, the link’s got a PDF of the actual letter, and that’s where we picked the pic above. Happy reading.

The above banner isn’t a pretty picture, but it’s an apt one. In its original, full-color form, that was previously the banner for Jack Thompson‘s debate tour on videogame violence.

First covered by Game Politics, Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of Jack Thompson’s nemesis, sent a pretty impressive warning to Wolfman Productions, Thompson’s promoters for his upcoming debate tour. Simply put, they wanted Wolfman Productions to stop showing the Grand Theft Auto logo you see above. They’ve already replaced it with a picture of an explosion, though that hasn’t really stopped Thompson from fighting back.

He had to email Take-Two back. Here’s a small bit of that letter:

Are yÂ’all threatening CBS and ABC and “Rolling Stone” and every gaming site and magazine in the universe, or just my college debate booking agent because you and your bullying company think they can get away with it?

Â… I am going to have am absolute ball pointing out to the world that Take-Two, the self-righteous, great defenders of “freedom of expression,” simply CANNOT abide Jack ThompsonÂ’s agent using allegedly protected trademarks of Take-Two. Freedom of expression my butt.

We can understand that a lawyer has to be aggressive if he intends to win, but his email doesn’t make much sense. They’re not “allegedly protected trademarks”, just actual protected ones. The idea of fair use allows copyrighted images to be used under instances of criticism, commenting, or news reporting, among others, but the use placed upon the now-removed GTA logo was to advertise an upcoming debate tour that had nothing to do with Take-Two and is a commercial venture.

Sigh… Jack Thompson, we just don’t know how to quit you. In any case, if you want to know more, the link’s got a PDF of the actual letter, and that’s where we picked the pic above. Happy reading.