„No One Likes Suing Fans.” Ex-Pokemon Lawyer Explains Reasons and Methods Behind Blocking Fan Projects
Don McGowan, former head of The Pokemon Company's legal team, explained the process of blocking fan games.
Nintendo deserves recognition for its incredibly engaging games, developed with an approach that sets it apart from the rest of the industry. However, you get the impression that even in the best of times, the company irritates players with actions aimed at its own fans.
Don McGowan is an experienced lawyer. For 12 years, he worked for The Pokémon Company, and for half a decade, he led the company's legal team. Microsoft also used his services before. He recently made strong statements about the accusations of "plagiarism" supposedly committed by the developers of Palworld.
Now the American was a guest on Aftermath. One of the questions he was asked concerned the "cease and desist" orders that The Pokemon Company and Nintendo have a practice of sending to some devs of Pokemon fan games (via Reddit).
It turns out that McGowan usually received links from these companies referring to articles about such projects, or he came across mentions of them himself. That's why, as a lawyer teaches his students at the University of Washington, "the worst thing on earth is when your "fan" project gets press, because now I know about you."
However, the "discovery" of the fan project isn't everything. Next, the TPC legal team checks whether it has received funding (on Kickstarter, Patreon, or in any other way). This is said to be due to the fact that - to quote McGowan - "No one likes suing fans."
The community isn't really reassured by this assurance (even Luke Plunket from the Afrermath service, who spoke with McGowan, doesn't believe the lawyer). The Nexus Mods site still prohibits the release of "Pokemon" mods for Palworld, out of concern that even free modifications will draw the wrath of The Pokemon Company's lawyers if they use the resources owned by the company.
