Scribblenauts Developer 5th Cell Sued Over Keyboard Cat, Nyan Cat
Nyan Cat’s creator Christopher Orlando Torres and Keyboard Cat’s owner Charles Schmidt aren’t exactly happy right now. You would think that they would be happy, seeing that their creations have made it “big” by being featured in the Scribblenauts series. Unfortunately, nobody ever asked them for their permission to use Nyan Cat and Keyboard Cat.
The two have thus filed a lawsuit because of this failure to ask for permission, alleging that since they’ve been viewed tens of millions of times on YouTube they are “extremely valuable for commercial uses.” Because of their “value”, the creators are now looking to get some of the money they feel is owed to them. In addition, they’re also looking for an injunction against the sale of Scribblenauts-related products until the matter is resolved.
Despite the fact that I feel this lawsuit is a bit silly, I can’t say I’m surprised that it happened. The series has always featured a ton of different pop culture references available to summon, and it was only a matter of time before somebody would see something they made in the game that they didn’t give the company permission to use. If I had to guess, I would say that this lawsuit won’t see the light of day in a courthouse. Instead, I expect to see 5th Cell and Warner Bros. settle out of court.
