The Pokemon Company is asking for $4000 from the organizer of an unofficial fan event closed at their request.
The unofficial event was scheduled to take place back in August during PAX Prime, but the Pokemon Company request it be closed. The organizer now says the firm responsible is asking for $4k in order to settle the lawsuit.
Explaining that he worked in a cafe and could not find the money to pay, organizer Ramar Larkin Jones launched a GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign that raised all of the $4000 necessary within just three days of opening. In fact, the campaign currently stands at $4082 from 111.
Jones wrote the following on the campaign page:
“This year I tried to throw a unofficial Pokemon party because why not… it would be fun, I’m a huge fan, I know all my friends are fans, and I mostly wanted to geek out and add to the fun parties you can find all over the city.”
The Pokemon Company originally took legal action against Jones a day before the event went ahead, stating Jones and any others were guilty of “blatant and willful” copyright infringement in order to promote the fan event. The event has been held annually since 2011, but was not free as Jones charged a $2 door fee.
He now reportedly says he was never sent a cease and desist letter, but explained that he “cancelled the party, refunded everyone the two dollars I charged to help cover all the prizes I bought for the cosplay contest and smash bros tournament. Pokemon wants $4,000 that I just don’t have. I told them I would pay it over a year and they denied that. They want it now with in the next 45 days.”
In an interview with GeekWire, where the original story was broken, Jones originally expected the entire thing to be finished once he cancelled the fan event and refunded everyone, but is now “shocked” that this is real, originally believing the lawsuit to be “a scare tactic.”
To read the whole report, head here to GeekWire.