Regarding Cease and Desists..

[Detective Woona]

Here's an article that may shed some light on why this happened, and how Hasbro thinks.

http://www.equestriadaily.com/2013/02/regarding-fighting-is-magic-takedown.html#more

I too dislike Hasbro's actions, but unfortunately, that's just how big business works.

[LostSanity]

Big business sucks.

Money isn't everything.

[Chishio Kunrin]

Law and Politics are two things that just go way over my head.
Because of this, I've had a question that has been floating around my head for a while now, and I apologize if it seems like a stupid question.

Why is it that games such as this can be taken down because of character rights, even though they will not make profit, while people can still make plushies, art, and other pony related merchandise of these Hasbro licensed characters to sell at conventions and online for their own monetary gain? Why does one seem to go over fine with Hasbro, while the other does not?

This article kinda helped clear some things up:
http://www.equestriadaily.com/2013/02/regarding-fighting-is-magic-takedown.html

This part stood out for me, personally:

It's a little known fact of IP law that every instance of fanwork, be it a picture of Twilight Sparkle hugging a book, or an abridged series, or a fanfic about Rainbow Dash losing her wings, is illegal. Indeed, the copyright notices and disclaimers that so many add to their fanworks in an effort to protect themselves can be used in a court of law as an admission of guilt. Fortunately, companies see no need to pursue fanworks for the most part, and are content to ignore the laws and pursue greater profits elsewhere.

(IP = Intellectual Property)

[McSleuthburger]

if you really want to study it http://www.uspto.gov/faq/trademarks.jsp
not the best explanation so work with me

well there is not much politics here so your good
with trademarks (of the characters) you have to define what your trademark is protecting from (in a category (toys, tv character, blah blah blah)
so say you have it under toys and accessories (made up category) your character is protect form others making it as anything toy wise but if the character is used in a different way, an example art you would be fine since the trademark does not include that

plus it is way easier (and cost effective) to go after a group / project rather than single indiviuals
because if they really wanted to try and stop everyone they would have to send seperate C&Ds to every single person making them which would be time consuming and difficult

I might not be 100% correct and there are other that might be better at explaining it because I havent really studied  or looked over it extensively

[Midnight Breeze]

why are people accepting this?

because Hasbro has full rights to do so, though many not like the decision
Hasbro is protecting their IP (Intellectual property)

If Hasbro was going to shut down the project then could have done so months ago, before the Mane 6 team wasted hundreds of their own hours on what turned out to be a lost cause.

Waiting until they were near release before pulling a C&D out of their bungholes is just a slap in the face.

[McSleuthburger]

but they are not going to send C&Ds to every fan project that starts up your only going to send them to projects that would become real things
plus C&Ds take months to get from start to the target so like 4-6 months I think

[videogamehunter]

It sucks to to see fighting magic to get C and D but I'm hoping they can work something out.

[LostSanity]

Law and Politics are two things that just go way over my head.
Because of this, I've had a question that has been floating around my head for a while now, and I apologize if it seems like a stupid question.

Why is it that games such as this can be taken down because of character rights, even though they will not make profit, while people can still make plushies, art, and other pony related merchandise of these Hasbro licensed characters to sell at conventions and online for their own monetary gain? Why does one seem to go over fine with Hasbro, while the other does not?

This article kinda helped clear some things up:
http://www.equestriadaily.com/2013/02/regarding-fighting-is-magic-takedown.html

This part stood out for me, personally:

It's a little known fact of IP law that every instance of fanwork, be it a picture of Twilight Sparkle hugging a book, or an abridged series, or a fanfic about Rainbow Dash losing her wings, is illegal. Indeed, the copyright notices and disclaimers that so many add to their fanworks in an effort to protect themselves can be used in a court of law as an admission of guilt. Fortunately, companies see no need to pursue fanworks for the most part, and are content to ignore the laws and pursue greater profits elsewhere.

(IP = Intellectual Property)

Then add "fangames" to the "list" of things to "ignore"

[Book Smarts]

why are people accepting this?

because Hasbro has full rights to do so, though many not like the decision
Hasbro is protecting their IP (Intellectual property)

If Hasbro was going to shut down the project then could have done so months ago, before the Mane 6 team wasted hundreds of their own hours on what turned out to be a lost cause.

Waiting until they were near release before pulling a C&D out of their bungholes is just a slap in the face.

Probably took action because of EVO entry, which gave it increased publicity 

[Night Pony]

The ironic thing is that the leaked version is the only version that we're going to see from Fighting is Magic.

[LostSanity]

The ironic thing is that the leaked version is the only version that we're going to see from Fighting is Magic.

Which is why signing the petitions and sharing them with as many people as you can is imperative.

[Julius]

If it was me I'd finish the game for "personal use", leak it, then say that a brony friend came home to play with me and then leaked the game when I wasn't looking.

Happy bronies, happy Mane6, problem solved.

[Seriack]

why are people accepting this?

because Hasbro has full rights to do so, though many not like the decision
Hasbro is protecting their IP (Intellectual property)

If Hasbro was going to shut down the project then could have done so months ago, before the Mane 6 team wasted hundreds of their own hours on what turned out to be a lost cause.

Waiting until they were near release before pulling a C&D out of their bungholes is just a slap in the face.

Probably took action because of EVO entry, which gave it increased publicity 

Which, if you read in the EQD post, Mane6 weren't even asked if they wanted to entered. They were just thrown in there. Oh, and hi, I'm new to these forums... Sorta... >.>

[Chishio Kunrin]

why are people accepting this?

because Hasbro has full rights to do so, though many not like the decision
Hasbro is protecting their IP (Intellectual property)

If Hasbro was going to shut down the project then could have done so months ago, before the Mane 6 team wasted hundreds of their own hours on what turned out to be a lost cause.

Waiting until they were near release before pulling a C&D out of their bungholes is just a slap in the face.

Probably took action because of EVO entry, which gave it increased publicity 

Which, if you read in the EQD post, Mane6 weren't even asked if they wanted to entered. They were just thrown in there. Oh, and hi, I'm new to these forums... Sorta... >.>

Didn't know that. Also, welcome!
Adding someone to an invite list without asking them is bad. It can cause all sorts of problems.

[Seriack]

why are people accepting this?

because Hasbro has full rights to do so, though many not like the decision
Hasbro is protecting their IP (Intellectual property)

If Hasbro was going to shut down the project then could have done so months ago, before the Mane 6 team wasted hundreds of their own hours on what turned out to be a lost cause.

Waiting until they were near release before pulling a C&D out of their bungholes is just a slap in the face.

Probably took action because of EVO entry, which gave it increased publicity 

Which, if you read in the EQD post, Mane6 weren't even asked if they wanted to entered. They were just thrown in there. Oh, and hi, I'm new to these forums... Sorta... >.>

Didn't know that. Also, welcome!
Adding someone to an invite list without asking them is bad. It can cause all sorts of problems.

Which makes me wonder... Would Fighting is Magic still be around if EVO hadn't invited them? Maybe, maybe not.... I just hope this project can be picked up in the future... Would b ecool.

[Book Smarts]

Really didn't seem that bad, especially since Fighting is Magic actually got people to donate money for a special cause 

[The Wandering Magus]

what needs to happen is around 100,000,000 people go, vote, send letters and emails and calls to every congress member, and threaten to vote them all out and put in somepony else if the stupid, outdated, myopic copyright laws don't get thrown out or changed.

this is why we need more bronies in politics.

[Julius]

what needs to happen is around 100,000,000 people go, vote, send letters and emails and calls to every congress member, and threaten to vote them all out and put in somepony else if the stupid, outdated, myopic copyright laws don't get thrown out or changed.

this is why we need more bronies in politics.

Would you like to be one of them? I pretty much hate politics, and pay little to no attention to them.

[The Wandering Magus]

I'm an engineering major, I'll do the part of fixing stuff that's broken physically, but I've never been good at going through pages of legal jargon and making a million compromises, much as I like being a GM.

[LostSanity]

The only thing I'm good at is signing petitions, putting petitions in my signature so people see them and hopefully sign them...

And...

Spoiler: show

Disobeying the dictatorship