My Little Plotpony: Friendship is Second Thread

[dark seraph]

Jorlem wrote:

------- Original Message --------

Subject: Re: Infringement of Hasbro Inc.’s MY LITTLE PONY® Copyrights and

Trademarks

Date: Wed, 14 Dec 2011 22:47:32 +0100

From:
[CENSORED]
Hi

Thanks for your consern. Since we are merely spreading friendship and

magic we feel that we're protected by princess Celestia herself.

Also, we are not based in the US - so US law does not apply to us.

Please feel free to download the episodes from our website in order to

learn about accepting, friendship and happyness too.

Have a nice one

Yeah...

I read that all I can hear is Fluttershy screaming "YOU, WILL, LOOOVE MEEEEEEE!"

[Wiregeek]

much more detailed than I could have managed.

in my perfect world, Hasbro's response to the existence of Ponyarchive would have been to put up a digital storefront on Amazon with all the bells and whistles. Sell the entire internet unencrypted .mp4 (or whatever) well-rendered 1080pony episodes with no watermarks and no drm.

I would immediately purchase and subscribe.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

[Foxboy]

It's the stinking iTunes, man. I bet Hasbro got snookered into an exclusive deal or something.

No, Steve's successors, I don't want your bloatware. If I wanted Apple stuff, I would have an overpriced mac, etc etc.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[Rod.H]

Well I'd wondered WTF Foxboy going on about, wandered over to my itunes checked the store found only a storybook app then I checked 'your' store!

Bwah!

Season 1 MLP:FiM in HD: US$39.99; SD US$29.99, season pass for Season 2 HD: US$49.99; SD US$39.99. Yikes! Then I switched back and searched for a recent classic Ah My Goddess TV SD AU$71.76....ouch. Either way I've seen things cheaper on DVD. I'm so hoping that someone somewhere mistakenly entered the Japan price, but I doubt it.

--Rod.H

[Sweno]

Sadly the cost of the season pass is less than the cost of the dvds.

If they cram 4-5 episodes onto each dvd (questionable since hasbro has released dvds with 2 episodes on them), then you are looking at a minimum of 6 dvds. At $10 each, easy.

A season pass gets you better quality, for less money, 24 hours after it aired on TV.

The only real complaints I can see people bringing up is if they don't like itunes (and I agree, it sucks on windows), or if it's not available in your country (but then you would still have to deal with region encoded dvds).

Hasbro has said that they aren't going to release a box set version, because the target demographic (little girls) doesn't buy that kind of thing.

I'm not going to get into a rant about Hasbro getting fooled into a content deal. It's not 2003, everyone saw what apple did to the music industry. They know what they are getting into.
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

[Rod.H]

.....

Their target demographic doesn't buy much, they get their parents to get it for them. Parent's that would buy a My Little Pony DVD box set if it was available, especially if it came with an exclusive pack-in item. Then there's the collector market, which would go nuts if it was a retailer dependent exclusive pack-in item.

I checked Ah My Goddess on 'your' itunes store: US$36.99-38.99, which appears to be a regular pricepoint for some series.

[Proginoskes]

Yeah, iTunes (the Mac OS version, anyway) isn't that bad a piece of software (Though like OS X itself, it has a bad case of featuritis. The Mac OS version is optimized enough that it runs reasonably well despite being bloated as all hell.). The other thing with the iTunes name is positively rage-inducing, even to less-brainwashed members of the Cult of Mac. Apple's DRM scheme is utter bullshit, to say the very least. And the regional availability thing is ludicrous. MLP:FiM isn't even available in Canada, where the show is made.

But yes, Ponyarchive is a shining example of how not to respond to a C&D letter. First, copyright laws probably only vary in period of protection and exact definition of "fair use", which Ponyarchive definitely wasn't. Unless their servers were in space or on a ship not registered with any port anywhere that never left international waters, Hasbro would just use the local copyright laws to much the same effect. Second, that letter either marks them as significantly detached from reality, or is deliberately taunting, meaning the opposite of what it says and probably destroying whatever reasonableness of Hasbro's copyright lawyers survived the process of becoming copyright lawyers.

[dark seraph]

Considering how harsh Hasbros copyright lawyers can be with transformers (they recently managed to get a bunch of Knock off companys to shut down and run for the hills) they are probably going to hound Ponyarchives to the ends of the earth after that letter.

[CattyNebulart]

First, copyright laws probably only vary in period of protection and exact definition of "fair use",..

Yes and no, tough companies have a tendency to send DCMA notices to just about anyone and since that is an American law not all people are happy with getting such a letter. Imagine if you will that I sent cease and desist letters referencing Chinese or Indian law. Most Americans would (quite rightly IMHO) to f-off since that law does not apply to them, but many Americans (especially corporations, eg super-americans) feel that US law should apply world-wide. Some countries have very specific provisions that must be met before or while sending such a takedown letter, while some don't have a takedown mechanism at all. In some countries you must even prove that it is causing the copyright holder financial harm (not sure if the later is still true in any of the major economies, I don't think so, except maybe Spain).

Beyond that while the Berne convention is supposed to harmonize copyright laws there are a lot of different areas covered in different nations, with very different exemptions.

Anyway further discussion should probably go into politics, because I can rant on this topic for days.
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

[Jorlem]

Someone posted in one of the comments on EQD that he had geolocated up the ip address for their servers (173.245.60.103, 199.27.135.34), and they were in California.

Also, a word of warning: Don't go looking for the ponyarchive's insulting message. It's still up on their alternate site, which I went to out of curiosity to see if it was still there, and after a few seconds on the page, Avast popped up with a message saying that it had blocked a trojan. So, yeah.
Edit:
And now, dropping this topic...
See here for your daily recommended amount of D'aww.
-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber."  --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.

[dark seraph]

D'aww

[Wiregeek]

Flutterfish. My argument is invalid.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

[Black Aeronaut]

Thanks for the link, Jorlem.

Dragon Quest + Ponies FTW! http://www.ponymindbleach.com/index.php?imgid=82
Edit: That Flutterfish absolutely shattered me.

[dark seraph]

FISH! XD

[classicdrogn]

Well shooby-doo!

Shoop shooby-doo!

- CD
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[dark seraph]

More cuteness with a seasonal flair.

[Jorlem]

Nice, but why are the ponies bipedal?
-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber."  --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.

[dark seraph]

Why not?

[Reyemile]

[Wiregeek]

Sweno, you're falling behind!

Fallout: Equestria: Project: Horizons: Chapter 29

http://docs.google.com/d...dakUZDnkdo/edit?hl=en_US

I kinda wish they'd left the episode as a cliffhanger.. .
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

[Sweno]

Sweno is currently in an area of limited conectivity. So I'll have lots to catch up on when I get back
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

[Jorlem]

Crossposting this with the Game Everyone Loves to Play.

This is the extended version of Pinkie's Brew, from the fourth episode of the excellent parody series, Friendship is Witchcraft. If you haven't watched this series already, what are you waiting for?

(I'd embed it, but I don't know how with an iPod. Sorry)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=682pneYoP0c
-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber."  --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.

[dark seraph]

http://yudhaikeledai.devi...-Unit-Portrait-275761185

[Wiregeek]

BWUAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

I got the Mane Six, a background pony, The Worst Twilight Plush Ever, a freaking Logitech G27, Skyrim!, various clothes (almost all of them a very high degree of awesome)..

http://i.imgur.com/uE9Ea.jpg
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

[Sweno]

I'm sure I've missed some pony story updates, but here is one I caught while I have internets

Darkest Before Dawn: Ch 6 (GDocs)
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy