Leisure Suit Larry creator wants “infringing” Kickstarter campaign taken down | Hacker News Reader

Leisure Suit Larry creator wants “infringing” Kickstarter campaign taken down

venturebeat.com

45 pointsukdm15 comments

It does appear that Lowe is credited and mentioned many times, along with the LSL title. I'm curious, however, about this:

But Lowe and Trowe, who successfully raised more than $600,000 on Kickstarter to make the nostalgia game Leisure Suit Larry Reloaded, say that Lowe is not working on the project and they have misrepresented him and used his image (pictured right) without permission.

However, one of the pledge bonuses is as follows:

AL LOWE EDITION: Exclusive Dinner and a Show hosted by Al Lowe & Ken Wegrzyn: You’ll attend a jazz performance to see Al Lowe perform and play saxophone with his local jazz band MOJO and then whisked away to dinner with Al and Ken. Includes the $250 tier reward. (Travel to Seattle not included.)

Did they really just promise dinner with a guy without even asking him first or is there more to this story?

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1787675232/sam-suedetm-i...

It's possible that Wegrzyn figured that he and the 'winner' could go to a public performance of Lowe's band, and that he could convince Lowe to come to dinner with them afterwards.

If it's costing $10,000, there better be more than just hope of convincing someone the prize will come true. If this really is the case, then they are clearly abusing and using Lowe's name and should be held accountable.

Key detail: this does not refer to the successful Kickstarter campaign by the original creators of LSL (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1451923705/make-leisure-...), but to an entirely different Kickstarter campaign that just started (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1787675232/sam-suedetm-i...).

Uh, yeah, the guy doing suing is the original creator of LSL. He wouldn't sue his own project.

Thanks, this was confusing. I knew about the recent LSL campaign. It looks like this Sam Suede campaign probably saw how successful the LSL creator's kickstarter campaign was and wanted to cash in.

This is a very key detail, I was confusing both of them. I thought only the original one existed.

I was fairly certain that the infringing material was Sam Suede, which was the Wisecrack game...not Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded, which is the Replay game.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1787675232/sam-suedetm-i...

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/leisuresuitlarry/make-le...

1. Isn't 'misuse' of the Leisure Suit Larry name a violation of trademark law, not copyright?

2. How does implying that Lowe is working on the project a violation of IP rights at all? I would think that it would fall under defamation or fraud.

1. Depends how it is used. Pepsi can use the word 'Coke' in their ads if it is in respect to the product. I imagine saying your game is an adult comedy/sex game similar to Leisure Suit Larry isn't infringing. If the game were named Leisure Suit Laurence then that is definitely infringing due to brand confusion.

2. I have no clue so I'm not going to bother guessing. :)

1. You are right, but there are both potential copyright and potential trademark infringement claims in this suit.

2. The right of publicity is recognized in many states, and may be implicated here. You could place it under the umbrella of privacy or IP. There is also potentially a claim for commercial misappropriation of his likeness.

If they're ripping off his character and/or storyline, it could count as copyright infringement.

It could set a nasty precedent where people sue Kickstarter projects that get a sizable enough pot to grab. Knockoff games happen pretty often. I can't really see where the LSL guys are going with this aside from a simple cash grab...though I am being pretty cynical about it.

That makes no sense.

If they wanted the money you sue once the money has been raised, you don't have the project taken down.

I just don't see a legal basis for this, considering that Lowe did work on the game. It just sounds like he no longer has a financial stake in it, and no longer wants to indirectly help the project.

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