Kotaku
Turns out that despite all those breaking into people's homes, running across football fields and trying to shove people off high rises, the King isn't as cheerful a guy as one might suspect.
The General Counsel for Greenfield Online, the company conducting a survey about Burger King possibly creating some next-gen King-infested video games, was the opposite of delighted to learn that we were sent the information along with concept images.
The GC of GO (for BK) claims we are violating the intellectual property rights of Burger King and demands we remove the images and text post haste.
We're not taking down the post, but we will take some of those scrumptious breakfast sandwiches the King has been peddling. We'll gladly trade in our claim of Fair Use for a bag full of delicious sausage Croissan'wiches.
Hit the jump for the official lawyer speak. I guess we can take this as a confirmation?
Good Evening: I am the General Counsel for Greenfield Online, Inc. It has come to our attention that Kotaku.com has posted an item regarding confidential game concepts being considered by Burger King. The posting displays confidential, proprietary and copyrighted information of our client. It is our belief that Kotaku.com has received these images and the information in the posting from and individual or individuals who are not authorized to disclose the information. This information was disclosed to research participants who were not authorized to make additional disclosures, and in disclosing the information may have violated the intellectual property rights of our client.
Kotaku.com's continued posting of this information and these images constitutes participation in this infringement, and may subject it to legal action and resulting damages. The purpose of this communication is to demand that you immediately remove the images and text regarding these game concepts from the following page: http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/top/burger-king-to-sell-xbox-360-games-166066.php [Kotaku]
Comments
Amazingly petty over something do amazingly boring anyway :) It's been leaked all over the place by now, i'm sure these lawyers will have a field day wasting everyone's time sending out petty threats. Well, at least they'll be earning that high salary eh?
Can I not be the first to say that the mascot of the "Burger King" is terrible and does in fact scare little children (and myself in more vulnerable times). The oversized frozen face, the plastic complexion, the royal robe, the way he perverts footage of NFL games during football season... Who thought this guy was a good idea to sell fast food?
"It has come to our attention..." really means someone was reading Kotaku at work, and they needed an excuse when questioned about it.
Glad to see you guys telling the lawyers to piss off this time.
I'm confused why they want to keep it secret? The games will be nothing stellar and would make more sense as free downloads via Live than 360 discs in kid's meals. Lawyers do get all jumpy over nothing, but from what I understand if they stop moving they can't breath. Completely off topic to ill conceived marketing plans of fast food giants, but does anyone have the image used for this post is a size suitable for desktop bacground?
I dunno where the king gets all the negative press. i think he's awesome. HOMEBOY BRINGS YOU SAMMICHES IN BED YO!!
Boo BK. Keep us posted to what happens. Big thumbs down to 'em.
Before you start booing BK, best recognize. The post clearly shows that this letter came from the general counsel for Greenfield Online, a completely separate and huge market research company . As in, a lawyer representing a company that does business with Burger King. Greenfield is clearly trying to cover their asses by siccing their lawyers. Sounds like they'll either lose a nice juicy account, or Burger King / Yum! Brands will get a wicked awesome discount on market research for the next 12 months. In any case, don't blame the king. I thought that dancing girl commercial was fantastic.
nothing like trying to kill the buzz for a product. Kinda like NBC and YouTube
Burger KRAP!
Wel, I still think that a game with The King in it would be pretty sweet. The afforementioned priceofonly $4 would actually make it worth for me to actually enter a Burger King in the first place :P
Man, the King is awesome! I would buy a game with him in it in a heartbeat. :-D
Likewise, I think this is a pretty cool idea.
I find the BK ads disturbing and come to think of it haven't eaten in one since they started. I was also happy to see the one near my house went out of business. : )
Lawyers trying to intimidate Kotaku into taking down posts should be injected into an infinite loop sequence drawn from Prince of Persia where they plummet onto a bed of spikes over and over.
While it may be the advertising firm, I doubt that BK wasn't behind authorizing the questioning. Remember when Nintendo's Revolution survey was leaked? Nobody aggressively sought cease-and-desist letters, but they did acknowledge that the images were improperly leaked. This is a direct threat of legal action. I stopped eating at Burger King when I realized that, hey, their burgers are... well, not terribly good. When they pulled the stunt in FNR3, I was even more turned off. With this stunt, I'm definitely boycotting BK. This is ridiculous. Stick it to the King! (And get poutine rather than the sandwiches. They're more expensive.)
I love how every single place I've seen this news bit has the headline "Burger King sues blog" not even recognizing that it wasn't actually Burger King doing the suing. And their fried products (chicken fries and french fries) are my favorite fast food since popcorn chicken.
OK, you got me. I'll go to McDonald's next time. Bad bad Burger King...
Um... For the records, Burger King is NOT a Yum Brands... brand.
Start a discussion:
Login with your username and password below. Or comment on this post via email.
Forgot your username or password? New User?