Square Enix launches new lawsuit

By Ellie Gibson Published 13 February, 2008

Against naughty sword makers.

Square Enix has announced plans to behead, in a legal sense of course, wholesalers ripping off the weapons featured in the Final Fantasy series.

The company has filed a lawsuit in California against "at least four wholesalers of unlicensed sword replicas" who have "willfully infringed at least four videogames" and one film. More names could be put on the list in future, apparently.

According to Square Enix, this marks the start of a renewed crackdown on piracy and theft of intellectual property. The company has already reached settlements with retailers of similar items, with "substantial financial penalties" handed over by the offending parties.

Square Enix is working together with the United States Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Patrol, taking a break from finding terrorists and arresting Mexicans to seize a crate of replica swords. Together they were able to track down the primary wholesalers and retailers of the swords, and Square Enix has launched the lawsuit against those who were unwilling to "co-operate".

"We are actively pursuing those who commit intellectual property infringement against our company," said Yasuhiko Hasegawa, representing Square Enix.

"While Square Enix appreciates the enthusiasm of its fans, and values its relationship with them, it is also obligated to protect its intellectual property rights or risk weakening or losing the very rights that enable the company to continue to provide its fans with an exciting entertainment experience."

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (13) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Dizzy #1 4 years ago

    Probably all WoW swords anyway.

  • jamespo #2 4 years ago

    Shame... nothing impresses the ladies more than a replica Final Fantasy sword hanging above the TV

  • Rirekon #3 4 years ago

    I own a scale replica of Sephiroth's sword from FFVII :-D

  • penhalion #4 4 years ago

    What in the world do replica swords have to do with final fantasy? The only thing Square could possibly sue for is if they used the name final fantasy on the actual swords. The games's sowrds don't exist in the physical sense and have never been made by square so they really don't have a claim to someone making one that happens to look similar to one featured in the game. This is already a point in law. Rights in one media i.e. computer games does not grant you rights in another i.e metal!

    Name and brand are different matters though.

  • Triggerhappytel #5 4 years ago

    pehalion - this is taking place in America though. You can sue for pretty much anything there with no real reason, so it seems.

    EDIT - oh, and they probably are selling the swords under the FF name, anyhow.
    Edited by 1 at 13/02/08 @ 11:17

  • DB2k #6 4 years ago

    what a bunch of cry babies.. its not like they are making them and selling them is it?

  • LiamK #7 4 years ago

    "I own a scale replica of Sephiroth's sword from FFVII :-D"

    Is it hanging above the TV, and does it impress the ladies?

  • cloud_ix #8 4 years ago

    Under law if you don't protect your IP you lose the right to it. So even tohugh it's not damaging the company in any way. They need to look like they care so that they don't lose the rights to their games.

  • Freek #9 4 years ago

    Last I heard the "we have to sue them" is a common myth about copyright spread by PR departments so the company doesn't look bad for stamping on insignificant hobby-ists.

  • Rirekon #10 4 years ago

    @LiamK: It's not above the TV, it weighs too much to trust above anything fragile, though there have been several ladies impressed by it...

  • penhalion #11 4 years ago

    @Triggerhappytel

    You are right of course. People in america have pretty much ruined their culture by sueing so frequently.

    Thank's for ignoring the bad grammar. I had my boss looking over my way so I had to look like I was coding on one monitor while typing the comment in another ;)

    Frightening thing is he complemented me on my excellent work a few minutes later! Almost gave me a heart attack!

    I'm about a week ahead of everyone else so I'm in look bloody busy mode.

  • Raiftel #12 4 years ago

    How the hell do you even showcase a 7 foot long Katana?
    Edited by 1 at 13/02/08 @ 14:28

  • Aysir #13 4 years ago

    "What in the world do replica swords have to do with final fantasy? The only thing Square could possibly sue for is if they used the name final fantasy on the actual swords."
    When the replica's are of the Buster, Masamune, Gunblade and Tsurugi then yeah, square can sue. And there are a lot of such replica's.