copyright copyright-notice copyright-transfer authorship
Can I monetize a Pokemon themed App in Google Store
<p>I have created a Pokemon themed app , and I'm going to upload it to Google Store but I have some doubts. I have two versions of the app , one free and another &quot;premium&quot; which costs 2$ , also I want to introduce ads in the app in order to get some money . Is this legal ? Can Pokemon turn down my app ? Do I need to specify something in the description in order to tell Pokemon that the content I use don't belong to me ?</p>

<p>Your app is a simple case of copyright infringement. All the <a href="https://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?Search_Arg=pokemon&amp;Search_Code=TALL&amp;PID=G2g-Ue4N7FBPI5C4cgfwhAp_cLW&amp;SEQ=20200731113717&amp;CNT=25&amp;HIST=1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Pokémon</a> are copyrighted, the lettering and names are also protect by trademarks.</p>
<p>Trying to claim fair use will be outright impossible: you'll use huge portions of the individually protected Pokemon (the iconic ones like <a href="https://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?Search_Arg=pikachu&amp;Search_Code=TALL&amp;PID=G2g-Ue4N7FBPI5C4cgfwhAp_cLW&amp;SEQ=20200731113717&amp;CNT=25&amp;HIST=1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Pikachu</a>) and you are usurping a market they are already in. They have given licenses for apps (Pokemon Go). Pokemon are artistic and some form of fiction. The last straw might be if you'd do a rather obvious parody, but even then, I see no way to show Fair Use with what you stated. No disclaimer can change that, and publishing your work might open you to a huge lawsuit with damages for each individually protected Pokemon you infringed on. With between 750 $ minimum and 150,000 $ absolute upper limit <em>per infringed item</em> (last is for willful infringement), you don't want to infringe on Pokemon, as you could be very easily liable for a number in the 6 to 9 digits! Even if Nintendo might only try to get the statutory damages for all the 900 Pokémon, that is a number of at least 675,4000 $.</p>
<p>And that's before looking at Trademarks. Pikachu has <a href="https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=87895396+%0985201634+%0975979378+%0975979376+%0975416894+75416893&amp;caseType=SERIAL_NO&amp;searchType=multiStatus" rel="nofollow noreferrer">about 6 live word marks</a> and there are 111 different <code>Pokémon</code> trademarks filed (some expired or dead)!</p>
