Hey, Nintendo: You Cool With ICE Using Your Pokémon IP To Recruit More Goons?
from the this-isn't-a-game dept
If we were to play a Techdirt word association game where you say the first thing that comes to your mind when I say “Nintendo,” the answer had better be “intellectual property bully” for most regular readers here. If not, well, I specifically haven’t done my job very well. Nintendo is incredibly protective and litigious when it comes to all of its IP, with that surrounding the Pokémon franchise being no exception. No potential infringement over the years has ever been too small for Nintendo to get the lawyers involved.
Well, we’re going to see if there any limits on the larger end of that spectrum now, because DHS released what I guess is a recruiting video that turns the entire prospect of enforcing our immigration laws into a fucking game of Pokémon.
The one-minute video features footage of individuals being arrested by US officers, spliced with clips and music from the catchy opening theme of the Japanese animé, which Nintendo partly owns.
The DHS video ends with several mock Pokémon “cards” featuring some of the people the DHS says it has arrested and deported, describing them as “worst of the worst” and detailing their alleged crimes, including attempted murder and burglary.
The US Customs and Border Protection agency also replied to the video on X with a GIF of a dancing Pikachu, a popular Pokémon character, saying it was the “Border Patrol’s newest recruit”.
So let’s get the obvious out of the way: this is gross. It’s gross because these are human beings we’re talking about, no matter any crimes or transgressions they may have committed. It’s gross because the analogy to Pokémon would suggest that we’re collecting these human beings in order to pit them against one another in battles. It’s gross because DHS and ICE absolutely suck at their jobs, and do so while hiding their identities so they cannot be held accountable. It’s gross because this is all being done in the context of ICE operating with court-approved racism. It’s gross because at least one of the images of a door being blown open in the video is from ICE activity that got Kristi Noem in trouble.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council advocacy group, said a door that is shown near the start of the video being blown up was at a home “where multiple US citizens lived”.
“They were never shown a warrant and were handcuffed and led out the shattered door into the light of the fleet of cameras Kristi Noem brought to the raid for PR,” he wrote on X.
And it’s obviously some flavor of trademark and copyright infringement as well. Which is why plenty of people seeing this on various social media sites are tagging Nintendo and asking them what the hell they’re going to do about it.
Dozens of online users have responded to the Pokémon video on X by tagging Nintendo and asking the company if it was aware its property was being used for “ICE propaganda”. Nintendo has not publicly commented on the video, and The Independent has contacted the company for a response.
“A new example of the political aesthetic we know as Cute Authoritarianism,” Scottish novelist Ewan Morison wrote on X in response to the video.
Well, Nintendo? We’re waiting! Unleash the legal hounds! Send the C&D letters. File lawsuits. This is, after all, what you do!
Meanwhile, the Pokemon Company came out with a statement, saying that they’re aware of the situation and the use is unapproved by them. However, IGN quotes (former Techdirt podcast guest) Don McGowan who used to be Pokemon Company’s top lawyer saying:
“I don’t see them doing anything about this for a few reasons,” McGowan, now principal at Extreme Grownup Services, told IGN today. “First, think of how little you see [The Pokémon Company International]’s name in the press. They are INSANELY publicity-shy and prefer to let the brand be the brand.
“Second, many of their execs in the USA are on green cards,” he continued. “Even if I was still at the company I wouldn’t touch this, and I’m the most trigger-happy CLO [Chief Legal Officer] I’ve ever met. This will blow over in a couple of days and they’ll be happy to let it.”
Seems pretty unfortunate for all involved, and a depressing statement on the nature of the US government these days.
But, Nintendo isn’t in the same situation really. So it really should speak up. Because if it doesn’t, then the assumption will be made either that you officially or tacitly endorse the use of your property in the rounding up of sometimes-illegal immigrants by ICE, or that you don’t really care all that much about the misuse of your intellectual property any longer.
Those are the only two options.
Filed Under: copyright, dhs, ice, kristi noem, pokemon, recruiting video, trademark
Companies: nintendo, pokemon
Comments on “Hey, Nintendo: You Cool With ICE Using Your Pokémon IP To Recruit More Goons?”
"But, Nintendo isn’t in the same situation really."
Except, you forget that they own part of the Pokemon company international. Which is helping Nintendo with the palworld case.
And to note, I don’t see Nintendo pursuing legal action either, since much like TPCI, some if their execs are on green cards.
Re:
You mean like when the article quoted:
Re: Re:
Sorry, I tend to type fast and not see errors. 😅
“Founded in 1926, the original purpose of the Hitler Youth was to train boys to enter the SA (Storm Troopers), a Nazi Party paramilitary formation. After 1933, however, youth leaders sought to integrate boys into the Nazi national community and to prepare them for service as soldiers in the armed forces or, later, in the SS.”
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/indoctrinating-youth
“But they’re heroes! They’re just out there arresting the evil criminal
Jewsimmigrants who are ‘poisoning the blood of our country.'”When we call them fascists, it’s not just an insult. It means something. It’s the product of studying history and of pattern recognition.
Re:
Perhaps you should study a bit more and improve your pattern recognition skills. The HUGE difference is that Jews in Nazi Germany were law abiding CITIZENS for generations. They weren’t breaking international laws by entering the country illegally and unfairly milking its system of government. (For the record, if you enter a place like say, Mexico, illegally they will detain you for up to 60 days and then deport you. Mexico’s immigration agency, the National Migration Institute, regularly conducts raids within Mexico to deport migrants. The Rio Grande is a popular spot for such events.)
First for all practical purposes the pokemon company is nintenshit. If I remember right they share a building.
And of course.. It’s nintenshit going after palworld and filing patents for pokemon.
But, they are a bully and it was only a lifetime ago that they profited off the yakuza. They aren’t going to fight when they aren’t punching down and they definitely aren’t going to stand up to mob behavior.
Re:
Nintendo is not The Pokemon Company, The Pokemon Company was specifically established so that Nintendo was not the dominant rights-holder of Pokemon. Each of the three companies involved in the original development of Pokemon have an equal third share of the franchise.
Wasn’t there some rule that if you don’t regularly defend your IP (or trademark?) then you lose it?
Seems like if they don’t defend it, it opens the doors to dismissal of future lawsuits.
Re:
I’m fairly certain that’s a trademark thing. Copyright protection is only lost if you actively give it away, or the copyright term expires.
I want to personally thank you for this article as it is a wonderful contribution to the Republican party.
I wouldn’t be surprised if nothing happens. The same way I’m not surprised to see Italy, Germany and Japan aligned (along with the US and their lap dog Israel – or maybe it’s the opposite?) in very problematic issues including but not limited to supporting the Gaza genocide by not taking action. Where have I seen these guys cooperating in a bad way again? Oh…
Bullies are usually also cowards. Nothing surprising about this at all.
Carrying ID
When I got my citizenship at a naturalization ceremony, I was told that I would no longer need to carry ID to prove my legal right to be in the USA.
This administration has made that a lie.
Re:
Not really. Carry all the ID you want, and you might still get deported. It may even turn out that you’re part of some gang you’ve never heard of.
'Why would we sue over that, we love those guys!'
Given how insanely protective and lawsuit-happy Nintendo is over anything and everything related to their stuff if they let this one pass it can and should be read as them doing so because they support the use and, most importantly the association.
Ice Barbie not respecting people’s copyrights seems to be as much a thing as her not respecting their civil rights…
https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacharyfolk/2025/09/24/dhs-appears-to-take-down-deportation-video-featuring-theo-von-after-podcasters-objections/
new possibilities
It seems to me that the recruiting material is a government work, possibly done for hire by an advertising firm. So if I wanted to copy bits of that, well.
Most beautiful
It’s the most beautiful video ever.
Nintendo lawyer: “I’m the most trigger-happy CLO [Chief Legal Officer] I’ve ever met.” At least they are self-aware!
This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it.
Yesss, let’s call government employees trying to do their jobs, “goons”. Why not throw out the word gestapo while you’re at it? Isn’t that the dog whistle to get the leftwing crazies to take them out like they did Charlie Kirk?
Retaliation
Nintendo and/or The Pokémon Company likely considers that the risk of retaliation – e.g. green cards of executives being illegally “canceled”, as well as a PR disaster if the government goes after the company, is too high of a risk – especially taking into account what happened when DeSantis was mad at Disney. No company wants to be the subject of the next Reedy Creek fiasco – this probably explains why so many companies have been cozying up to the Drumpf regime.
So now we want companies to abuse IP law?