The Dumbest Lawsuit in Flash Game History
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- čas přidán 14. 06. 2024
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Today we dive into the story of Xiao Xiao, an animated stick figure series that became the topic of discussion online after its creator sued Nike over copyright infringement, which eventually stirred the question: can you really copyright a stick man?
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Second Channel: / @slow_start2
Notable Sources:
www.taipeitimes.com/News/worl...
www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/...
web.archive.org/web/200511220...
dbpedia.org:8891/page/Zhu_Zhiq...
www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/...
Music:
Happy-Go-Lively - Laurie Johnson
Cool Vibes - Kevin Macleod
Miitomo Shop - Miitomo Music
Jazz Ass - Shifty
Casino Background Music - Music for Video Library
Corduroy and Cheese - Piotr Pacyna
Casino Jazz - Pink Banana
Water Township Song (Bamboo Flute) - Nice Chinese Music
Fight Like Hell - White Bat Audio
Curious Notion - Terry Devine-King
Sport Racing Metal - Infraction
Covert Affair - Kevin Macleod
Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
0:55 - The Impact of Flash
2:02 - The Stick Figure
3:11 - Stick Figures & Violence
5:04 - Enter Xiao Xiao
7:27 - The Mystery of Zhu
8:09 - The Rise of Xiao Xiao
9:29 - The Nike Commercials
11:00 - Pursuing Legal Action
12:09 - Taking Nike to Court
14:00 - Chinese Copyright Laws
15:19 - The Court's First Verdict
16:46 - Nike's Appeal
17:44 - Analyzing the Lawsuit
18:34 - Zhu's Disappearance
19:00 - Conclusion - Zábava
Thanks for watching guys. You can grab Atlas VPN for just $1.83/mo + 3 months extra before the deal expires: get.atlasvpn.com/slowstart 👍
bro you blasting me with teh 4k
ScamVPN
No, try making money some other way.
Ngl I'd watch a whole video on flash games in general, how the community took off and how they evolved into the modern indie/mobile game industry. There's definitely an interesting nostalgia deep dive and cultural history to explore there.
Agreed!
Ooo yeah I’d love to learn how it started. There’s a lot i don’t know 😅
It would be hard to make such a video and not have it be 85% about Newgrounds. Its history is also a video in itself.
You’re in luck because someone recently did just that. “The history of flash games” or something like that. Worth a watch
As a retro computing dude, I appreciate your gratuitous use of that wonderful Viewsonic monitor. Once again, you knocked it out of the park with the video. I do like seeing your face more in the narration, it brings more personality to the video. The small comedic bits are a wonderful addition. Bravo again slowstart.
Thank you so much, as always, Apostate ;) So glad you're enjoying the small changes I've made to my format as well!
I only recently found out that they still produce monitors lol
I'd be a very different person if I didn't grow up with Flash content. ESPECIALLY the stick stuff.
You’d be Sir Isaac Newton
the most disturbing part of this video is that now you even have to censure stick figure gore..
I used to browse sites like Newgrounds and AlbinoBlackSheep when I was way too young to be doing so. I remember seeing Xiao Xiao 3 for the first time when I was like 5 years old (I don't remember if I found it myself or if my older sister showed me). I was entranced by that short. I watched it all the time and I became a huge fan of the series and stick-figure content in general. Never knew about the lawsuit but then again, I was so young it would have just went over my head. It's really too bad to hear that the creator of a very special series from my childhood was actually a huge dick haha.
I miss the creativity of those days. I would never trade the speed and reliability of the internet today compared to 2000, but I'd definitely trade today's content for yesterday's art.
Dude!!! How does this channel only have 50K, this stuff is great! Keep up the good work dude it will absolutely pay off!!!
Zhu disappearing is the weird part for me. Like, I'm not surprised he stopped making Xiao Xiao. After the lawsuit (well, the second one) he knew that his "character" (that he thought of as his) was able to be monetized, but not _just_ by him. However I am surprised by his total disappearance, I would've figured he would have just made a character a little more detailed (and copyright-enforceable) and gone back to doing the same big fight style of video. I sure hope the dude wasn't so demoralized by the loss that he just quit art altogether. That'd be a bummer.
I think the funniest part of this video is theres actually such a thing as Chinese copyright law...
LETS GOOOOOOOOO
@@JR1ckDoodleswtf
? Sound racist bro
@@swisserty it isn’t racist it’s just joking about the fact that there are a ton of Chinese bootleg stuff that usually never gets caught by the law
@@CTGReviews Yea, I just feel like Chinese companies get away with copyright infringement the most.
Copy-Right laws in China exist* But they exist almost exclusively at the betterment of Chinese People.
Implying it's never actually fair. In the rest of the entire world this entire case would have been thrown out for how stupid it is, but Zhu is a Chinese Man suing a Western Company in China. This exact same case has played out hundreds if not thousands of times over the last 30 years in China and most of the time they are just as idiotic and somehow the person with no real case at all wins.
the reason is simple, China has removed the individual from the collective, there is no "Person in China", China views the people as part of the nation, if the people do well, china does well, if the people get humiliated, china gets humiliated.
America and litterly most nations in the world have the individual and the state seperate, if an American does something stupid like scam millions with fake blood testing invetion, nobody will look at america as "The nation that allowed that to happend" more like "This person who happends to be american, did that horrible thing"
in China if someone does something bad, let's just say that either china sides with you or makes you disappear before you cause china public image to take an hit.
so in the first case it was very much skewed to Zhu, he's chinise, he made something popular in china, saying "Oh yeah this lawsuit is stupid" makes whole of china looks stupid as resault so they had the sham trial to claim "No, it's the dirty capitalist westernern that steal from us proud chinise, they must apologize!"
unfortunatly with the second trial that they thought they'd win again, they forgot that US lawyers are not stupid and the second time around they played China game and china well they just couldn't win no matter how sham the trial was.
Wasn’t this video already uploaded? I remember watching it on this channel a few months ago
It’s a remaster
Almost completely rewritten with over 10 minutes of new information and context!
Imagine trying to sue a major company over the use of a doodle archetype that literal children draw while bored.
Based ikr
so did you like, ignore Zhu's argument completely?
@@SnoFitzroy the argument of "no guys im really popular on the internet trust me" hes a hack
Ah I miss flash games….the only stickman game I’ve played is um Henry stickmin😂
That's a goodie!
this is the greatest video detailing flash importance ive ever seen, and not just because it includes clips of games and things that I ENGAGED WITH personally. my nostalgia aside. youve somehow found a way to make a video essay that isnt boring or obnoxious, and youve found a billion perfect clips and screencaps that show off the best and worst parts of these eras. i love your style so much!
Thank you so much for this wonderful comment! It's really heartwarming to hear, as I loved covering this story so much but it is one of my lesser known videos. Appreciate ya!
Hey, I think you are making some great videos and I am really enjoying your content. One small thing I think you could change, however, would be the volume of the sound effects you use. Right now they can be a bit distracting and I think turning them down to 75% or even 50% would be a nice touch. Otherwise I think you are doing great and your channel is definitely going in the right direction.
Definitely noted! Thank you for the feedback!
Bro really looked at his old content and was like "I can do better". Chad energy.
even though the last video was great, this one certinatly shoes vast improvement and such. 10/10
LOL. You're too kind man, glad to see you've stuck around :')
@@hbcreates8355 I strive to keep improving, so thank you for saying that!
0:15 that self-reference got me LOL I'm so glad I found this channel, filled with interesting stories and accompanied with your superb narrating skills. 5/8 would watch again.
this is truly the lawsuit of flash game history
I'm glad you use that shifty song so often, I've liked it for a long time
I'm glad you don't find it annoying! I try to sneak DnB into videos wherever I can get away with it ;)
my understanding was that xaio xaio meant short short or to say, a very short animated short film.
Fun fact, part of my online monikers, Etrius, comes from a Stick Page animation called the Castle Series, probably the most lore rich and thrilling narrative I found, idk if its ever been ported so it may be lost with flash.
Funny, I was hoping to see a new video when I looked on here today and lucky me haha 🙏🏻 can’t wait dude.
0:23 holy, that alien animation! I haven't seen that in 25 years, now that brought back memories I didnt even know I had
Another upload lets go! This channel is going places
Thank you dude!
That angry Nike-mouthed smiley is utter perfection
"i guess some things never change" indeed lol
Nick, you have incredible comedic timing and your videos are professionally done. Well done, amigo. I subscribed and look forward to future videos. Cheers! 👍
Thank you Matthew for taking the time to send such a kind comment! This kind of feedback keeps me inspired to push my content further. Much appreciated!
13:48 Attacked his life points directly LOL
Another great video. Loved it!!
I was expecting this to be the other way around
To be fair, if anyone tries to use my intellectual property (or something that looks oddly similar) for commercial gain, I would be pissed.
But, if they're doing it without the intention of commercial gain, I'll most certainly allow it.
I'm glad the appeal went through. Chinese copyright law is notorious for looking the other way when their own people steal intellectual property from others, but is very, VERY strict against non-Chinese nationals.
Well duh, it’s Chinese law afterall
@@FlymanMS What first world countries do you know of that hardly ever prosecute their own people for copyright infringement, but go out of their way to prosecute other people for it?
@@averagewhiteguy2 idk but it's based
@@conorfromouterspace I would agree, but I hate the Chinese, so I won't call it based.
@@averagewhiteguy2 White people always get their way while people of color are oppressed and stolen of their creative property.
Your videos are amazing. Super high quality and entertaining. I hope you succeed and keep growing fast. (fast start)
Thank you so much!
Stick figure death theater is a deep memory from my childhood, and I’m so happy you dug it up! 😂 My dad actually showed me the site at first. He was 43 and I was 8 but it was right up my alley
Holy shit dude, I used to watch all the stickdeath videos back in 97-99.
Governments all over the world are truly wild. Making that dude pay 8 grand for the trial, as if Nike or China couldn't have covered the cost of a minor dispute, is wild.
Who else remembers an old gif where a stick man figure would try to open a door by throwing bigger and bigger attacks at it? I remember it was everywhere back then
Dude these are great. Good work.
Thanks a ton!
The one stick figure flash movies I remember most fondly were the animator vs animation series
Videos like this is why i love this odd place we call youtube ❤🎉
too kind!!
@@slow_start your welcome, you pulled me in with shrek and I've been catching up with the rest of your stuff, all fantastic and im excited to see what comes next
I still have flash on my Mac I refuse to go through with that prompt that pops up every time I turn it on I’ll never let go!!!
GOOD VIDEO! I REALLY LIKED THE EDITING!
Thank you!
The only Renaissance that short content has brought is one of massacring attention spans even further.
lol, agreed!
What a story! Interesting! Thank you
Thanks as always, Lunar!
RING RING RING RING RING RING RING BANANAPHONE DO DO DADO DADO
I remember making stick videos. I completely forgot about that. Thanks for the memories
Here's another topic you can talk about flash games from newgrounds
There's one fan-game that is a tribute to DmC games, its called Fear Unlimited (including it's prequels called issue 1 and 2)
it had a different story and its very dark, try give it a shot and see what you think.
Those sound super autisticaky
"set the bar for what stick animation is capable of" Only people around in the early 2000s can really appreciate that brilliant statement. :)
i was like damn Zhu (the producer) made stick games?
Nice vid! 😊
“Bongiorno… I’m in-a-France watching-a Big Mouth” . Bro’s in France speaking Italian.
Something I'm surprised that didn't come up was the fact that both Stickmen were different mediums entirely, CGI vs 2D. Also the proportions and mannerisms of the stick figures are very different, and on top of that, Xiao Xiao tended to have eyes, while the Nike one did not. Quite a silly court case‼️
YOUR CHANNEL BOOMIN
Brings back damn many memories..... Maybe time to light one up and dig out the Albinoblacksheep stuff.
China suing for copyright infringement... I find the irony delicious.
Is this a remake of the video you had already made?
That's right! But with over 10 minutes of additional content :)
@@slow_start thanks for replying! I knew it looked familiar.
xiao xiao was genually cool
I commented the thing about the floating head before you even got to that point lol
I'm glad all the stick figure drawings I did as a kid were thrown in the trash. I'd hate to get sued for that.
Man, I used to love Stickpage lol. It's a shame Zhu decided to go down that path.
I think I’ve never seen a video which so precisely demonstrates the cut off point of me getting involved with the internet, I must’ve been around 2005 or 2006 looking at the library of works that already existed on Newgrounds and definitely caught some brand new episodes of Super Mario Bros Z at the time, but I clearly missed the stick man era, fascinating
I loved Xaio Xaio as a kid. Didnt even know of this lawsuit though. Crazy
He should have called Saul
A lot of people won't go after small creations inspired by them but highly commercialized recreations are very different, you could just as easily say Nike is doing a cash grab by using a character that is very similar to a niche popular one without paying any royalty fees yet made much more money from these ads
soo many memories were unlocked by this video
Stickman games and movies were the shit when i took my first steps into computing on Win 95 and 98 in school. 🤘🏼
Also the crazy frog sound before it was crazy frog.
13:42
Dread "EXHIBET C".... so damning!!! LOL!
i'm going to start saying "stick figure argument" when discussing things like frivolous lawsuits bc it reminds me of strawman argument and it's got a very funny backstory that i'll get to explain to folks if they ask what i mean lol
can somebody please tell me what the tmnt poster is, i am losing my mind over it. i could make out that it's a department of social services poster and it's the " say no to drugs. say yes to pizza " picture but there's more to this one
It's not just Newgrounds and Stickpage. Xiao Xiao is archived on Flashpoint as well.
It's crazy how you can trademark a fucking stick figure.
It's crazy how you can copyright a tick, but Nike did... what's the difference?
China has copyright laws??
Yep
xiao xiao was my childhood flash game pleaseeee, one of my faves
Just hearing the name Macromedia sent my brain through a nostalgia trip.
Cool video!
Glad you found this one, and thanks so much!
😭😭me and my friends used to play xiao xiao9 every DAY! 😂 finding out the whole backstory to it is a trip! Your videos,presentation,skits and subject material are phenomenal bro your making some of my favourite stuff on CZcams rn😤🔥
Thank you so much dude!
Omg i remember the hiding your fart one you showed
I loved xiao xiao 3 when I was young, it took forever to load
How can Nike trademarka swoosh, it's just a tick✅
Tbis channel is criminally underrated. Amazing content.
Bro made the first john wick with stick figures
i saw the OG video. W remake
Thank you dude! I thought it was worth doing!
I thought China didn't have Copyright law back then.
They only enforce it against non Chinese
another banger
I remember playing xiao xiao 3 all the time as a kid
How do I upload my “STIK DETH 4 EVA” tattoo???
What's really bizarre to me is how Nike, a company with hundreds of millions of dollars, is fighting so hard to get a mere $16k. Surely their lawyer fees far outweighed anything they gained?
Xiao Xiao was amazing at the time. I was a huge fan.
18:18 see, this is where I disagree, because the others who copied his style did so on a non-profit or little profit basis. Not something most creators care about. Nike, on the other hand..
God, I loved flash games I was hanging around on newgrounds and Armorgames *way* too much for that age. lol
Still vividly remember games like Electric man with its dope music, Stick war, or my favorite of course: Stormwinds. I loved everything about that game, the soundtrack, the steampunk aesthetic, the engaging gameplay loop. I still want an actual game like that.
Not including court costs, didn't he still walk away with $20,000?
BRO I REMEMBER TERKOIZ
WHY IS THERE A JARJAR figurine in your collection 😂😂😂😂
I remember watching animations like these on the 3DS flipnote app. I don't think Zhu ever posted anything on there but I remember seeing some stick man animations that definitely resembled his. RIP Flipnote ✊😔
I used to LOVE xiaoxiao as a child lol.
Ahhhh, I remember the days of Web 1.0. It was the glory years of the internet before the smelly dumpster fire that it is now.
I guess these stick figures were more of a "boy on the early 00's internet" thing.
What flash game is that at 1:35? I remember playing it a millennia ago.
pretty sure it’s stick rpg complete, hope this helps 5 months later lol
Flash got me started in animation when it first came out. I was already familiar with digital art programs by then and had a good tablet, so it was just the next logical step in my side hustle of commissioned art. I started with stick figures like everyone else to learn the basics and had some group Flash games on Newgrounds, (I was a teenager, not an animation student), and moved on from there. Good times.
But seriously, everyone animated stick figures. You can't copyright a stick man. We all did it. There were always subtle personal differences. The Nike Stick Man had the detached head and it was also a 3D figure (the lines have highlights, and weren't solid black like Zhu's were, which you didn't mention; it wasn't animated in Flash).
I feel like you're too young to have personal experience with this era, and now I feel old. 😂