Joke A Bit Too Real For Shatner
2 min readWilliam Shatner‘s lawyers have sent a cease and desist letter to Sidhe Interactive, developers of the Shatter game but the joke is on them.
As reported by Game Set Watch, the lawyers have requested that the development of a “Shatner” mod for the Shatter game be stopped. But what the lawyers failed to realize is that there IS no “Shatner mod” in development.
A satirical news announcement by Game Console’s Krog, which can be seen here, caught the attention of Shatner’s legal team. “In the wake of the hugely successful launch of Shatter on the PlayStation Network local gaming outfit, Sidhe Interactive has announced a gaming mod available ‘within the next month,” said the announcement.
The “news article” went on to explain what the Shatner mod would do. “Shatner will feature exactly the same gameplay as the original title, but instead of destroying blocks the player will destroy William Shatners (circa 1968). As well as the new-look skin Wellington composer Module has also remixed Shatner’s infamous cover of Mr. Tambourine Man specifically for the mod. William Shatner was unavailable for comment.”
The cease and desist notice from Shatner’s lawyers to Sidhe said “We represent William Shatner and it has come to our attention that you are planning to develop or have already developed and will soon place on the market for commercial sale a digital game utilizing our client’s name and likeness as well as infringing on both Paramount’s rights to the character Captain Kirk and Bob Dylan‘s rights to the song Mr. Tambourine Man.”
“Please be advised that you are to immediately cease and desist the further development, production, and or distribution of the game Shatner or any other product that uses William Shatner’s name or likeness without first obtaining his approval.”
Sidhe’s Managing Director Mario Wynands responded to the correspondence, assuring the lawyers that the “report” that they had seen was not real. “The GameConsole ‘report’ you reference is what is commonly referred to on the internet as a ‘joke.’ The article is a parody of our game, and has no basis in reality in that it does not in any way reflect our intentions for further development of the Shatter IP or relate to any official statement we have made relating to the game.”
To read more, head to the article located here.
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