The game Angry Birds is a puzzle type video game by Finnish with Rovio Mobile in the designers seat. It was released in 2009 for Apple’s iOS initially. The popularity of the game grew and over 12 million copies were sold inspiring other versions. Touch-screen based Smartphone supporting programs such as android made the game’s fame soar. Today Angry Birds can be purchased for computers as well as most video game consoles.
As the reputation grew for these angry little wingless birds the merchandise want grew faster. Angry Bird merchandise can be found in several different forms from adorable plush characters to free games. This slingshot inspired game has created television shows and even movies. Clothing, toys and decor also line the shelves of retail stores worldwide. There is even a five-part essay by Giridhari Dasa that was written based on the game of birds and pigs.
At the same time as the popularity of Angry Birds grows so does Finnish’s need to protect their copyrights. Several other companies and individuals have tried or are still trying to copy cat the Angry Birds design to benefit from it’s recognition. Along with the copy cats there are illegal downloads and merchandise for Finnish to deal with. This has lead to several different legal issues for the Finnish company and the chances of it continuing are great.
One of the biggest issues this year has to do with a theme park in China. In Changsha, a Hunan province, an Angry Birds based park has opened in September without the permission of the Finland-based company Rovio. This has violated several of Finnish’s copyrights leaving the theme park facing a list of legal issues.
Although the parks marketing manager, Ye Xiumei, had said the Angry Birds exhibit will only be open till the end of September they still didn’t shut it down immediately. The parks existence alone gives the Finnish Company the rights to file an intellectual property infringement lawsuit against the park. However, a spokesman from the Rovio company informed them that a partnership was a more interesting endeavor for their company.
The Finnish company may be interested in protecting their copyright but they are smart enough to know a good idea when presented. In the end it goes to show that although Finnish’s birds may be angry the company itself is always willing to avoid the slingshot.
