Red Cross being anal about the use of "their" symbol

What does Sup Forums think about the biggest charity corp sending C&D threats to game devs, music video creators,... even group funding project holders about the use of the red cross on white background symbol, or anything even remotely similar?

For those who don't know, RC only recently "realized" that people have used "their logo" as the synonym mark for health care and rescue for a century now, and are doing their best to stop it. It's the one reason so many games now use work-around symbols for HP packs.

Other urls found in this thread:

kotaku.com/video-games-arent-allowed-to-use-the-red-cross-symbol-1791265328
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emblems_of_the_International_Red_Cross_and_Red_Crescent_Movement
twitter.com/AnonBabble

Doesn't this thread belong more on Sup Forums?

>mfw game devs literally stealing from a charity

jesus christ

Example #2.
Not even oldschool classics are safe from this madness. D3 BFG Edition versions of Doom1&2, the latest re-release of Duke3D, etc, all have had their medkits altered into... pill signs?

Personally, I think this stuff goes not only against common sense, but also against freedom of speech, and artistic freedom. The red cross symbol's being used around the globe as the hospital sign, is on the insignia of medics, etc. Yet now we have one symbol that you CANNOT replicate in a media product.

It's affecting vidya in very twisted ways, and does not have much anything to do with politics per se.

I like the green better anyways

I support every group that sends C&Ds to tripwire over the trainwreck that is Killing Floor 2.

>appropriating a charity symbol
Pretty shitty tbqh

>Trademark a design with Red Cross/plus signs
>US says it's ok
>enforce such a shitty practice over a FUCKING RED GEOMETRICAL SHAPE
>no one says anything
Blame the US for such shitty laws.

I'm not surprised, red cross has been shit for years.

the red cucks is a fucking meme that has done nothing noteworthy since it was founded. irregardless, the fact that you can trademark a fucking certain color+shape combination is a joke. capitalism was a mistake.

How's KF2 a "trainwreck" exactly? Been having lots of fun this entire week with friends, with the new Summer event + weekly challenges.

But that's off the point. So far, these practices have hit at least iD, Team 17, Monolith / Universal, Bungie, and numerous others. People have even started to pre-emptively alter their games in order to avoid lawsuits. I think one of the recent incidents that got some media coverage was with this one Skullgirls character, who the devs had to palette swap in order to get RC off their throats.

It's even more ironic, as I actually tried to ASK about how this shit works from American RC some time ago, and they pretty much replied (months later) along the lines of "Thanks for contacting us! Please contact your LOCAL Red Cross association for more info. K TNX BAI. :^)".

On top of that, this stuff could be taken as a religious insult: yes, that is a Christian symbol, turned into a trademark.

I think if anyone actually challenged them in court, the court would side with that person. It's been associated with health care for so long that they really can't have proprietary control over the symbol. There's loads of examples where courts have done this for much less recognizable symbols and trademarks

The question is, who is going to take them to court to finalize that? Who'd be willing to spend that money to get nothing in return?

>How's KF2 a "trainwreck" exactly?
People are still acting like its the way it was in early access where it indeed was a pretty big shitshow.

>How's KF2 a "trainwreck" exactly
It was the way the Early Access was handled. They announced EA in April 2015 promising that as they were a proper dev team they could and would do it properly and have the game fully released by the end of the year. Instead that launch happened in November 2016. At first the content was barebones and the updates that added it were few and far between with every other one focusing on shit that absolutely nobody wanted like the faggy PvP mode around which they rebalanced the entire game and ruined the regular mode for weeks. The new classes they added were poorly balanced and generally boring and all the while instead of fully focussing on development, Tripwire were instead making hats to sell in the in game hat market. Most people left KF1 for 2 when it was announced but then KF2 was on life support for a year and the establshed community was effectively killed off.

Granted I don't know what it is like now as I refunded it the instant it left Early Access but I will remain bitter about Triwpire fucking it up and treating their consumer base like trash for quite some time.

it'd pretty much require an artist guy with nothing to lose, willing to make a fuzz about this shit.
Like you said, the symbol has been used as a sign of health care and rescue stuff for ages. In Europe, every road sign pointing towards nearest hospital has this symbol.

What RC's actions mean is that at least game devs cannot realistically replicate REALITY anymore. Yes, they went to the degree of having these signs altered.

>irregardless
retard

there's been some media coverage about this matter not too long ago.

kotaku.com/video-games-arent-allowed-to-use-the-red-cross-symbol-1791265328

inb4 >k0taku

This doesn't even involve politics.

Why are charity organisations so fucking corrupt and corporate?

>no pastebin
Hi luke

If you're depicting a historic scenario where their organization was directly involved shouldn't that fall under some kind of fair use?

Can't they lose the rights to the symbol for not defending it sooner? Brands like Kleenex, Hoover and the like have all had it happen

The Red Cross doesn't do anything good anyway. Most of their work nowadays is focused to keeping African niggers alive and reproducing, and forcing Jews to use anything but the Star of David because it offends their Palestinian branch.
A filthily corrupt and politicized organization masquerading as a force for good in the world. If I were a game dev I'd use "their" symbol (is it even trademarked?) for everything, just out of spite.

it's in M-W faget

interesting.
Personally I only got the game last year, and it was alright already at that point. Way better than KF1 was during its first entire year; I'd say had the whole EA thing even existed back in 2009, KF1's first two years would've justified using that status.

That being said, there certainly is loads of stuff and neat features in KF2 nowadays. While I still think the Survivalist is stupid, and SWAT really needs his riot shield already, the two new weeklys have been fun so far (explosive Zeds, head-shots only). They also help to farm skins and supplies much quicker.

Someone realized at some point that you can play the role of a messiah, and live a wealthy life yourself.

This is what I'd like to know too.
I did try to bring up an example scenario of authentic WW2 setting for example, where R.C. symbols would be everywhere. Alas, they didn't answer me.

The big "twist" with RC is that they're not exactly protected by traditional copyright / trademark shit, but instead love to point their almighty Geneva Convention's protection - which pretty much states that the symbol may not be misused (= used as a cover for illegal activities and brutalities).

If anything it strengthens the 'brand' by having it show up in games. I don't really see how someone could say that it's being used in illegal acts or brutalities

"humanitarian" "NGO"s are just another arm of imperialism

From the look of things, RC seems to operate as a cluster of smaller offices that merely co-operate under the same flag, with each office setting their own rules, yet succumbing to the instructions of the bigger stations, ie RC of America.

RC says that. They seriously think that people using boxes with red cross on them to HEAL wounds "cheapens the symbolic meaning" of the sign and the corporation itself.

Charity aint free :^)

Just one company needs to take them to court and fix it for everyone

the symbol in conjunction with it's meaning has been around a lot longer than the organization that adopted it though. It would be like if someone started using the ankh and then sending cease and desist letters to everyone using it as well

So the red cross is the new swastika? Can't show that on christian vidya?
Or is it even worse? You only need to remove swastikas in German versions, usually. Red cross, in all games?

>create a new firm
>call it "green cross"
>start suing all games using the censored medpacks for violating "muh trademark"
>become filthy rich
CAPITALISM

why not just call them "red plus signs"? Or miniature flags of England?

If you're going to be mad at someone about this than look no further than Disney. These laws were manufactured by Disney's lawyers.

really? please explain?

Bizarro Swiss aid kits.

Before Disney, after X amount of years a symbol or character would enter public domain and could be freely used by the public to whatever end they wanted. Disney was having none of this and used their jew bucks and lawyers to obliterate that concept.

>they own the rights to a simple red cross symbol
what the fuck lol

That's copyrights.
Trademarks are active as long as they're in use and their protection is enforced.

That said, it's arguable that the Red Cross organization has already failed to protect their trademark since the symbol has become so ubiquitously associated with health care.

what "color" does the red cross consider its symbol?


all you have to do is use a slightly different shade of red...it may look exactly the same but a dif color negates copyright/TM's

which they clearly have failed to do for decades, so if anyone were to challenge them on this, they should have ample evidence.

Do a little digging into the (((Red Cross))). It will all start to make sense.

One day the world is going to realize that Sup Forums and people like Alex Jones aren't so crazy after all. We just pray that when you all do it won't be too late.

>all you have to do is use a slightly different shade of red...it may look exactly the same but a dif color negates copyright/TM's
Didn't stop RC from suing and forcing the entire ad campaign of new Finnish children's hospital being redone from scratch a few years ago.

Pic related was the project's logo, which was "too red cross-y" for the big R.C. team.

Mostly right, only they didn't "obliterate" the rule, they just dramatically increased the length of time one could claim rights to intellectual property.

if I was the Red Cross I wouldn't want myself being associated with this shit industry either

Stop falseflagging faggot

I actually bothered googling to see if I was an idiot, but I'm right. It's like 70-125 years in some cases.

the thing is, it's not ONLY vidya that's taking hits from this crap. Films, music videos, ad campaigns, clothing designers... many totally unrelated factions and individuals have to seriously watch out from even accidentally having a "red X" on their stuff now, because someone might tilt the picture juuust a little bit, and totally see it as a cross instead.
This' also just one of the more stark examples of big corporations now trademarking and copyrighting universal ideas, like color and generic symbols.

I can't believe people here actually think the red cross is evil. just jesus fucking christ.

They are like the UN they are just leftovers from the past that do fuck all of actual importance these days

They certainly aren't the friend of yours either, not any more.

>very twisted ways
yea like twisting the color of a fucking texture from red to green lmao

who goddamn cares its their right and their new corporate board decided to make it a priority.

Fuck off to Sup Forums this isn't a video game issue.

>games old and new being altered to avoid yet another controversy
>new game devs actually have to deal with this shit
>"not a video game issue"

Yeah I'm surprised you can even trademark "a red cross", considering it's been used for literally at least 1000 years.

in the US at least, the symbol of the Red Cross is covered in a special provision of federal law which makes its unauthorized use illegal. It's additionally protected by normal trademark law

And Red Cross stole its logo from the Swiss flag.

Who cares? Shouldn't they be proud their symbol is universally associated with health and wellness?

I'd say it worse, since the red cross isn't just shosn in media as part of an "uncomfortable" aspect of humanity, it literally is shown everywhere by everyone as the universal symbol for healthcare. It's like the exclamation point on yellow triangle standi g for alert

That's the thing: it's not clear if it even IS trademarked (yet). Hasn't stopped them from sending threats to people. Or like they like to put it: "discuss with them in order to correct their ways".

It's also ironic that people don't realize that it is indeed the goddamn cross, symbol of Christianity. The muslim counterpart of RC is the Red Crescent (moon).

their actions at this point are making the western world noticeable worse

>hey I didn't fucking read but I definitely saw the word their in quotes so it must be a Sup Forums thread

>A healthcare organization doesn't want their symbol related with healthcare-related objects
What the fuck?

And when those 125 years are up they'll change it to 200 or some shit. They might as well make it permanent if they go through such lengths to make it last longer than a human life

>that is a Christian symbol
The Red Cross cross isn't the same shape as the Christian cross.

It's already protected under the Geneva Convention.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emblems_of_the_International_Red_Cross_and_Red_Crescent_Movement

The issue with using the symbol is that it is explicitly a Neutral party symbol. You don't want people to shoot at a Red Cross nor do you want people wearing Red Crosses to shoot back. Movies and shit generally depict this correctly but when you got shit like the Medic from TF2 shooting AIDS into other people, you gotta reign in the shit before kids think thats okay. It is like the white flag but there is actually someone to enforce it

Neither is the flag of England or Switzerland, yet they both symbolize the same exact thing: the dominant religion of the area. And like said, the muslim counter part of RC is the Red Crescent Moon, for the same reason.

The Medic's symbol is a red or blue team-colored cross on a yellow circle, hardly the same thing. Even if he was using exactly the red cross on a white background I still wouldn't see the argument.

You seem to be arguing that you can't have people wearing the red cross shooting at others because that's now how it would be in reality. Does that mean all media must be portrayed in a realistic lawful manner? The argument that a neutral party symbol must be displayed in accordance with the Geneva convention is absurd. You're basically arguing for morality in video games.

The only argument to be made is that a trademarked symbol must be displayed in accordance with the trademark holder's wishes.

>You don't want people to shoot at a Red Cross

Perhaps we can just encourage people to sue the everloving shit out of red cross workers over the pettiest of reasons until the organization goes bankrupt. Pottery justice.

Do you think legal battles are something where you can throw numbers at it until you win? 99% of people are going to change their texture color rather than face something with the weight of the Geneva convention behind it.

Damn, this must be why they changed the color to green in rimworld.