A few months ago, The Pokémon Company filed a lawsuit against Larkin Jones, the planner of the “5th Annual Unofficial Pokémon PAX Kickoff Party” at PAX Prime, claiming that the event “created derivative works of, distributed copies to the public, and/or displayed publicly Pokémon Works without the consent or authority of [The Pokémon Company].”

Jones quickly cancelled the party, but The Pokémon Company still pursued the suit, seeking damages for both the most recent party and for those that occurred over the past five years. Now Jones has been fined $4,000 in damages for infringing on company trademarks, but with the help of the PAX community and a GoFundMe campaign, the fine is already covered.

“This year I tried to throw a Unofficial Pokemon party because why not… it would be fun, I’m a huge fan, I know all my friends are fans and I mostly wanted to geek out and add to the fun parties you can find all over the city [during PAX Prime],” Jones said on the GoFundMe campaign page.

“The day before the PAX party, Pokemon sued me. Without even a cease and desist.Totally didn’t expect that. I cancelled the party, refunded everyone the two dollars I charged to help cover all the prizes I bought for the cosplay contest and smash bros tournament. Pokemon wants $4000 that I just don’t have. I told them I would pay it over a year and they denied that. They want it now within the next 45 days.”

The GoFundMe campaign raised the necessary funds within three days of going live, and the comments from backers make it clear that more than a few people are not very happy with the way The Pokémon Company handled the situation.

“What happened to you was awful,” said campaign backer Philip Wilson, who gave $200 to the campaign. “I will never buy legit pokemon merchandise again.”

“With five young kids in the house (4-14) I want to thank the Pokemon douchebags for ensuring we NEVER spend another dime on anything related to Pokemon,” said Craig Burdett, another campaign backer. “I’m so sick of corporate jerks and their abusive lawsuits.”

Jones admitted on the campaign page that he wants the entire conflict to be over, saying that he only wants to be able to pay the fine so that it does not escalate further. He concluded, “Trust me I will never throw another fandom party again.”

Image created by Eric David | SiliconANGLE