Panda Claus

    Probably not.  That would take a level of awareness & introspection I don't think the company is actually capable of 

Well tbf they are, at the end of the day, a company. They're no different from Nintendo or Sony. They can't have just anyone putting their flagship character on anything; less they want to loose full control of it.

Honestly, compared to how other companies handle it, Sega is still largely one of the better ones out there. Shit like Utopia or GMI would not have flown if it was Mario in there. Hell, they even hired some of these fan developers.

@strickerx5 There's one thing I don't get... Why will they lose their license if others use it? Like, who demands that they give up their rights to the character, or why is it a problem that someone uses a character even if it's nonprofitable?

It's just the way the government works man. I'm no legal expert but there's just a lot of mess that can come out of other parties using a property without the owners expressed approval.

Like, what happens if one of them uses the character in an inappropriate way? Or if that entity is making a huge profit off it and Sega isn't? At that point Sega wouldn't be able to go after them because so many other entities are using the property. They've lost the ability to legally fight them all.

Its like leaving your pizza out on a table. People are going to take it if you don't mark it down and make sure everyone knows it's yours unless they ask for a slice.