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The Pokémon Company(JP)(CN) is the company responsible for brand management, production, licensing, and marketing of the Pokémon series. The company is jointly owned by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures.

History[]

The company was founded on April 23, 1998 as Pokémon Center Co. Ltd(JP), and it managed Pokémon Center-themed stores.

The company changed it's name to The Pokémon Company in October 2000. International divisions would follow - Pokémon USA, Inc. (est. February 2001), Pokémon UK (est. March 2003), and Pokémon Korea, Inc. (est. August 28, 2006). In 2009, Pokémon USA, Inc. and Pokémon UK would merge to form The Pokémon Company International.

Lawsuit[]

In 2005, MSKCC named a gene that acts as the master switch for cancer "POK erythroid myeloid ontogenic factor". The Pokémon Company, not wanting bad press due to the name's similarity to the Pokémon trademark, threatened the center with legal action in December 2005. This caused MSKCC to change the gene's name to Zbtb7.[2]

List of products[]

The most successful products with their name include the video games (starting with the Pokémon Mini), the anime (starting season/movie 9), and the trading card game.

Games[]

The Pokémon Company has published Pokémon Card GB2: Team Great Rocket is Here! and all future Pokémon games. The company is credited on Japanese releases of games as the publisher (発売/発売元 Hatsubai/Hatsubaimoto) while Nintendo is credited as the distributor (販売/販売元 Hanbai/Hanbaimoto).

Anime[]

In October 2001, 4Kids Entertainment acquired a 3% stake in The Pokémon Company for an undisclosed sum. They liquidated this stake 4 years later for US$960,000. On October 10, 2005, 4Kids Entertainment sold its 3% stake in The Pokémon Company for US$960,000, to the three parties owning the rights to Pokémon (Nintendo, Creatures Inc. and Game Freak). On December 23, 2005, the company announced that it will not renew the Pokémon representation agreement set to expire on December 31, 2005. And that beginning in 2006, Pokémon USA, Inc.'s in-house licensing group will handle all Pokémon licensing outside of Asia. However the company will continue to receive commissions for the next several years, on payments made under existing Pokémon license agreements whose term expires after December 31, 2005. The Pokémon Company has licensed the Pokémon anime starting with Pokémon Battle Frontier, the final season of Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire. Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl is the first full series/season to be licensed by the company. All Pokémon movies starting Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea were licensed by TPCi.

References[]

External links[]

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