Bluesky Post (this was also posted on twitter)
I was hoping to find a statement from the aggressor, but it seems to be too early.
I mean, it sounds like a lawsuit to me.
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A takedown request was issued on false grounds.
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This takedown was then actioned without any due process.
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The issue has caused tangible, and measurable, loss (calculable from prior sales records).
Honestly, there needs to be a fixed penalty fine for bad takedowns…
Fixed penalties just become the cost of doing business. Like actors, we need to start asking for percentage of gross.
Imo we need to start attaching criminal penalties to the people behind businesses that knowingly abuse their power and position like this. Corporate bullying isn’t a financial position, it’s a failing of ethics.
Yup. The first couple of times might have been a mistake subject to fine. The third time you’re facing criminal contempt of the rule of law.
Honestly, there needs to be a fixed penalty fine for bad takedowns…
Absolutely not, fixed fines become expected costs, and immensely favor monied actors. Make it percentage based so it hurts equally, and rich people actually have to pay a measurable amount.
Funko would drag a lawsuit out for years, but Itch might have the spite to push through it.
Probably both if you can make the case for it. Funko for the false request, the registrar for not doing their due diligence in honoring it. Depending on the wording of the law the registrar may be off the hook however, so whether there’s a case to be brought there would be a question for their lawyers.
Leafo
I’m the one running itch.io, so here’s some more context for you:
From what can tell, some person made a fan page for an existing Funko Pop video game (Funko Fusion), with links to the official site and Screenshots of the game. The BrandShield software is probably instructed to eradicate all “unauthorized” use of their trademark, so they sent reports independently to our host and registrar claiming there was “fraud and phishing” going on, likely to cause escalation instead of doing the expected DMCA/cease-and-desist. Because of this, I honestly think they’re the malicious actor in all of this. Their website, if you care: https://www.brandshield.com/
About 5 or 6 days ago, received these reports on our host (Linode) and from our registrar (iwantmyname). I expressed my disappointment in my responses to both of them but told them had removed the page and disabled the account. Linode confirmed and closed the case. iwantmyname never responded. This evening, got a downtime alert, and while debugging, I noticed that the domain status had been set to “serverHold” on iwantmyname’s domain panel. We have no other abuse reports from iwantmyname other than this one. I’m assuming no one on their end “closed” the ticket, so it went into an automatic system to disable the domain after some number of days.
I’ve been trying to get in touch with them via their abuse and support emails, but no response likely due to the time of day, so decided to “escalate” the issue myself on social media.
(OCR)
What the absolute fuck? itch.io is fucking massive, how did the registar just treat them like this? goddamn!
There’s been an aggressive push against gaming recently. Check all the recent Steam news.
I haven’t seen anything like that. What steam news specifically are you referring to?
They are probably referring to this: https://www.adl.org/resources/press-release/millions-examples-extremist-and-antisemitic-content-found-steam-new and this: https://www.pcgamer.com/software/platforms/steam-is-an-unsafe-place-for-teens-and-young-adults-us-senator-warns-gabe-newell-of-more-intense-scrutiny-from-the-government-if-valve-doesnt-take-action-against-extremist-content/
They’re not really all that massive, just a medium-large fish in a small pond. If this had been about Microsoft or Sony or some other brand that any random non-gamer you stop in the street will have heard of, they might have gotten special treatment from the registrar, but itch.io? Not even nearly big enough. gog wouldn’t be either. Steam might just pass the minimum threshold.
There is no way in hell that steam would have this happen, the amount of money they have behind them combined with the name alone, no registrar would dare disable their domain without being damn sure what was happening was actually happening.
Stream would seek the registar for restitution/compensation, and if you take the yearly Revenue and divide that by the hours in a year they are approaching the $1,000 an hour mark. Of course this number would be different if they actually took it to court. But due to this alone I highly doubt their domain Handler(Mark Monitor) would touch that claim with a 10-ft pole without doing some pretty intensive research
So if you’re a small pond how do you treat your medium-large fish this way of not even listening to their response?
The registrar probably treats all their customers shoddily when problems arise, and itch may not be that large a customer—do we know how many domains itch actually had with them? Probably not enough to form a significant percentage of the registrar’s income, and either that or the possibility of Rabid Attack Lawyers (which the big companies like Microsoft have on retainer) would be required to get special treatment from many companies.
I’m not saying that the registrar is in the right. They messed up, and it would serve them right to go under for this (although they probably won’t). I’m just saying that it’s unsurprising that itch was mistreated by a corporate bureaucracy.
Funko? That irrelevant, ugly, shitty, cheap, tacky, terrible brand from the 2010’s that lacks any relevance in 2024?
Yeah, I know 'em.
youtooz is working with snaller creators unlike funko which i think olny worked with m(iste)r b®east
I’ve always been more interested in youtooz than Funko Pop’s, since they do collaborate with creators I thought their products a few times. On the streamers I watch used to have an adorable dog with a hat and it came out to be a lot better quality than I thought it was going to be
I’ve always hated funkopops, they’re ugly and the very epitome of the enshitification and commercialisation of geek culture. This does nothing to change my mind
Yes and they’re yet another collectible product that exploits the psychology of a subset of people who compulsively collect things. I put them in the same category as gambling and note that there’s a lot of crossover with these things (loot boxes and CCG booster packs being prime examples of a gambling and collectible combo).
Yeah, I hate those assholes too. I feel bad for anyone who falls for their business model.
Glances at my Tyranid collection
At least you can play a game with 'Nid models. Also have you guys gotten any updated models yet? I know you guys were in the same boat as the Skaven for quite awhile.
My mom got me my first one in 2019 or 2020 because she thought it was cute (Guyfolye from Silicon Valley). A few months later she asked me if they were just Beanie Babies and I thought that was the end of it. Now every Christmas I get one even though she knows I don’t like them and we both snark on the super niche weird ones. She even got custom ones for me and my wife last year. It never ends, and I have 6 sets of beady little eyes staring at me when I’m watching TV in the basement.
I feel like you need to hear this: just because someone gifts you something doesn’t mean you need to keep it endlessly, or at all. Donate/giveaway/trash.
