2w ago

Itch.io games site taken down

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.

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262 comments

I mean, it sounds like a lawsuit to me.
A takedown request was issued on false grounds.
This takedown was then actioned without any due process.
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.
  
  Imagine if in America, corporations were subject to the three strike rule
- Takedown requests being spammed everywhere is sort of standard, what's crazy is that their domain holder immediately honored the request, completely ignoring how massive itch io is with millions of users...
- 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.
  
  Fixed fine on a sliding scale for repeat offenders
- Funko would drag a lawsuit out for years, but Itch might have the spite to push through it.
  
  They'd probably settle. It's not worth the cost to funko either
- I believe all of this is legal thanks to DMCA.
  
  The DMCA doesn't make false requests legal (I'm also not sure if this specific issue falls under the DMCA), but it does fail to define any meaningful penalty for making them.
  
  Domain names arent copyrightable. This falls into trademark laws.
  
  Maybe if they followed the dmca process
  
  They made a false fraud report, not a DMCA takedown (which shouldn’t have taken down the entire site anyway).
- Fixed minimum penalty
- Hopefully this ruins Funko Fucks
- Would the lawsuit be against funko or the registrar (or both) ?
  
  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.

262 comments