- cross-posted to:
- gamedev_news@programming.dev
- furiouslyinfuriating@sh.itjust.works
- cross-posted to:
- gamedev_news@programming.dev
- furiouslyinfuriating@sh.itjust.works
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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Not only is this absolutely inexcusable, also, Funko Pops are ugly and creepy-looking and I don’t understand why people spend so much money on them just because they look vaguely like the characters or people they’re supposed to represent.
God I hate our whole system.
Funko pops are for people that lack a personality and try to create one by buying dumb shit that sits on a shelf and depreciates in value. They’re just memecoin bros
It’s beanie babies 2.0
Hey.
Just because I dont have a personality and try desperately to fit in doesnt mean I am as stupid as the cryptobro morons.
That’s basically what I was trying to say, but you put it better. Thank you.
Fucko pop should be forced to pay damages. It’s too easy for shitty companies to send out takedown notices and too difficult for those takedown notices to be contested by comparison.
the “oh our automated system did it oopsies please forgive us” excuse doesn’t make it any better either
That was the whole point of the DMCA, though. Prevent bad publicity by claiming copyright infringement and companiea have to take down the content before they investigate any response. Any time a company doesn’t do that they are risking their own necks. So usually they only ignore it if they know for sure it’s bogus which requires that they spend the resources on a person reviewing every notice before the required time expires.
Every single DMCA request should have to be filled out by hand and signed by the infringed party, not on their behalf by a third parry, under penalty of perjury. This is absolute bullshit.
The DMCA still has a lot of problems. Like if someone uploads something behind a paywall, the victim has to pay before they can even send a valid notice.
It’s almost impossible to get attorneys in trouble too.
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.
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.
They made a false fraud report, not a DMCA takedown (which shouldn’t have taken down the entire site anyway).
Domain names arent copyrightable. This falls into trademark laws.
Maybe if they followed the dmca process
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.
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Back when I opened my comic and game shop (I no longer do comics, just games) I tried to get an account with Funko directly. They did not believe me that New Mexico is in the United States. The response was along the lines of, “if you feel that you are in the United States, we can pursue this further. But I suggest you opening an account with one of our Latin American distributors.”
Did you send them a map?
I could understand that if they were an overseas company, but they are from the US. That had to be one of the most incompetent customers service reps ever.
It is not uncommon, I was almost arrested when I moved to PA because I did not have a passport, or visa, or green card to go with my NM ID that clearly says USA on it for this very reason. Our license plates also say USA on them.
Maryland also refused me a license twice saying that I needed proof I am a citizen, despite having my NM birth certificate.
I also had two other distributors tell me they do not sell to Mexico.
The president elect also has made the mistake. He said we need a border wall between Mexico and Colorado.
I always knew Americans in general were bad with global geography… but to not even know their own states? That sounds insane.
Heck, in our Dutch schools, we actually learn all the states in the United States. I definitely know New Mexico is a state. Same as Alaska and Hawaii (but not Puerto Rico, which is a territory but not a state)
How am I better at this than actual Americans? That should not be a thing.
Your English is also better than people in my family whose ancestors were 18th-century British colonists.
I once had a heated argument with a coworker about where the capital of the US is located. He was of the opinion that Washington state was the capital and Washington, DC was a US city located in Colombia (he also had difficulty understanding that Colombia and Columbia were spelled differently). He wasn’t trolling; when I finally got to a map (pre-smart phone days) and showed him where DC is located, he got really mad.
Thank you, we take pride in our language education.
We learn English, French and German in school, which really helps when dealing with the rest of Europe. Whenever you meet someone from another European country, chances are you can find at least one language you both speak. Makes trade and travel a lot easier.
I do occasionally slip up when talking to Americans. We’re generally taught UK and US English here simultaneously. Which means I sometimes have the UK spelling in my head, which can differ slightly. For example, flavour vs flavor. Online, I usually try to keep it ‘US English’.
Yeah, I can absolutely see that ‘District of Columbia’ argument in my head :D You’d assume people at least know that one considering how much important stuff happens there. I’d understand if someone not from the US didn’t know. But Americans really should.
I’ve experienced the language skills of Nederlanders first hand! What I found to be most striking was hearing people having trilingual conversations especially in restaurants where the waitstaff were actively communicating individually with dozens of people in two to three languages.
I’ve tried to keep up with language skills but starting a language in high school or college just didn’t work for me. Especially since the application of those skills prioritizes written communication. I always end up with an understanding of pronunciation, some grammar, and a handful of vocabulary that I can’t actively use.
I don’t think any Americans are judging you too harshly for UK spellings. I think keeping track of all the slang and colloquialisms would be the greater challenge. I was taught “grey” and “colour” as a kid and the only problem I have is with spellcheck. 😂
Ha, the slang and colloquialisms are actually the easy part, really!
We are subjected to an awful lot of US culture in general. We watch Hollywood movies and we get most US shows, which are shown with subtitles here. We also follow US news and events, we enjoy US music, we use a lot of the same services, etc. Basically, if I moved to the US, I’d fit right in.
We tend to enjoy US culture quite a bit. We might disagree on topics like politics, healthcare, gun issues or the metric system, but by and large we’re like… Canadians.
I think people see/hear the Mexico part and they ignore the New bit. I have found that if I say NM vs New Mexico while working with a new distributor there is no confusion.
When I was in school I had to learn all 50 states and their capitals as well as be able to find them on a map.
I never get tired of Europeans being surprised at the average intelligence here, thank you for making me giggle. The average American is about as smart as a stick, and as we both know, sticks aren’t good at geography
Less than as smart as*
A solid percentage of Americans are dumber than shit. Ive also encountered folks who thought that California is independent from the United States and also Muslim for some fucking reason. As a born, raised, and actively living in California I can garuntee neither of those facts are true. Seriously we are at worst nationalistic not independent.
I learned all the states at a 4th grader. Perhaps earlier even. I generally believe this is not a case of people not being taught, but a case of people not paying attention or otherwise info-dumping information they don’t think they need.
There was a point when i was in the military where I could literally write in the names of every country in the world on a blank map. It’s been years since I had to do that and I wouldn’t be able to do it now.
Well I’d certainly hope the people in the military get properly trained. You’d hate to confuse Austria and Australia or Georgia (state) and Georgia (country) if you ever needed to bomb or invade either one of them :D
It was not for the purposes of bombing. It was for the purposes of recognition of their military aircraft and weapons systems.
I had problems with TSA before because my real ID confused them and they didn’t believe it was a valid US ID. Granted, this was at a regional airport, but it’s literally the ID that complies with requirements set by Homeland Security for the specific purpose of use in airports by TSA.
Edit: and my ID isn’t even from New Mexico!
I am planning to get a passport to alleviate the issues of traveling with a NM ID.
That’s one way to do it!
Yeah, New Mexico IDs and license plates both say “New Mexico, USA” for exactly this reason. So many people have almost been illegally arrested and turned over to ICE by incompetent cops during traffic stops. Cops will pull New Mexico plates over, see the New Mexico ID, and demand to see visa paperwork because they think the person is from Mexico.
Good they are not sending people from New York back to England But you got to admit, some of the naming choices are ridiculous, what’s with all those Paris-es and Pragues.
New Mexico was actually named before Mexico was named.
https://www.ncesc.com/geographic-faq/why-is-new-mexico-called-mexico/
Wow, that’s an unexpected twist.
The customer service rep is also AI. And if it isn’t, u can bet your ass in 5 years its just going to be AI all the way down for anything support related. Literally anything to not have to pay humans for work.
The customer service rep is also AI.
I would believe this, except it was in 2019.
This reminds of the story of some company not shipping to the Rhode Island because it’s an island not a state. Maybe someone here remembers more details
Tbf, the Commonwealth of Rhode island and Providence Plantations don’t even call themselves a state.
Itch.io dev about this situation on Hacker News.
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 HN client is this?
where is hacker news
Perfect ⭐ Thank you
If lawmakers would simply make the entity responsible for the operation of these AI powered tools be fully liable for every decision that it makes, right or wrong, this kind of nonsense would vanish overnight.
I hope the people running itch.io have great lawyers, because I would be trying to take Funko to court for punitive damages over something like this.
Also, while we’re at it, reform the DMCA to disallow automated copyright related takedown requests without some sort of human reviewing it at the other end. It’s been abused to hell and back by big business.
Also, while we’re at it, reform the DMCA to disallow automated copyright related takedown requests without some sort of human reviewing it at the other end. It’s been abused to hell and back by big business.
Itch.io shared on hackernews that they apparently sent a report for fraud and phishing, not copyright infringement. So sounds like funko was abusing the system even if automated copyright claims weren’t a thing.
If lawmakers would simply make the entity responsible for the operation of these AI powered tools be fully liable for every decision that it makes, right or wrong, this kind of nonsense would vanish overnight.
They are? AI isn’t some autonomous entity with its own legal rights and responsibilities.
The problem is that these actions aren’t illegal. This is all a civil issue, and yeah, hopefully itch.io puts a hurt on Brand Shield but I doubt it.
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
Yes, Inquisitor. This one right here. They have been proclaiming something about the Star Children.
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.
10th gave us a ton! New Gaunts, Hormagaunts, Lictors, Deathleapers, biovores, Screamer fex, and 4 new units!!
Fucken A dude, I know the Gaunts were getting crusty. Now if only Games Workshop would update some of the non-Cadian Guard models, I want some non-forgeworld Armageddon Steel Legion models.
They did mother fucking Krieg!!
I know but I want my other gas mask boys damnit!
At least you can actually do something with those ‘Nids.
The FOMO based businesses are preying on people with poor impulse control…which there are no shortage of in the nerd world.
I wouldn’t say the epitome, have you heard of The Big Bang Theory?
I’ve seen enough of it to know I don’t like it for pretty much the same reasons
I wouldn’t say that show commercialized geek culture. It seemed to me it was more about how geek culture should be the butt of jokes. And ASD people as well.
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.
My partner has an entire bookcase of them, all still in box.
Get them out and play with them!
A true death of art.
I remember going through the prices my buddy paid for his with actual sculptures on Etsy and him just getting more and more annoyed. He’s probably going to have a Funko themed wedding next year.
What the absolute fuck? itch.io is fucking massive, how did the registar just treat them like this? goddamn!
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.
You say it like it’s okay to do if you are not fucking massive.
Obviously that’s not what I meant. Be charitable.
Huh, so I’ve always disliked funkopoops but just because I didn’t like the mass production design and they were made in China with no evidence trying not to be made with slave labor.
Now I have a new reason
Funko? That irrelevant, ugly, shitty, cheap, tacky, terrible brand from the 2010’s that lacks any relevance in 2024?
Yeah, I know 'em.
I like how people collected them as if they’d be valuable. I survived the beanie baby craze, fool me once and all that.
I see their junk at every thrift store and flea market in Ohio.
I legitimately thought they went out of business.
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
Welcome to Web 3 I guess. Automated systems ignoring real actors
Web 3 was crypto scams, we’re up to web 6 or 7 by now
Web 3.0 was actually the Semantic Web originally, the cryptobros are bad at counting.
AI scams
That’s fucking crazy. Anyone notice how AI has only made everything shittier?
It’s automating the enshittification. A large language model doesn’t need to sleep and doesn’t have a conscience.
AI as we know it now is, in a nut shell, the automation of “I was just following orders”. Or a digital factory line of evil. Either way, this is about removing the human element from as many decisions as possible.
It would be tricky, unethical, and in some cases illegal to get people to do the sort of things the owner class and fascists want to do to society. But it’s easy to let an AI program go nuts. The cruelty is the point in the case of the fascists. And in the case of the owner class it clears out anyone who couldn’t afford a lawyer.
Why develop and create something in a vacuum when you can beta test it on everyone.
It’s really just the DMCA.
This kind of faultless takedown shouldn’t be legal, but the DMCA carved it out decades ago.
AI is a great tool. But tools need to still be handled by humans. AI should compile a list of sites “infringing” and this list should be checked by a human. There always should be a human filter with all AI uses. Cool, let your stuff be written by AI but check what is written and fix weird or wrong shit. Have the meat be done by AI and the details by humans.
If a copyright bot makes false DMCA notices, the programmers should be held responsible as if they sent out the notices. That’s how we’d handle it for any other crime.
yes, maybe AI winter was a good thing
I’d bet these fan projects lead to more sales of their garbage products, but these corporations don’t see that because they want that licensing money now. Or they’re just spiteful and vindictive like Nintendo.
On one level, I sympathize with companies like Nintendo, I don’t want to, BUT companies are supposed to make efforts to protect their IP or they run the risk of losing those exclusive protections when it matters later on (abandonment). So if they want to continue their IP rights, they’re supposed to defend it against anything that comes along. I still don’t like it, but I kind of understand why they have to do it.
Granted, I think they could come up with some sort of licensing terms that would made it easy for solo developers to still develop small-time projects to encourage people to create these one-off labors of love, similar to what alot of TTRPG developers do, but for whatever reason, they go the hardball approach, which just creates bad feelings in the community.
https://www.themyerslg.com/blog/what-happens-if-you-dont-defend-your-ip/
I don’t want to, BUT companies are supposed to make efforts to protect their IP or they run the risk of losing those exclusive protections when it matters later on (abandonment).
My understanding is that 1.- they are not forced to defend against every possible case of trademark usage 2.- they are not obligated by law to be jerks about it and 3.- this applies to trademark only, not copyright or patents.
They have to defend their trademark. They don’t have to defend copyright, and most of Nintendo’s reputation comes from copyright claims. Someone streaming a let’s play isn’t selling a counterfeit Mario game, they’re just showing you things in a real Mario game, so there’s no trademark claim.
They’re also big abusers of the fact that most of the people they make copyright claims against can’t afford to defend themselves against such a behemoth. Even if you’re sure you’ve not violated their copyright and your lawyer’s sure, too, it’ll be much cheaper to roll over than get the legal system to agree with you.
AI will take our jobsAI will create more jobs because there will be dedicated staff who needs to handle the fallout when it does stupid shit
Turns out we can solve the unemployment crisis by just creating problems for ourselves! Let’s start throwing eggs at windows to get window cleaners more business.
This is surely what Reagan envisioned every Spring.
Yeah but it’s gonna be those slimy lawer-types
