I used to not like Funko Pop, but that changes today. I now loathe them.
At first I was like “WTF does an indie games site have to do with Funko?” then I Googled it…
Looks like they hosted a BUNCH of infringing games, so Funko, instead of doing the righteous thing and sending them a takedown request, just nuked the whole domain…
And this nuke should cost them dearly, as there are so many Devs and Artists affected by it.
I mean, I don’t blame them for protecting their IP, they just picked a super shitty way to do it.
I don’t even think they would have needed an official cease and desist… just a friendly note of “Hey, none of this Funko material is licensed, please remove it.”
I blame them. Fair use is a thing and even beside fair use fuck em. copyright are getting more and more stupid by the day.
It’s not fair use to use images and names you have not licensed.
See this asshat:
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No, it isn’t.
https://copyright.psu.edu/copyright-basics/fair-use/
"In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include—
the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
the nature of the copyrighted work;
the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work."
So, me, making a fan page for FunkoPop versions of the Five Nights at Freddies characters and using their images? THAT’S fair use.
Me charging money for a fan game based on the same Funko versions of those characters is NOT fair use.
“Section 107 of the Copyright Act gives examples of purposes that are favored by fair use: “criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, [and] research.””
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Thanks, I was super confused for a bit!
