Yesterday we reported on Funko messing with the independent gaming and creatives store itchio. Today we have an update on the situation from across all fronts.
First things first, itchio made the big announcement:
“On This Day, We Rise Above Funko Pop
The site is back up if you haven’t noticed”
They didn’t quite share all the details here, but we may be able to pick up on them below, as we review the public statements from the other players in this story.
Funko made this statement on their Twitter:
“At Funko, we hold a deep respect and appreciation for indie games, indie gamers, and indie developers. We’re fans of fans, and we love the creativity and passion that define the indie gaming community.
Recently, one of our brand protection partners identified a page on http://itch.io imitating the Funko Fusion development website. A takedown request was issued to address this specific page. Funko did not request a takedown of the itchio platform, and we’re happy the site was back up by this morning.
We have reached out to itchio to engage with them on this issue and we deeply appreciate the understanding of the gaming community as the details are determined. Thank you for sharing in our passion for creativity.”
We do want to thank everyone who genuinely did respectfully contact Funko about this issue as we recommended yesterday. But Funko was not the only entity to chime in, as their brand protection partner, BrandShield, also shared their own statement on Twitter.
BrandShield said this:
“We want to address recent reports surrounding a website takedown.
BrandShield serves as a trusted partner to many brands. Our AI-driven platform detects potential threats and provides analysis, and in this case, an abuse was identified from an itchio subdomain.
We identified and reported the infringement, and requested a takedown of the URL in question – not of the entire http://itch.io domain. The temporary takedown of the website was a decision made by the service providers, not BrandShield.
BrandShield remains committed to supporting our clients by identifying potential digital threats and infringements. We encourage platforms to implement stronger self-regulation systems that prevent such issues from escalating.”
Now, if you remember itchio owner Leaf Corcoran’s statement from yesterday, both Funko and BrandShield are not quite telling the whole story, even with their long explanations.
The problem is, instead of sending a DMCA for the potential copyright violations for that copycat Funko Fusion video game, BrandShield sent a fraud and phishing request. That was the reason that itchio’s URL registrar, iwantmyname, pulled itchio’s entire website yesterday.
But if there’s a potential bright spot to this, is if Funko is serious about getting in contact with itchio to make things right. According to Leaf, Funko called his mom instead of him, so they started that potential goodwill campaign on the wrong foot.
Anyway maybe Funko could earn the community’s goodwill by paying for a few game jams, if not putting some of their own money into the entire itchio enterprise themselves. We are willing to bet Funko owning even just a little bit of itchio can earn them much more goodwill than making five more Funko Fusion games.
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