Sega Lawyers Demand “Immediate Suspension” of Steam Database over Alleged Piracy

Post by klipklop » Tue, Mar 30, 2021, 8:23 PM UTC

bearjaws wrote: post #64

funnymania wrote: post #27

Players of PSO2 (an MMO game) will tell you that SEGA is notoriously improbable to get a hold of, and they don't respond much beyond automated messaging to issues re: bans. A couple friends were banned erroneously via an automated purge of around 10k+ players. Their customer service was stone silent. Randomly with no communication, one of their accounts was back online after a couple months. It's worth mentioning tha…

Recently had the same experience with Activision, turned out I was shadowbanned because my name contained the word "Erotica". No phone support, email or chat, I ended up finding a solution in a single thread on Battlenet forums. Battle.net allows names that are banned by Activision, and when logging into COD it was automatically imported, banning my account.

Post by darig » Tue, Mar 30, 2021, 10:18 PM UTC

thayne wrote: post #16

darig wrote: post #5

A false DMCA takedown is equivalent to perjury. If SteamDB were to counter-sue Sega, Sega could be punished for perjury, forced to pay SteamDB's lawyers fees, and potentially lose their copyright on the content they claimed was violated.

Really? If the risks for making a false DMCA takedown request were that high, I would expect to see less false takedown notices, and less aggressive bots. Or maybe the aggressors are just assuming that the victims don't have the resources to fight a megacorp in court? If it's the latter it seems like an organization like EFF should step in to fund such a fight.

Post by hnick » Tue, Mar 30, 2021, 10:46 PM UTC

trylfthsk wrote: post #51

How effective is the DMCA in being a force for good? I continue to see stories where it seems they combine all the fun of a jury summons with the customer service of google. To me, this SEGA claim seems to border on a perjury violation for false DMCA claims (IANAL). But in practice, the victim has neither the ability nor funding to utilize the legal mechanisms for discouraging this behavior. To say nothing of the sec…

Post by danaliv » Wed, Mar 31, 2021, 1:20 AM UTC

falcolas wrote: post #36

mountainb wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a response would take about 30 minutes billed time to tell them that it's fair use. If Sega decided to drop their DMCA claim, I don't think the cost would exceed 2 hours billed time even if they decided to write back or schedule a conference call about it or whatever. Depending on the nature of the claim, Sega's real disposition, and what was on the page, a counternotice might have sufficed to clear it up wit…

> Hiring a lawyer to fight a DMCA claim is not the same as hiring one to defend you in a lawsuit or a criminal matter. It's still expensive. Two hours of time can cost you into the thousands of dollars; more if you are unlucky enough to get a scumbag of a lawyer. And there's nothing resembling a guarantee that the letter alone will work. Fair use is a positive defense, which means that you're admitting that you are i…

Post by krageon » Wed, Mar 31, 2021, 8:11 AM UTC

elliekelly wrote: post #25

krageon wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hire some lawyers, have them send a letter back that says "no" surrounded by a lot of words and wait. It'll either resolve itself or they'll win in court, either way is okay.

Don’t you think there’s something inherently wrong with a system where someone can either afford to stand up to a (possible) bully or they can’t? Absent the intervention of public outrage the side willing/able to withstand more legal fees “wins” these fact patterns the vast majority of the time. To me, that doesn’t seem like a system designed to achieve the intended outcome in the spirit of the law.