Mob Entertainment, the studio behind the massively popular horror franchise Poppy Playground, has filed a lawsuit against Google and multiple games that use its assets without authorization. It’s a common problem in app stores, so much so that it has become a meme: all mobile games kind of have the same icon, usually a character mid-shout. But sometimes it goes beyond that, and fake developers release games that are clear copyright infringements to mislead consumers. Now a developer has taken action to try and clear out the worst offenders, filing a lawsuit against Google for its failure to remove the games and against developer Daigo Game 2020, Inc for releasing a “scam” application.
Mob Entertainment says that Daigo Game 2020 company released two games — Poppy Playtime: Chapter 3 and Poppy Playtime: Chapter 4 — and used protected assets to do so. These faux versions of the game were released before the official ones and caused confusion and complaints among the playerbase. The two chapters weren’t actually games at all, according to the filing — they were advertisements disguised as games, asking players to pay between $30 and $95 for the “Guide wuggy playtime mod,” according to TorrentFreak.
The picture on the left is the fake, while the two character models on the right are official assets. The similarities between the two are obvious. However, the lawsuit isn’t just about the misuse of assets. Mob Entertainment also claims that, since Google receives 15% or 30% of each sale, the search giant failed to remove the fake apps in response to numerous DMCA notices. The developer claims it contacted Google multiple times, through multiple methods, only for their requests to be ignored.
The suit cites, “Google forfeited the benefits of the DMCA’s safe harbor provision by failing to expeditiously remove the infringing application.” Under normal circumstances, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) safe harbor provision would limit the amount of liability Google faces, but the allegations against Google claim that its failure to respond to DMCA notices means it also responsible.
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Mob Entertainment is seeking compensation of up to $150,000 per game in addition to an injunction that would prevent the situation from happening again. While it isn’t likely to mark a huge change in the way app stores operate, any action that illuminates the ongoing issue is a step in the right direction.
