How to fight against copyright infringment

Did you find your iOS game illegally hosted on a website?
Does that website use Google AdSense?
Has there been unsatisfactory response to a take-down notice?

If the answer is yes, these links might be helpful to you....

https://www.google.com/adsense/suppo...en&answer=9894
https://www.google.com/adsense/suppo...dmca_complaint

Copyright infringement is not a compliment. It's theft. You can fight to protect your games!

I doubt google will take down apps from indies. But worth a shot

Now this is a good idea. Not only that, you can send the DMCA takedown notice to their ISP/hosting provider whose terms of service have clauses against hosting warez. Individually, it won't make a dent, but there's a legion of app developers all over the world, so as a group, we could make it more difficult to profit from infringement.

Google openly told customers that they should choose android because of all the free games and apps. They do zero to help thier own indie developers. All they care is about selling ad space.
I have seen websites on windows mobile using google blooger host warez for years. I do hope for your sake it works but please dont count on it. This is google we talking about not apple.

If Google doesn't comply — and they continue to profit from illegal content — wouldn't they be at risk of copyright infringement too?

I'm not a fan of Google, but they seem to be doing the right thing on this one. Reading their help page reveals that.

If Google doesn't act properly, the next step might be to get a lawyer — maybe even take them to court. Google should not be getting AdSense/AdWords dollars through pageviews from illegal content. Google will probably fight hard on that one, as it's their core business. But if your requests are ignored, it might be worth the fight.

I think Google is doing the right thing though.

http://www.google.com/search?q=annoyed+tomatoes

One of the top results was site that had a link to download my game — but not anymore! Google seems to have cleaned up the links on their own. I didn't even use the forms.

If you send their host/ISP a proper DMCA takedown notice, the hosting provider is legally obligated to act and remove the purportedly infringing content/website. If they don't act, they are no longer shielded by the law. After removal, the website can file a DMCA counter claim to put the material back up if they think it is not genuinely infringing. At this point, you'd have to take them to court. But generally, the DMCA notice should do the trick most of the time.

The situation is a bit trickier with Google search because their search engine is not hosting the content. They may act and remove such sites from their index if notified, but I don't think they legally have to do it. They probably want to do it to remove the spammy sites which are likely gaming the page rank to get noticed on Google anyway. If a site is not above making a profit from piracy, they probably engage in black hat SEO techniques, too. Google frowns on that.

Adsense is an ad revenue program that the website publisher uses to generate revenue from pageviews and click-throughs. But Adsense itself also does not host any content, so a DMCA notice wouldn't work there. However, Adsense has strict rules and will deactivate any sites from their program that host warez. (I am a publisher with Adsense and have been since they started, so I know a bit about this.) So if you can yank their Adsense, they lose a major profit incentive.

HD2apps.blogspot has been around for years . Google never took them down and they host warez. Look once and a while big companies like google will look out for the little guy , Iam just saying dont count on it because unless they are forced , they very slow to move if all. Iam glad everyone here seems to have alot of confidence in them. If they were that into justice , we wouldnt be having this conversation IMO.

I'm not sure. It's a good question. I think Google would be pretty foolish to ignore a request from an Independent Developer. Even if Google wins the legal battle, they'd lose in the war of public opinion. All the developer has to do is make a big issue out of it — and get some press coverage — tell a story how they're struggling to pay the bills, while showing Google's association to illegal downloads of their game.

I don't think it has to get to that level. Google is not the main target here...

...that's the main idea! Starve the warez sites of resources. If they're on a web host, go after their ISP. If they're running advertisements, inform the advertisers. Legitimate companies would likely want to avoid such sites.

Complaining to Google is only part of an effective campaign against theft of your game. It's a good place to start though.

But basically, if you're going to wage war against illegal downloads of your game, I think it makes more sense to go after the websites that do it. I don't think it's good business to annoy your customers.

If a website like Google doesn't respond, the next step is to make some noise.

Google will just point out that they aren't hosting contents, as said before.
And if it hasn't a major impact on the Android system, I guess they simply don't care.

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Last edited by Vovin; 03-14-2011 at 08:17 AM.