When it comes down to it the only time you'll need to really dig deep to show proof is if something goes to court. And at that point it should be easy to figure out.
Using any third party cloud server (Google drive, Dropbox, etc) for back up of your personal/development files should do fine. Just make sure you keep at least one old copy on there and never get rid of it.
Just to be clear, I was not talking about having a company to hold a copyright. I'm suggesting you devs have companies so you can have proper revenue accounting, use your username or pen name as a legal entity, enhance anonymity, and cover your ass in the event of a lawsuit.
If I get sued, my company may be dissolved, but I get to keep my house. Without a company, I, as a person, am at risk instead
Excellent points for anyone who is doing this as a living, and making income equivalent to at least a basic living wage. Absolutely.
However, in most places having a company does also mean tax returns, hiring an accountant, opening business bank accounts, etc. all of which do add up to extra expenses. Now, those costs vary in the US according to state laws, state taxes, etc. but in the EU and UK, the requirement to have a professional accountant is something that's likely to cost a few hundred Euros at least once a year, just to ensure the tax returns are legal.
I'd say if you are earning at least 500 Euros it is at least worth talking to an accountant about the best way to be legit, to minimize your risks, etc. But it's not at all necessary in terms of copyright, and not especially relevant therefore to this topic (however good a sidebar it may be).
Meanwhile, proof of ownership is often the absolute minimum you may need to get a hosting company or others to actually act against a paying customer. Your word vs his, where he pays their bills and you don't, isn't usually enough. Some very nervous ones might suspend his account merely on the filing of a DMCA, but most would want an outcome first, or, if you are lucky, will settle for evidence that your claim is legit - i.e. proof of ownership. Once provided with that, if they don't take the site down they are complicit in actively publishing stolen work when knowing it was stolen.
Very true. Here in the US, if you make over $600 in a year from a single source (i.e. patreon, paypal, etc) you must claim that income on taxes. I get the impression that a lot of the indie devs here aren't doing that. I don't know what other countries consider de minimis, but I do know that if for any reason your taxes are audited and you have not claimed your games income and they find out, you will have to pay it back, plus interest. And again, at least here in the US, there is no statute of limitation on how long they can go back to find this.
So for example, if I hadn't created this company, or just decided not to claim the revenue from the game on my taxes and decide in a month to quit this all forever, it could be fifteen years from now that I get an audit and with the interest the government is going to want, I'll owe them tens of thousands of dollars, minimum (in that scenario).
Even if it costs you a couple hundred dollars, it is a huge protection for yourself. I did this to look out for me. If you do or do not, that is entirely on you (whoever is reading this, not just RougeKnightUK).
this may be a hobby, but if you're making money and expect or hope to make more money with it, be smart.
F95 is full of copyrighted material: Milftoon, Jabcomix and many other siterips. There is also a section named "Cracking". But here you discuss about the creator's rights, how to protect them and how to close a site which does the same things of F95. Could you please explain?
F95 is full of copyrighted material: Milftoon, Jabcomix and many other siterips. There is also a section named "Cracking". But here you discuss about the creator's rights, how to protect them and how to close a site which does the same things of F95. Could you please explain?
It does not answer your question because your whole point was wrong to begin with.
"Lemon is the same as Orange. Could you please explain?"
It is not the same and I explained why.
Is piracy legal? Of course it is not.
We could stay all day here explaining the pro and cons but at the end, it does not even matter because most devs here know that F95Zone, whatever you want to call it piracy or not, brings visibility to their games and not only that but thanks to a pretty active community, also constructive feedback.
That italian website simply steals a game, changes the title and sells it while claiming its their work.
Pure scum with no pros whatsoever.
He did answer your question, but you can't distinguish between copyright and distribution right. No offense, this site do violates distribution rights, but they don't claim ownership of those creations and don't charge you money for download.
This is a pirating site - and never claimed to be something else.
The difference is that no one here tries to make profit out of it.
The thing is, that pirates aren't evil per se - some/most just can't or don't want to invest the according money to get what they want.
Many folks here provide feedback and/or help in other non-monetary ways and a huge bunch of developers is active here and use that like "I can't prevent people (or don't mind in the first place) getting my stuff for free - so why not get something out of it!?"
On top of that this site is basically a free advertisement area for them (many folks here try a game and start supporting the actual creators!).
To conclude:
Is this site absolutely legal? Of course not. (And even that is debatable since F95zone doesn't host the files itself)
But is it the same as taking foreign content and making money off of it? Hell no...
F95 is full of copyrighted material: Milftoon, Jabcomix and many other siterips. There is also a section named "Cracking". But here you discuss about the creator's rights, how to protect them and how to close a site which does the same things of F95. Could you please explain?
As you say, F95 makes absolutely no attempt to hide the fact that it is a 'pirate' site. It never, ever, pretends to have created the games it has pirated. That alone is the huge difference between borrowing without asking, and outright theft.
Indeed, the site actually goes to considerable lengths to ensure proper attribution and links to the actual creator's site(s), pages, Discord servers, etc. are given. It ensures that credit goes to the creators.
Additionally, it has always been my experience here that members are encouraged to support developers and creators, including financially.
The forums at F95 provide an additional way for developers to gain feedback and exposure, do market research, and otherwise enhance their earnings. When you look at the end credits for almost any game on Patreon, you see a list of Patreons using their F95 forum names - which indicates quite clearly that many, if not most, top-tier subscribers created that Patreon account after creating an account here.
By contrast, the donkey-felching scuzz-monkey behind the Italian website does not just outright steal the games, it additionally takes credit for the work (a second theft), and even on top of that attempts to change all the names of the titles in order just to make absolutely certain that the game creators, and customers, are decieved and robbed to the utmost extent. The person(s) responsible are thus beyond reprehensible, they are morons. Their actions do the utmost possible to destroy the very spirit of the game creators they feed from like malaria-ridden parasites.
F95 is full of copyrighted material: Milftoon, Jabcomix and many other siterips. There is also a section named "Cracking". But here you discuss about the creator's rights, how to protect them and how to close a site which does the same things of F95. Could you please explain?
Not sure if this is adding anything new to what RogueNightUK and others have said, but here's my 2ct from a devs perspective.
I put my own game up here at F95. I do it because I want as many people as possible to play it. I spend about 40 hours a week on it, on top of my full time dayjob!
Now, I don't care if you download and play my gave and give me nothing, because I want people to play it and enjoy it, first and foremost.
If you like it enough that you're willing to support me, kudo's to you, I can't thank you enough. It's a lot of work, and the assets ain't free either, so I'd love to get something out of it on top of the satisfaction of making something people enjoy.
But if someone were to take my game, pretend they put all those late nights and long weekends into it, and started collecting money for it, ef them, and with respect, ef you for not understanding the difference that it's people with a passion that are giving you these games, and this is hurting them.
Not sure if this is adding anything new to what RogueNightUK and others have said, but here's my 2ct from a devs perspective.
I put my own game up here at F95. I do it because I want as many people as possible to play it. I spend about 40 hours a week on it, on top of my full time dayjob!
Now, I don't care if you download and play my gave and give me nothing, because I want people to play it and enjoy it, first and foremost.
If you like it enough that you're willing to support me, kudo's to you, I can't thank you enough. It's a lot of work, and the assets ain't free either, so I'd love to get something out of it on top of the satisfaction of making something people enjoy.
But if someone were to take my game, pretend they put all those late nights and long weekends into it, and started collecting money for it, ef them, and with respect, ef you for not understanding the difference that it's people with a passion that are giving you these games, and this is hurting them.
I play your game and enjoy it very much! You are also on my list of creators I follow, every couple of months I look at my follow list and pledge to one of the creators I follow. What also matters to me is how you interact with people on here.
In all honesty, I do not wish to persue this in court, nor do I want their money. The above was basically just a scary threat I wanted them to take seriously. I was also told according to Italian Law, false copyright claims lead to time in Prison, so hopefully they take this threat seriously and shut down their website.
Any thoughts?
UPDATE: I was just notified that giochipremium.com's payment processor is: "securionpay.com", their email is: legal@securionpay.com
If you would like to, you could file a complaint to them claiming that giochipremium.com is selling coprighted material.
giochipremium.com's website registrar is:
You must be registered to see the links
and their host is
You must be registered to see the links
If you would like to, you can also file a complaint there as well.
UPDATE 2: giochipremium is the same owner who runs traduzionipremium.com, they seem to also own this Patreon
You must be registered to see the links
UPDATE 3: After my threat was made against them, they agreed to take down the game! If your game is up here and you don't want it to be, please do the same!
UPDATE 4: They seem to have completely banned some IPs. You can still access their website using a VPN.
UPDATE 5: Giochi are so salty I got my game taken down from their website, they're attempting/threatening to get people's games taken down from Patreon. Fucking pathetic.
Kinda hypocritical given that you too are "illegally selling" a game with assets STOLEN FROM ILLUSION... if you start doing stupid shit like this, giving them ultimatums and what not, then Illusion may very well do the same thing to you. Don't scream bloody murder when you're just as guilty cause now word is out that someone "stole from you"
Kinda hypocritical given that you too are "illegally selling" a game with assets STOLEN FROM ILLUSION... if you start doing stupid shit like this, giving them ultimatums and what not, then Illusion may very well do the same thing to you. Don't scream bloody murder when you're just as guilty cause now word is out that someone "stole from you"
Runey isn't selling anything.
Nothing was stolen from Illusion.
Runey's game isn't the only one on the site that's being stolen.
Not all of the games that have been stolen are based on Honey Select.
Im not a game developers but that site seriously disgusted me, something need to be done to shut down that site or better if can sent all the culprit to prison.
Runey isn't selling anything.
Nothing was stolen from Illusion.
Runey's game isn't the only one on the site that's being stolen.
Not all of the games that have been stolen are based on Honey Select.
#1 Patreon is commercial use dude... A.K.A. selling(unless the game is for downloadable for free)
#2 the art and animation style of honey select was used and is being sold on patron... A.K.A. stealing
#3 I understand that, but he started the post acting like he owns what he is selling himself, which he doesn't... because look at point #2
#4 of course not, but I was just saying Runey is being a hypocrite himself
keep in mind dude, I support Runey and I love his game, but when he comes out and says that "what this website is doing is wrong", well he isn't any better
Im not a game developers but that site seriously disgusted me, something need to be done to shut down that site or better if can sent all the culprit to prison.
This may be a piracy site but there is a massive difference between
Stealing someone's work and passing it off as your own (the Italian scumbag)
and
Sharing games while giving credit to the original developer and even posting links to that developer. (F95)
Dude get out to get some vitamin for your brain, this site doesnt make money by selling game, you can download all the game in this site for FREE!!! but those scumbag just stealing others hardwork, translated it, claiming it was their and selling it. you're stupid for cannot understand the difference.
