Devian, I always wanted to ask, you being a dev and all, Illusion could technically enforce copyright, right? They just don't in the Western world, is that correct? If that happens, do devs that use it have a backup plan?
Yeah, it's a fine line, since there is a strong argument for fair use, and since these devs are not selling their games, they are taking donations for their labor, it's usually not a problem.
A while back, the company that had the rights to sell one of the versions of HS in the west (FAKKU), tried to get money out of all of the devs making those games, but they only had distribution rights, not the art. Luckily, nothing ever came of it, but it caused a big scare around here. (Though, in this case, it is Play Home, not Honey Select).
So, while it is possible, it is very unlikely, as long as they stick to this business model. They could do something, if you try to sell the game on Steam or something, maybe, but we don't know yet. No one has really tested those waters yet.
Copyright works a lot different in Japan, so while some companies are still sticklers for that shit, most of them are pretty tolerant, about it, since the culture around doujinshi and fanart in general, is more loose, similar to our parody laws, under fair use. But Illusion started selling here directly on Steam and whatnot now, so time will tell...
I guess, worst case, they could go to Daz or something.
