My Asset got taken down as DMCA infringement

Hey Everyone

I released an Asset called Mesh FX about 2 weeks ago and just today, I noticed an email (sent 3d ago) from Unity saying that it is a DMCA infringement and that the asset has been taken down.

However this asset has no art assets other than a friend created checked image for testing. The code is all original, not copied from anywhere. The logo is was created for me and the name I have all the legal documents proving that I am the sole director of my own company owning the name.

There is of course no way I can prove the above, the asset had all of the source code with it.

Is there anyway I can prove to Unity, DMCA that it was indeed my own creation?

Cheers

Did you ask them why specifically it was taken down?

Does it even closely resemble something that could be copyrighted/patented?

Hmmm… that is odd.

I bought your asset last week. I just took a look at it, and don’t really see anything that even could be a problem.

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It really doesn’t appear to have anything like that.

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I would definitely follow up, it is possible that the DCMA was for a different asset, and there was just a mistake taking yours down.

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Thanks for that! I have contacted them about it and I hope they respond soon.

I did some searching around I didn’t really see anything like it. It was more of a unique tool so I wasn’t too sure how to search for it.

Here is a youtube on what it does.

Do you think there could have been some patent on something like this that I didn’t know of?

No, definitely not.

I only mentioned patents because I heard you can patent some things like this in rare occasions depending what it is.

Me personally I haven’t seen anything like this before.
I think what @zombiegorilla has said might be the case with a mistake. Yours isn’t the only asset with the word “Mesh” in it.

What about the music in the video?

True. But if deforming/altering a mesh over time using curves is patented, a lot of folks would be screwed, including myself. It’s a fairly common technique, usually called ribbons. There are similar things out there, but none of them are patentable.

There is a visual design agency called MeshFX. Might be a name issue. Still think it was a mistake, though.

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I purchased that music from AudioJungle, I have the email receipt for it.

Sometimes you have to email them for some kind of approval/rights. I had issues with YouTube blocking my videos when I used music from AJ until I followed the instructions to approve it and the video was restored.

I’ve never seen that with Unity, though. I’m not even aware of any similar workflow to debate it like YouTube had. Have you tried contacting support yet?

@LaneFox : Biggest problem with contacting Asset Store team is, - you may never hear back from them (Literally).

EDIT: Unless things have changed in the past year where they answer everything.

I’m not a lawyer, but the DMCA is the Digital Millennium COPYRIGHT Act. It’s about copyrights, not patents, so don’t worry about this being a patent (or trademark) issue. There are different ways people deal with complaints about those. (And in the rare event that someone filed a DMCA complaint over a patent or trademark - it happens from time to time - then it’s not a valid DMCA complaint in the first place.)

Definitely keep trying to get details about what content is claimed to infringe someones copyright. They should specify at least by filename and by describing the offending content.

Also, if you are fairly confident in your position, you should file a DMCA Counterclaim.

http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/responding-dmca-takedown-notice-targeting-your-content

A counterclaim is basically where you say “nope this doesn’t infringe anyone’s copyright”. Once you file a counterclaim, the original complainant has 14 days to actually file a lawsuit against you, and if they don’t then Unity will be required to put your content online again. If this DMCA complaint is the result of a misunderstanding (perhaps someone only looked at your content very briefly, or just saw a familiar filename) then once the counterclaim is filed the original complainant will look at this in more detail and withdraw their complaint.

Of course, they could also sue you if they still think you are infringing. In that case, don’t panic. The most likely thing to happen is that you reach a settlement with them where you voluntarily pull the content and agree not to publish it. Or you might be willing to lawyer up and fight it and you might win. That’s a call for you to make, hopefully with the advice of a lawyer.

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DMCA is not really related for above but when it comes to a similar thing for patents I wouldn’t be so confident.

Don’t underestimate all the common things out there that actually are patented in the US. There are things more basic than this that will have patents. One of my assets caught the eye of a patent troll at least in the beginning stages where they were sending take-down notices to various parties but not yet going to court over it. There happened to be obvious prior art, but in the end what I think made the troll go away was there wasn’t enough money in it for them, they were looking for 10,000 USD licensing fee.

There is nothing stopping the troll from actually proceeding with the matter in court which no indie even if the troll “loses” will survive because they can’t afford the legal fees unless you happen to find someone to help for free. If a case was actually filed I would expect Unity, Apple, etc. to probably play it safe and remove the item until the case was resolved.

This was some time ago and the troll did not pursue anything further and hence the items in question stayed up, but I doubt it’s because they thought they would lose, it’s because they realized that the size of the companies they were dealing with would just fold and they wouldn’t extract anything anyways.

At the time I tried to ask Unity a bunch of questions because while the troll went away, this hypothetically could happen to anyone and I’m sure not all will go away. I tried to ask at what juncture they would take items involved in litigation down, if they partner with any of the patent troll fighting foundations (like the EFF), and even asked how this would work if they do take it down on at least notifying all people who would have bought the product, but got no response despite trying in a few different areas several times.

As a corporate entity I probably expected the silence, but was hopeful for at least some basic policy points that they would have, but got crickets instead. To me the dangerous part, isn’t really my company, it’s small enough and I pay myself a salary so the company never has much to extract anyways just fold it and move on, but rather would be customers of the product. Granted, if the case ever went to court it would be won, but a court case is very expensive and I would want Unity to at least notify all previous buyers if a patent troll ever filed lawsuit on an asset, because their games could be the next target if they were already released.

The majority of the store is really tiny companies that will likely be left alone, but the top of the store is starting to earn enough that they might become targets at some juncture. When you think about how many copies/games might get trolled it might one day become a disaster, especially if a case is ever lost.

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Given how much of Unitys customers are small Indies, I would have hoped Unity would take a more active stance against trolls than this. Really, if this gets out of hand, a troll might damage a good part of the customer base in one swoop, which in turn would damage Unitys revenue quite a bit.

Hopefully they step up their game in the future against DCMA trolls.

@Kubee_Games , this is an interesting issue. I hope this gets resolved in your favour. Please keep us posted.

I’m thankful everyday that it hasn’t happened yet. From a common sense perspective, obviously the top assets on the store are original IP with original source from their creators, but I fear the day something as simple as a networking architecture, particular GUI element (like spring back scrolling), or something similar that should have never been granted a patent in the first place, gets targeted by a troll. Especially, if that asset has thousands of sales and is used in numerous games already it will be a disaster. Also, it’s not like one can realistically avoid stepping on these patents because one (or ironically multiple to different parties) have been issued on just about everything. Coupled with the fact searching the database is hard and very difficult to be sure of anything.

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When issuing a DMCA take-down request, as the alleged copyright owner aren’t you required to provide evidence you are, in fact, the copyright owner?

I also think it should be required that any time you receive a DMCA notice, you should be provided information on who filed the complaint as well as what, specifically, is in violation. It’s not fair practice to shut down a legitimate content creator’s revenue stream in the event of a malicious or accidental take-down.

@Buhlaine , any input on this?

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