Fox Accidentally Releases Family Guy Game Early, 'Fixes' This By Issuing YouTube Copyright Claims And Killing Twitch Channels
from the no,-unsuspecting-user,-it-is-YOU-who-have-fucked-up dept
Fix your mistake or make it worse? That’s the question facing so many, so often. Let’s make it worse, shall we? I mean, that’s the way it frequently seems to go. And, why not, let’s use that infamous “shut the hell up” multi-tool Copyright as well, so that everyone’s respect for the concept continues its irreversible decline.
Touch Arcade reports that Fox screwed up a little with its release of its new Family Guy game. But rather than move on, it decided to become a bully when it didn’t immediately get its way.
Earlier today, we assumed FOX soft launched the upcoming Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff. Folks on our forums, as they always do, downloaded the game, and started posting impressions and videos. Instead of embracing this sort of community activity, FOX apparently decided to go totally nuclear, shutting down absolutely everything they could that had to do with the game being posted anywhere.
The “soft launch” was actually a botched delivery. New Zealand users weren’t simply getting a headstart on the rest of the world. No, Fox simply pushed the wrong button somewhere and accidentally put the app out there for public consumption. As Eli Hodapp points out, nothing untoward or illegal happened, but the response was completely indistinguishable from that sort of situation.
[K]eep in mind, Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff was fully available for download earlier today. No tricks were needed, nothing was stolen or otherwise pirated. Instead, people with New Zealand App Store accounts were just downloading the game like any of us download these games, direct from the App Store without any other associated drama.
But Fox thought that, despite its misstep, it should still have control of the situation. So, it first asked a user via Twitter to remove his gameplay video from YouTube until “launch day,” while admitting the game was availabe due to an error on Fox’s part.
This user returned to his YouTube account only to find that Fox had already issued a copyright claim against his video. So, rather than be allowed to comply, the user received a strike against his account. Then, Fox went even further and had his Twitch channel shut down. Completely. As of the time of this writing, his account is still closed, supposedly due to “terms of service violations.”
Nice work, Fox. Now instead of people talking about the game, they’ll be talking about how the entity holding the IP rights hammered potential fans in order to hold onto the game for another couple of days. And instead of giving one fan a chance to comply with its request, it decided to give him an undeserved YouTube strike and shut down his Twitch channel — all because Fox failed to handle its own end of the app business. Ridiculous.
(But Fox can’t shut everything down. Here’s a rather amusing video of the Forbidden Game in action.)
Filed Under: censorship, copyright, family guy, games
Companies: fox
Comments on “Fox Accidentally Releases Family Guy Game Early, 'Fixes' This By Issuing YouTube Copyright Claims And Killing Twitch Channels”
'I will make him an offer he can't refuse...'
‘… by politely asking him to take down the video at the exact same time I’m swinging a bat at his head.’
Firefly
Stop assuming that Fox, in any of its iterations, is going get something right.
Nigel
So instead of using this early leak as a way to let the public hype up the game and drive people towards it, they decide to stifle people’s impressions of the game and now they foster apathy towards Fox itself and the game.
Obviously marketing and PR is not in their corporate mantra, but doing something detrimental is.
So basically...
…Fox is fuckup waiting to happen whether Murdoch has his hands in it or not.
Sanctions
This should be something that clearly violates the DMCA process.
Re: Sanctions
Here’s the sad truth: it doesn’t. At all.
Fox owns the copyright to the Family Guy game. Thus, according to the law, they can say who can and cannot distribute it. When you apply for a DMCA takedown notice to a website, you don’t have to consider fair use. All you have to do is say, under penalty of perjury, that you do own the copyrights to the content in question. So when Fox filed the DMCA to both Youtube and Twitch, they were in full compliance with the law.
And that is the fucking sad part.
Re: Re: Sanctions
According to at least one court, you do have to consider fair use when deciding to issue a takedown notice: http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/blog/2008/10/copyright-owners-must-consider-fair-use-doctrine-when-issuing-dmca-takedown-notices
This makes sense when you think about it. If the use is fair use, then it isn’t in violation of copyright regardless of who owns the copyright.
I’m digging the avatar: the last airbender shoutout in the subtitle
Damn, no Lois in the video. Such a MILF. What does she see in that family guy?
Re: Re:
It’s Fox. Fat guys are entitled to hot chicks if they are the protagonists. Other fat guys are not, or something. I’ve never been able to figure it out.
See also “lovable loser, and WTH is that not an oxymoron?”
I do like the show, though sometimes it’s more miss than hit.
Some corporations just want to be hated.
lets hope their dreams come true.
Re: Some corporations just want to be hated.
we are talking about fox here. I have yet to see anyone like them.
No problem. When they get it right and want to release it for sale I promise you I won’t be one buying it. I don’t want my money going to corporations that act like this. If they’ll do it once they’ll do it again. I don’t support such actions as these.
Methinks that a carpet bombing of 0-star reviews is looming on the horizon…
Re: FOX
I fight the only way I am able to… I don’t watch Fox News, in fact I don’t watch Fox network at all. And I refuse to buy any video game they are associated with. Wish I could do more to make them realized how stupid they are looking. Fox… fair and balanced NOT!
Baaah!
I vote for Goat Simulator.