Breaking News: is this the end of fansites, goodbye Habbox?

[tm]

Just spent the last 20 minutes reading all that, nice opinions there.
I remember there was a lot of fuss about this a few years ago and they just gave up on it after a week of leaving everyone in limbo. Let's hope this works out the same.

[Jack!]

Everyone grab the pitchforks and torches, To the Sulake HQ and/or Hiddens house, whichever is closer.

[-:Undertaker:-]

A good friend of mine has found this leak, apparently this was sent to the owner of a fansite because he/she didn't comply with the enforced Sulake rules.

To Whom It May Concern

The following information is presented for the purposes of removing web content that infringes our copyright per the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. We appreciate your enforcement of copyright law and support of our rights in this matter. The infringing material appears on the domain listed below: *removed* Sulake Corporation Ltd and its affiliates (hereinafter together “Sulake” or “we”) together with their licensors own all rights, title and interest in and to the website Habbo and its different language versions (hereinafter referred to as the “Habbo Site”) and in and to all of its contents which content includes without limitation images, animations, computer programs as well as “Sulake”. "Bobba" and “Habbo” trademarks and various other names, marks and logos used at the Habbo Site (hereinafter referred to as the “Sulake Content”).

Sulake Content is protected by copyright, trademark, trade secret and other applicable laws as well as international treaties relating to the same. We request you to remove the above detailed website from your server. The name of the website includes our trademark and the website contains, uses and displays Sulake Content and correspondingly infringes our Intellectual Property Rights. We have a good faith belief that the copyright owner, its agent, or the law does not authorize use of the material in the manner complained of. We assure that the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that we are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

Please send me a confirmation when you have removed this material. This letter is written without any prejudice. Sulake reserves the right to claim damages as well as any other remedy under applicable copyright and trademark legislation.

They're pretty serious it seems - what they don't seem to grasp is that I and many others only still go on the hotel because of the likes of Habbox. No fansites/Habbox = no more visits to the hotel and no more credits.

[sexpot]

A good friend of mine has found this leak, apparently this was sent to the owner of a fansite because he/she didn't comply with the enforced Sulake rules.



They're pretty serious it seems - what they don't seem to grasp is that I and many others only still go on the hotel because of the likes of Habbox. No fansites/Habbox = no more visits to the hotel and no more credits.

Did you see that on hffm? If so I think it was sent to the owner of a certain black market site, not a fansite

[-:Undertaker:-]

Did you see that on hffm? If so I think it was sent to the owner of a certain black market site, not a fansite

Was sent it, and yeah that's true - but seems they are doing a crackdown atm.

[Lucy]

I don't see the point of this if it were true, donations are completely voluntary, the only way it could be an issue is if a child takes a parents credit card or something and just goes mental? Either way I am not sure how Sulake would think people are going to pay for big fansites to continue running on their own as I know things can get expensive.

[FlyingJesus]

DMCA has nothing to do with people putting images on a site, it's about using them as though they were your own or for profit. We get around that by use of the Fair Use rules (since we don't really have all that many Habbo images, aren't making a profit off them, and aren't in competition with Habbo in any way), but Sulake are just going to hope that most fansites will be run by kids who don't know that. Almost all of our images (RV and Wiki pages aside?) are edited and therefore essentially fan art, and since we neither sell images nor to my knowledge advertise anywhere using Habbo images we aren't in breach.

The line about how the "name of the website includes our trademark" is especially ridiculous as that is not and never has been an enforceable part of copyright law; if it were then one could start a company called A and get it trademarked then sue everyone who uses the letter A in anything. Also again we are not making or intending to make a profit off the Habbo name so trademark cannot be enforced against Habbox. Habbox does not pretend to be Habbo and we have a very specific footer stating that we are not affiliates of Sulake. This is a scare tactic that they cannot uphold.

Also it doesn't look like a notice sent to a fansite owner, looks more like one sent to a webhost...

[xxMATTGxx]

I came across that from HFFM and they said it was sent to the well known black market site rather than a fansite.

A good friend of mine has found this leak, apparently this was sent to the owner of a fansite because he/she didn't comply with the enforced Sulake rules.



They're pretty serious it seems - what they don't seem to grasp is that I and many others only still go on the hotel because of the likes of Habbox. No fansites/Habbox = no more visits to the hotel and no more credits.

[e5]

Before we know it, fansites will have to pay sulake to be a(n) (official) fansite for their profit and then we will be allowed to sell VIP and everything then becomes money orientated.

[ReallyOkay]

What a shame… Sulake loves wasting time. Decisions made on the fly. Keeping those trolls fed and satisfied. Habbo is now one big platform to troll on. Search "Habbo lang:en" on twitter and almost every general public conversation revolves around nostalgia or logging in to troll. As every sensible person has said, fansites are the foundation to the Habbo community. Taking away their right to accept donations is the most asinine thing I've ever heard. Great idea, let's further alienate any loyal users. Not improve our public image. And neglect the THOUSANDS of dollars we are losing monthly. It's pretty funny that I was able to buy a typo off ebay in 06 to get some cheap coins and 7 years later people are living off their Habbo profits. No body wanted to brainstorm ideas to plug these holes? And now they decide to try taking legal action. That letter sent to the well known black-market makes me cringe. Like I suspected, this market is just going to re-brand itself and expand. If you don't already know there are several other black-markets that didn't start out as anything Habbo related, rather auction sites for virtual items in general. Literally some people are making between $3,500-5,500 selling furniture and coins every month. They don't even have to make transactions on a daily basis. You can easily find their records. #1 Black-markets aren't going to give up easily. #2 Hurling legal action at a majority of your current population (lucky to have 4,000 users logged in) is asking for death warmed up. #3 What the SKDFJEMCXLFJEKL#Q@LSDFKJ were you thinking? Are you even currently thinking?

This has spiraled into such a mess. You've reached a pinnacle when one player is able to steal $15,000 of your potential profit. And the company is worried about $5 donations. Ha. MAJOR changes and advances must to come to Habbo in the next year or it's not going to be around in 2015. I hope someone who is in contact with staff will make sure they read this entire thread. If they can't speak fluent English I'd suggest a native translator, read along pal. Please fully open your eyes Sulake.