(From the official itch account on Bluesky) I kid you not, @itch.io has been taken down by Funko of "Funko Pop" because they use some trash "AI Powered" Brand Protection Software called Brand Shield that created some bogus Phishing report to our registrar, iwantmyname, who ignored our response and just disabled the domain

(Continuation via Twitter) Also, for transparency, we did take the disputed page down as soon as we got the notice because it's not worth fighting stuff like that. Regardless, our registrar's automated system likely kicked to disable the domain since no one read our confirmation of removal

you can't make this up

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[–] [email protected] 35 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

The registrar appears to have ignored the response from itch.io (source with additional details). I'm not sure what that means for them legally speaking -- but not following the DMCA process correctly probably opens them up to being sued for damages.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 2 days ago

The problem is they didn't initiate the DMCA process at all, nor did the report submitted have anything to do with Copyright Infringement. They submitted a fraud/phishing report, as if the domain itself was serving or facilitating malicious content harmful to someone who visits it.. So forget the DMCA process, this was straight up just corner cutting on the part of the firm representing Funko that misrepresented the nature of the situation as a whole.