Greetings,

We received the following DMCA notice from Square-Enix, owner of the Final Fantasy brand:

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To Whom It May Concern:

I am sending you the following Notice of Claimed Infringement pursuant to 17 you.S.C. Section 512(c)(3). This notice is related to the unauthorized reproduction and distribution of copyrighted works owned by Square Enix related to the video games \u201cFINAL FANTASY® IV\u201d and \u201cFINAL FANTASY® V\u201d(the \u201cSquare Enix Products\u201d) being distributed on BYOND.com at the following links:

[list]

I state, under penalty of perjury, that:

1. I am an officer of Square Enix and authorized to act on its behalf;

2. Square Enix is the owner of copyrights and other intellectual property rights in the Square Enix Products;

3. I have a good faith belief that the game identified above uses material related to the Square Enix Products that are not authorized by Square Enix, its agents, or the law, and therefore infringe the intellectual property rights of Square Enix; and

4. The information in this notice is accurate.

I ask that you please act expeditiously to remove the infringing materials.

If you have any questions about this request, I may be contacted at the address and telephone number below. You may also contact me at the following e-mail address: na.legal@square-enix.com.

Truthfully,

Clinton M.Q. Foy

Vice President of Legal Affairs & General Counsel

Legal & Business Affairs Dept. \u2022 sqex.gif, Inc.

999 N Sepulveda Blvd 3rd Flr \u2022 El Segundo CA 90245

Tel (310) 846-0400 \u2022 Fax (310) 356-3851 \u2022 na.legal@square-enix.com

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Your game, http://www.byond.com/games/Gakumerasara/FinalFantasyOnline, was included. We will have to issue a formal takedown shortly (this will make the hub inaccessible to users other than yourself from the byond.com site). The takedown can be lifted if you update the hub & game to use original content (at which point it could even be featured).

I have exchanged some emails with Square Enix since we were issued this notice, but they only respond via form letter. I've provided the contact info should you wish to try for yourself.

I apologize for the nuisance, but this is the risk of creating a fan-game.

Tom

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**** that sheet, contact that ***** and see whats really goin on, i doubt "vice president" of legal affairs is wasting his time on a byond fan-game

prolly just some hater

haters gonna hate

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reply to The Hitman:

haters gon hate

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Sounds fake, probably some *** took the time to create that email and sent it to Tom.

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reply to a followup e-mail by Tom:

Dear Tom,We appreciate our fans, but there are additional considerations. Please remove all three games promptly from Byond.com in accordance with the DMCA.Kind Regards,Legal & Business Affairs Dept. * Sqyare Enix, Inc.999 N Sepulveda Blvd 3rd Flr * El Segundo CA 90245Tel (310) 846-0400 * Fax (310) 356-3851 * na.legal@square-enix.com

"Sqyare Enix"


also:

Gakumerasara: people on forums speculating it's not legit
Tom: well, that's what I thought but the email headers do trace back to square-enix and he did respond to that address

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A few quick Google searches hint that a real cease and desist would likely be sourced to a Clinton Foy, which does not quite match perfectly with the provided address.

In fact, the provided address seems that it could very well be a copy-pasta of the provided address on S-E's NA site for human resources.

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Gakumerasara: people on forums speculating it's not legit
Tom: well, that's what I thought but the email headers do trace back to square-enix and he did respond to that address

Faking/masking an e-mail address isn't too hard, but unsure about the headers.

On the other hand na.legal@square-enix.com does source to what you would actually receive if this were a real C&D. I also notice that some people are pointing out that it's not like you are making money off of it, but Tom is by proxy of advertisements and other things, which could be why he received the e-mail rather than Gaku.

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Tom sent me the FFL notice. The one specific to FFO was slightly different, see:

To Whom It May Concern:
I am sending you the following Notice of Claimed Infringement pursuant to 17 you.S.C. Section 512(c)(3). This notice is related to the unauthorized reproduction and distribution of copyrighted works owned by Square Enix related to the video game “FINAL FANTASY®” (the “Square Enix Product”) being distributed on BYOND.com at the following links:

http://www.byond.com/games/gakumerasara/finalfantasyonline
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The difference is negligible. The one for FFL refers to how FFL is basically FF4/FF5. However, FFO doesn't use FF4/FF5 except for maybe some music, but instead uses a lot of sprites from Final Fantasy.

"The Square Enix Product" this is just nitpicking but they weren't squeenix back during Final Fantasy, unless they choose to refer to the entire series, in which case they're getting pretty dumb.

Might as well C&D people that draw moogle pornography.

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Shane wrote:

Might as well C&D people that draw moogle pornography.

that....exists.....

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Yes, it exists. I once wrote an essay on the sociological effects of moogle pornography on the society. Just ask Kumog.

In the case that the C&D is real and you need some extra assistance with Terulia I'm up for helping you Gaku but I'm leaving right now because holy **** the forums are just totally never loading for me.

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All that crazy drama yesterday over a player being banned and an admin removed, and now a C&D order today.

No big loss. Now progress on Terulia truly will never be inconvenienced by people begging for balance changes to FFO again.

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as pathetic it is to take down a byond game, for a major gaming company that is, oh well

i just hope terulia can keep me occupied til i can play global agenda more regularily


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Cease and Desist letters give a date to hear back from you so you're able to take it to court if you wish.

They're usually issued by judges.

This one is way too personal to be taken seriously.

"Truthfully yours"? If someone wrote this, they don't have a law degree.

It's fake, suckas. Meow.

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square enix won't take down ffo and ruin all your dreams

no balls

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Emails are never a trustworthy source. If its not actual mail I would never trust it. I've gotten C&D notices and all of them were VIA postal system. Legal notices shouldn't be trusted through an easily faked source of communication.

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There you have it, folks. Jiritsu has solved another mystery!

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Sinsie wrote:

Cease and Desist letters give a date to hear back from you so you're able to take it to court if you wish.

They're usually issued by judges.

This one is way too personal to be taken seriously.

"Truthfully yours"? If someone wrote this, they don't have a law degree.

It's fake, suckas. Meow.

i hadnt even thought of that, upon rereading it i definitely agree

a company letter would be much more robotic

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Edit: User was banned for this post

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Cea wrote:

There you have it, folks. Jiritsu has solved another mystery!

And we would've gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling kids! (Edit: And CAT)

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