Monday, June 13, 2011

Etsy, Rovio... WHAT THE HELL?

I woke up this afternoon (yes, I'm aware my sleep schedule is messed up) to this email in my inbox...

"ETSY INFRINGEMENT NOTICE"

Dear hellointerloper,

We have deactivated some item listings in your shop per Etsy's Copyright and Intellectual Property Policy.
We kindly request that you read the following information carefully. Do not reactivate these item listings or relist these items until the issue has been resolved.
This is a confidential matter, and we request that you not discuss this issue in the Etsy Forums or otherwise violate the confidential nature of this email.
...no, to hell with your confidentiality.

The following item listings have been deactivated:
74985810 - Loud and Angry Little Guy - Polymer Clay Bird Figurine or Decoration
Wait wait wait... what? That doesn't infringe on anything! That was an original figurine! Who could have complained?

Etsy received a notice from Jussi Hakanen (piracy@fondia.fi), Legal Counsel for Rovio Mobile Ltd. The notice said that "The game Angry Birds is developed and published by a Finnish company Rovio Mobile Ltd. All intellectual property rights to Angry Birds are owned by Rovio Mobile Ltd, including but not limited to copyright to the game characters and internationally registered trademarks. Rovio Mobile Ltd's copyright to the Angry Birds game characters and international trademark registrations of the word "ANGRY BIRDS" and international trademark registration of the graphical representation of the game characters provides Rovio Mobile Ltd with certain proprietary rights. This includes the right to restrict the use of copyrighted works and/or trademarks, or a confusingly similar works or trademarks, in association with confusingly similar products or services. Rovio Mobile Ltd's trademark registrations include, but are not limited to registration of graphical representation of game character by European Union Community Trademark (no: 009205221) and international trademark registration in several jurisdictions (no: 1052865) including United States (WO 1052865) and China (WO 1052865). According to the notice, certain material on Etsy is not authorized.
The letter stated that these listing(s) incorporate designs, symbols, language, images, or photographs that infringe upon the concerned party's copyright or other intellectual property right.
What the flying fudgebucket?! ANGRY BIRDS?
Let me put this simply... I did not make a clay representation of anything from the game.
I made a bird. A bird that is angry. You know, A COMMON ANIMAL, AND AN EMOTION THAT EVERYBODY CAN DISPLAY.
I did not, however, take anything from Angry Birds.

This was my clay piece:

And lets take a look at the Angry Birds.
(This is from The Oatmeal, because finding a picture from Rovio would be a bad idea at this point.)


First of all... MY BIRD HAS FEET.
My bird is not a legless ball whose only forms of transportation are hopping, and of course, slingshot.
He also has wings, which the Angry Birds lack.
NONE of the birds have any purple, anywhere.
Oh, but there is a blue bird you might say? Well guess what. THE BLUE BIRD ISN'T EVEN ANGRY.
The Angry Birds don't have yellow eyes either.

My bird is just a bird. A bird that is angry.
NOT AN ANGRY BIRD.
Honestly Etsy, honestly Rovio...
WHAT THE BLOODY HECK.

Is this little figurine really all that threatening to you guys?
You'd think that THESE would be a little more dangerous, wouldn't you think?
But no.
Thanks for picking on me, bastards.

8 comments:

  1. I reported 6 pages of ACTUAL angry birds rip off items to avenge you. xD

    And yes, I used the e-mail you posted above so the etsy admins can't claim innocence.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Few days ago there were over 300 items based on the game when I received my letter - but it was at least reasonable. Yours is not, and I would just change it to pissy birdie, as now he has a reason to be. Funny that the ABSURDLY EXPENSIVE stuff is still up.

    Angry Bird Hates Everything
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/rengawk/5823396114/

    Not that I will try it, but what stops people from just not using the game's name and still selling the stuff?

    Have you ever met a swan? They win for being perpetually angry birds.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi! The exact same thing happened to me!!! I am so pissed off!! My original colored pencil drawing has nothing to do with angry birds!!! This is what my drawing looks like.
    https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/s3YTV3456OYKm7QKiDiwdSiAocFgp5KPtb41JM-TkdE?feat=directlink
    I never even used the trademark "Angry Birds" only the words "angry" and "bird" seperately. My birds bare no resemblance. Worst of the person hasn't responded to my emails. It is utter bs.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Is there any lawsuit accompanying these notices? I am just scared cause i got a notice today.... Please advise.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Perhaps people like you are the ones who should have a class group lawsuit against Rovio or Etsy, since they are trying to claim your ORIGINAL designs as Rovio copyright.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I too received the email via Amazon, it was made to look like an email from Amazon but it was not, I retail licensed authorized products from Bakery Crafts,....

    ReplyDelete
  7. Same thing happened to me but I was in the wrong and actually used their images to create a personalized custom vinyl birthday banner. Oh well has anyone recieved anything else after the notices?

    ReplyDelete
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