Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by RandomThoughts3 662 days ago
Not sure I follow, one is a Rampage clone and the other an idle game. They have very different names. The only thing similar seems to be that the PlayStore app has ads mimicking the other game (but different) - sad but not illegal.

There doesn’t seem to be anything here which would actually justify a DMCA takedown. Am I missing something?
3 comments
wormius 662 days ago
Assets are copyrighted, are these not the same assets? Did one not take the assets of another or are these open source graphics and anyone is free to use them? If they can shut down a youtube video because some rando asshole DMCAs it for a few seconds of audio in the background I'm not sure why wholesale art ripping off wouldn't be justifiable?

Especially considering the point of DMCA is "TAKE DOWN ASK QUESTIONS LATER" (I hate DMCA, so I'm not saying I'm in favor of it, but it's odd that big players get to abuse this, and scammers get to abuse this (and maybe this is a scammer?) but people who apparently have their own art assets (assuming this isn't open) isn't allowed to use the same tools the big players use? I'm not talking about "a copy of a game".

Or is this a case where the ad uses graphics of one thing but the actual game doesn't use the same graphics?

link
RandomThoughts3 662 days ago
> Assets are copyrighted, are these not the same assets?

Only for the advertising part apparently. I didn’t see the trailer but the poster was relatively samy but different enough to not be a copy. The game seems widely different (and a lot less good).

As I said it’s clearly riffing on the marketing campaign of the complaining indie game in a disingenuous way but it doesn’t seem to be a DMCA infringement as far as I can tell.

Don’t get me wrong, I have no sympathy for the studio trying to make money with a boring idle game by plagiarising the marketing of a good game. It’s just that the title is both aggressive and inaccurate enough to really tick me off.

link
ElCapitanMarkla 662 days ago
When the other app has even taken this apps trailer and not bothered to replace the name then I side with the original dev - https://x.com/LorenLemcke/status/1829065192296120502
link
oniony 662 days ago
Yeah, I agree. Rampage is the original here. The artwork is very similar, and clearly mimicking the other game, but ultimately original.
link