Major Forum Changes and Why

[Dave]

Hi everyone,
14 years after this forum was created it's with a heavy heart some of the changes i've had to made this evening. I'm hoping these changes won't be forever, but at present i've been threatened with legal action by Game Insight. Yes, you heard that right, the same Game Insight that used to come on the forum, support us, promote us on their facebook page as the unoffical fan site has now decided to get legal. I've got 60 hours to comply with their request, which luckily started when I had an evening at home with the PC tonight as I work away a lot.

This is what I have been threatened with. It was sent to my hosting company who have forwarded it onto me:

Notice of infringement 16SEP2024

To whom it may concern,

I hereby state under penalty of perjury that I am authorized to act on behalf of Game Insight. Game Insight is the exclusive owner of several intellectual property Rights (“IPRs”) in different countries, including but not limited to copyright protected Video Games and trademarks related to such video games displayed on its official website Game Insight.com. Game Insight holds many different kinds of IPRs, such as USPTO trademark No. 4758389, EUIPO trademark No. 13982828 for the game called ‘Airport City’.

The website operated under the domain name airportcitygame.com, which is hosted on your server identified with IP address xxx is using without authorization Game Insight’s copyrighted materials and trademarks. I have a good faith belief that the use of Game Insight’s copyrights on airportcitygame.com is not authorized by Game Insight, their agents, or the law and therefore infringe Game Insight’s copyrights according to applicable copyright law. The copyright pertains to all assets, including products, soundtracks, pictures, characters, programming, audio-visual recordings, screenshots, and logos on the current and older versions of the games.

We have contacted the website owner, and have given him a reasonable time to respond to our request. The website owner did not remove the infringing material.

Game Insight’s brand protection experts confirmed that these websites sell/advertise/promote copyright infringing products. In particular, the reported domain is selling hacked version of our client's games. This also amounts to trademark violation as these files are being sold without the rightholder's authorisation on the below webpage(s):

https://www.airportcitygame.com/threads/cheats.37603/#:~:text=Cheats? | Airport

Copyright and trademark protected Video Game – Airport City

You, as a hosting provider of this website, have been made aware of the infringing activity on the website operated under the domain name airportcitygame.com through this notification. On behalf of Game Insight, I hereby equest you to remove the website expeditiously and permanently from your servers, or disable access to it in a swift and permanent manner within 5 days after receiving this letter.

In case you do not comply with these demands within the above deadline, Game Insight will take further legal action.

The information contained in this letter is accurate and shall not affect in any way, the rights, remedies and/or defenses my client has, had, or may have for acting in this matter.

Sincerely,

Joseph Cherayath
Corsearch on behalf of, Game Insight Srl.

If you're a regular on here, you will probably be as gobsmacked as I am to read that. Espeically nonsense such as we sell hacked versions of this game. This site is and always has been anti hackers. Any member found to be cheating has always been banned. Infact the thread they link to discusses members reporting the cheater to GI to get them banned!

As it stands, i've had to disable the following parts of the forum:
The Wiki
Captain WH Rollins Guides
Star Club
Airport City Awards
- Bascially anything which has images or screenshots of the game.
I still have access and nothing has been deleted. If/When GI get intouch and confirm all is ok, they can be re-instated.

I'm going to try and reach out to GI, however i've got no idea where to start as it's probably not something support could help with. But then part of me thinks why bother if this is the way GI are going to treat a site which actually helps it's players and in turn their bottom line.

Would love to hear your thoughts and views.

Dave

 

[Jenn B]

So many thanks to you @Dave for hosting this forum for so long ❤️.

This forum is the only reason why I have played the game since 2019 and the only reason why I spent actual money on the game.
I kept playing when GI stopped producing new content. I kept playing when they moved countries and didn't even provide old versions of the events for months. I understood the reason for that. Then I got excited that GI was actually changing up some of the events because it meant there might be new developments for the game in the future.

Now, this is just absurd. GI is cutting off the main source of information for players and the main source of inspiration for players to keep playing. And they are doing it with false accusations.

It has been a fun time with you all on the forum! I wish all of you fun in playing AC (if you continue) or whatever game you pick next 🤗.

Best,
JennB

 

[Dave]

I'm just hoping i've done enough edits to the forum for the time being for them not to take anything further. I've message @Ur-quan as he was the only recent contact I had with GI back in 2022.

 

[ItsRalphy]

@Dave - I am shocked and gutted for you. I joined the forum in May 2014, and have been playing the game and enjoying the forum for over 10 years. This is the best game fan forum I have known, and indeed that is its core - it is a fan forum. Without it, I would have stopped playing the game some year ago - the banter, conversations and support here are part of why I love the game. It is the opposite of everything they claim and as you say drives and supports proper and fair play and loyalty to the game.

They clearly have not explored the forum to understand what it is and how it helps their bottom line.

However, as much as we love being a part of the forum, alongside the game, you must not put yourself at risk, so please comply with everything they ask, whilst then fighting for the right to restore it. I am not a legal expert by any stretch, but am just a local, faithful and fair player of the same and supporter of your brilliant forum.

 

[uk_crunch]

ditto to @ItsRalphy I had played the game previously on mobile and would have given up again without the support, information and friends on here, agree feels like they have not actually visited and may be attempt to leverage value of brand...

do what you can, but don't leave yourself at financial risk

 

[Dave]

Thank you both.
I've just had the following reply from my hosting company.

Thank you very much for your response.

The complaint seems to be solved; thus, we have closed this case and no further steps are requested from your side at the moment. If we should receive further complaints about your used services, we will contact you again.

Thank you for your cooperation.

It appears the temp changes are suffice until GI get to review them and decide.

 

[Dave]

Thank you all. From the research i've been doing and speaking with fellow forum owners, it seems like all should be ok in the long run hopefully. If you google the company and name at the end of the complaint, it appears tey have history of this kind of activity.

 

[LX Air - Teresa]

this forum, the wiki, and the guides allowed me to keep playing for 8 years. I would've given up several years ago if it wasn't for our collaborative work.
this attempt to limit the info is an absolute nonsense.
as the saying goes: "don't bite the hand that feeds you".
shame on them.

 

[Scimn27]

It’s so sad that these great resources have to go, and I see why (sadly) awards and star club(though theoretically possible but very tedious) have to go. Such a shame.

 

[Nongnoi]

With all my heart with you, I hope you will find a solution
This site has been a real support and a guide in addition to its user-friendliness
I hope that you will still manage to make it live

 

[Tom-SUB]

"on behalf of, Game Insight Srl."
I hope that person can show that he has the legal permission from Game Insight to act on behalf of Game Insight. It is common to show the letter of "power of attorney" with a letter where a person states "on behalf of", especially in a case like that. I hope that this is only another lawyer who is drying to get money without any legal base. It looks like that.
ABout the trademark: did you check what is "protected" ? Is the trademark still active?
A way around could be to host the website in a country where not one of this trademark is active :-D (a very common way).

Anyway: Please keep us updated. Thanks for your work and good luck!

 

[Paul Bonnick]

I doubt they would do anything, just someone trying to flex at GI

 

[Scimn27]

More research would need to be done but it does seem as if, with a quick search of this persons name, that they have tried to close "Third party sites"(I'm not sure if this is technically third party but i'm assuming it is). I wouldn't be suprised if GI doesn't even know about this request.

 

[BWAU96]

If I was trying to get this game to die off, I think I would pretty much do everything GI is doing. This takes the cake, though. The one and only site that keeps this game somewhat interesting, and they threaten it with legal action? Been on the fence about offloading the app--sounding like a good time to get those 8GB back for something else.

 

[Chon]

It is totally incomprehensible that this forum is attacked, the only purpose of which is to help new players understand the game. I myself would have abandoned the game if I hadn't found this forum. First of all, protect yourself well @Dave.
They are not capable of understanding the direct and indirect benefit that a place like this brings them.

 

[JanQ]

hello dave
is it possible if everyone used support button and send information about this situation and asking about solving problem with lawyers?
they ignore one, two, ten if they got enough requests - maybe they react

thank you

 

[Dave]

Just to let you know I'm currently speaking with GI who are looking into this and will get back to me shortly.

 

[pete blake]

Hi everyone,
14 years after this forum was created it's with a heavy heart some of the changes i've had to made this evening. I'm hoping these changes won't be forever, but at present i've been threatened with legal action by Game Insight. Yes, you heard that right, the same Game Insight that used to come on the forum, support us, promote us on their facebook page as the unoffical fan site has now decided to get legal. I've got 60 hours to comply with their request, which luckily started when I had an evening at home with the PC tonight as I work away a lot.

This is what I have been threatened with. It was sent to my hosting company who have forwarded it onto me:



If you're a regular on here, you will probably be as gobsmacked as I am to read that. Espeically nonsense such as we sell hacked versions of this game. This site is and always has been anti hackers. Any member found to be cheating has always been banned. Infact the thread they link to discusses members reporting the cheater to GI to get them banned!

As it stands, i've had to disable the following parts of the forum:
The Wiki
Captain WH Rollins Guides
Star Club
Airport City Awards
- Bascially anything which has images or screenshots of the game.
I still have access and nothing has been deleted. If/When GI get intouch and confirm all is ok, they can be re-instated.

I'm going to try and reach out to GI, however i've got no idea where to start as it's probably not something support could help with. But then part of me thinks why bother if this is the way GI are going to treat a site which actually helps it's players and in turn their bottom line.

Would love to hear your thoughts and views.

Dave

Outrageous. Game is unplayable without the help of the Wiki and other resources. Thank you for shouldering this fight on our behalf.
P

 

[Dave]

Good news everyone, the forum can return back to normal.
Will update properly later when not at work.

 

[Nina11]

Great news! I'm glad everything got sorted out quickly