Mob Entertainment, the studio behind the hugely popular horror franchise Poppy Playgroundhas filed a lawsuit against Google and several games that use its assets without permission. This is a common problem in app stores, so much so that it’s become a meme: all mobile games have the same icon, usually a character in the middle of a scream. But sometimes it goes beyond that, and fake developers release games that are clear copyright violations to mislead consumers. Now the developer has taken action to try and stamp out the worst offenders, filing a lawsuit against Google for its failure to remove the game and against developer Daigo Game 2020, Inc for releasing a “fraudulent” app.

Mob Entertainment said that the company Daigo Game 2020 released two games — Poppy’s Playtime: Chapter 3 And Poppy’s Playtime: Chapter 4 — and use protected assets to do so. This fake version of the game was released before the official version and caused confusion and complaints among players. The two chapters aren’t actually games at all, according to the filing – they’re advertisements disguised as games, asking players to pay between $30 and $95 for a “Guide wuggy playtime mod,” according to TorrentFreak.

The image on the left is a fake, while the two character models on the right are official assets. The similarities between the two are obvious. However, the lawsuit is not just about misuse of assets. Mob Entertainment also claims that, because Google receives 15% or 30% of each sale, the search giant failed to remove the fake apps in response to multiple DMCA notices. The developers claim to have contacted Google multiple times, through various methods, but their requests were ignored.

The lawsuit states, “Google lost the benefit of the DMCA’s safe harbor provisions by not promptly removing the offending apps.” Under normal circumstances, the safe harbor provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) would limit the amount of liability Google faces, but the allegations against Google claim that its failure to respond to DMCA notices means Google is also liable.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Mob Entertainment is seeking compensation of up to $150,000 per game in addition to an injunction that would prevent the situation from happening again. While this won’t represent a major change in how app stores operate, any action that can shed light on ongoing issues is a step in the right direction.