Question #4: “How can I use the copyright to protect myself?”
Let’s look at the situations that can be resolved with the help of the copyright certificate. The following examples are “based on true events” and I’ve used every single one so feel free to reach out with questions.
The first way to use it is the most obvious – you can prove your ownership in the negotiations with financial organizations and e-commerce platforms.
The world is changing day by day and the only way to survive is to adapt quickly. At some point, your business may require a new office in another country with the new bank account. I faced this situation when I received a task to open a Full HP office in Cyprus and open a new bank account. To get a VAT number and to open an international account in Bank of Cyprus I had to confirm that my company truly owns the rights for our game Blocky Cars and Mad GunZ. There was an option to share a link to Google Play, send the Terms of Service, provide a copy of our account overview but I’ve chosen a much more elegant way – Copyright Certificate. When you encounter situations like the above one – you have an additional way to control it.
The second way to use a certificate is more interesting – you can block an unofficial version of your product with it. When you find a complete clone of your game on the app store you can send the complaint to the platform support with the copyright certificate attached. If you describe precisely what parts of the game were copied, the clone will be taken down. But be honest because Google Play and Apple App Store don’t tolerate false alarms
The third way – to remove the hacked versions of your application from the websites. You can always try to contact the administration and ask them to remove the link to the hacked version of the game due to copyright infringement. Sometimes the administration refuses to cooperate or doesn’t even respond to your messages. In that case, you should address your complaints to the hosting provider, with a copyright certificate attached.
The fourth way - to remove the video instructions of the hacking process from any video hosting platform, e.g. YouTube. Popular games and applications get hacking video tutorials every month. Luckily, all modern video hosting platforms and social networks have Support Services. For instance, YouTube has a special form of copyright infringement. Send a link and your certificate to the Support Service and the infringing content will be removed before you can say “Copyright”.