This dubious Kickstarter campaign for the Child’s Play franchise was launched recently by one Donna Howland. In their bio they write that they are a game developer who is inspired by “games PewDiePie, Jacksepticeye, etc play” and whose experience comprises “mostly […] MMO or Maze games like the games I have created before like Pirate Diamond or the alpha version of it Diamond Pirate.” The campaign page is short, with the core of its sales pitch outlined by a run-on sentence that basically states how the would-be game developer was inspired to make a game for this classic slasher horror franchise after watching the movies. They make certain to assure backers that they would make a demo as quickly as they can, which is why they are only asking for £125. So far they have £1 pledged, likely by someone as a gag.

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If this sounds not at all fundable to you, you’d be correct. There’s a good chance this could fly under the radar and avoid a DMCA claim just by virtue of the fact that it’s highly unlikely anyone will fund it. Unlike YouTube, which has a system that automatically detects copyright infringement, all claims related to Kickstarter must be filed by a person. To be perfectly honest, I don’t see anyone going to the trouble of filing the paperwork just to take down this rather lazily assembled campaign, but you never know. The funding goal wouldn’t be impossible to reach if there was a troll out there with deep pockets.

As our own Marcus Estrada pointed out in his DMCA series here on Cliqist, copyright infringement is becoming a growing problem on crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo. While some of the more bizarre attempts to rip off other people’s work might earn a laugh (like this one), there are cases that present a great problem for those smaller companies that could be damaged by an otherwise convincing (but fake) crowdfunding campaign. For more information on what the DMCA is, read our series of articles on the subject.

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About the Author

Amanda French

Amanda French first cut her gaming teeth by playing such classics as Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Super Mario World at the ripe age of four. From there spawned a lifelong love of video games, particularly narrative heavy adventures and open world games. A creative writing graduate of Full Sail University, Amanda writes fiction novels in her spare time. You can find her work at the Independent Author Network under the pseudonym, Illise Montoya. Amanda’s all-time favorite games include Dragon Age: Origins, Fallout 2, and Tekken 5. She lives on the California coast with her husband and young baby son.

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