Co-Creator stole my share in our popular Indie game, and is dodging all legal routes via questionable means. Are there any options left?
Location: Sweden (This does also involve the USA and England due to legal kerfuffle.)
I wasn't 100 % sure what the best location would be for this. But due to the Corporations and people involved, this crosses over all of them, basically. But seeing how I am posting from Sweden, I suppose this is the closest.
Right, so the shorter version of this drama is that around six years ago, I approached someone (They live in England) about creating an adult game. 100 % my original idea. They were given access to my design documents, notes, I personally wrote all the dialogue and whatnot. Point being: They could NOT have created this without me. It explicitly used my designs and ideas.
We have a written agreement. As in: Over text. (Their main argument over this, is that it's not "legally binding" as it's not in a notarized legal document signed by a judge.)
This agreement states that I retain ownership over my character that was used in the game. That they agrees to include my character in said game, in exchange for being allowed to use my IP. As well as creating "regular content" with said character. And: My character CANNOT be used to perform X. (They have since violated ALL of these agreements. Multiple times.)
And at first: This worked fine. We fully co-created the game for the first ~3 years. They were slow to uphold their end. But since "regular content" isn't a legally defined timeline per se, I let it slide. Though, the fact they "forgot" to include me in the credits like, 70 % of the time, should probably have been a red flag. As well as the fact they consistently did THE most stupid shit possible. For example: Instead of following my carefully laid out marketing plan. They looked at that one add scene from "Ready Player One" and went "Bet!", and eventually getting our game banned from several websites due to illegal practices.
I know. This IS partially my fault for not keeping a closer eye on the operation. But I was handling the technical side of things. Not social. Then: They began to break our "contract", repeatedly. I called them out on this. Their response was to break the rest of our "contract", and remove my character from the game. But, PROMISING it was temporary, until they could fix their spaghetti code mess up. Begging and promising me each month that they were going to fix it next update. And well... months turned into years. And unless I poked them about it. They would "forget" to add me to the credits, again. Which, in hindsight. Yeah. that's deliberate. It's practically the same each month. (Donors were added and updated to the credits, hence why it kept changing. And gradually, they moved me beneath the donors as well.)
And after around two years of this song and dance. I put my foot down. Gave them a strict deadline to fix all their shit. No more delaying and pushing the promised update to bring my character back in. They avoided answering directly and kept asking for more time, but also saying they didn't appreciate that I posted on my socials that I am the co-creator, as I should trust them to include that part. And at the deadline... I did what I said I would. Reported them to every website that hosted the game. Posted updates about it. (Though, I forgot the social media sites.) In response: They lost their shit and banned me from every social media, started deleting messages and evidence, deleted every single version of the game that included my character. And claimed those versions of the game never exited. They banned everyone on social media that mentioned my character. As well as all posts about them. Just, fully nuclear.
As for the American platforms that host this game I essentially got three responses:
1: The first said that I have 10 days to do legal jargon. I performed said legal jargon within 1 day. As well as asked for clarification about a thing. They refused to clarify. And then, 16 days later: Told me that THEY were too late to review my application. And thus: Were unable to process it in time, and had to drop the issue. (?!?) They did however contact my former partner. And confirmed with me that during internal investigation, he was found liable with 4 counts of perjury. But, as I am not a registered US corporation, they have no legal requirements to further assist me. (They did however give me my former partners full legal name, address and all that.)
2: The second told me their entire legal department was intoxicated due to recent celebrations. But they would get back to me as soon as they could. It took them around three weeks. And after a two month investigation, they confirmed that I DO own part of the game. And they ARE in breach of contract. BUT: Their policy is that I must PROVE that I own 51 % of the game. Otherwise: Their hands are tied. And when I asked what evidence that would entail, they stopped responding.
3: They took the content down in compliance with their policy. THEN put it back up under the same policy of, to maintain the anonymity of the organisations involved: "They had permission from the Emperor of Wakanda.". As, apparently most businesses operate under a "Trust me bro" policy?
They were banned from a few platforms, due to the overwhelming evidence. And, not all platforms appreciate crimes it turns out. But it hasn't affected any of the main US ones. And I can confirm that currently, the game is bringing in five figures each month. USD wise. So, it's not a small game. There are BIG numbers involved.
This all took place around a five month period after the deadline. During which time I also contacted lawyers. Specifically within "immaterialrätt" the overall "copyright/IP" law. I talked to around 97 Swedish lawyers. A vast majority declined due to not wanting to touch adult content with an 11 foot pole. A few said it was a straightforward case, but had to decline due to workload or the topic. And I did meet with two past the initial consultation. One took the case after an hour briefing where we covered all bases. Pointing out we had a VERY strong case. But, then called me the next day to inform me that: Due to the game containing copyrighted characters. (Not mine.) They were too scared to touch it due to the "Manga Law" in Sweden, so they had to drop me as a client. Which, I have read the law, and don't see how that affects anything but, I'm not a lawyer, so.
I also talked to several in the US and England. The US ones had no clue how international law worked. But did say I had a great chance against the platforms. It would just take around 15 years and cost 50k. The UK ones told me that this is an easy slam dunk. BUT, due to the "online safety act" and similar. It IS illegal to sue people over adult content. Which... not sure how that works. But, again: I'm not a UK lawyer. If 30+ of them tells me that they'd go to jail over it, I'll take their word for it.
I do have screencaps, videos, written confessions from my former partner. Proof of intent. Proof of deleted evidence. 5+ years of chatlogs. The whole shebang. Which have been the main reason it's been so easy to prove ownership. As well as the lawyers opinions on it. My former partners main argument is that I'm not entitled to ANY backdated compensation. As while I DID create the game. "That's in the past". And "4 years of work is irrelevant as the CURRENT latest version has nothing to do with the old versions".
But, as of now. It looks like ALL my options have been exhausted. I've thrown everything I could think of at the wall. The one thing I haven't tried. Is to register a corporation, and pay thousands for a trademark on the game's name. And THEN try to sue for infringement. Seeing how most businesses only respect other businesses, and ignore individuals.
So, with all that out the way: Is there anything I've missed? Any legal routes? Have I approached this from the wrong directions? Or am I just screwed as an indie dev?