Pokémon Palace Network owner raided by U.S. ...

[Archaic]

Butler, contact me over IM's.

Everyone else...no more speculation on PPN's personal history in regards to that particular issue, please. Rampant speculation when none of you know the full facts (and neither do we, for that matter, though we have looked into the issue in-depth) is going to get us nowhere at best, and create unjustified panic at worse.

For the record by the way, PPN was in [HASHTAG]#bulbagarden[/HASHTAG] and [HASHTAG]#pocketmonsters[/HASHTAG] earlier today, and gave us the same report as he posted on his site about the situation.

As for my own personal assessment of the issue...I'm thinking it was a matter of profits. All fansites operate under fair use restrictions. One issue there is that the sites are supposed to be non-profit. Technically, under law as it would be applied in the US, we're not supposed to have any income whatsoever. The companies usually give leeway for sites to run advertising to support hosting costs, but they're not required to. The issue here is that PPN's site almost certainly ran at a profit. The vast majority of the other fansites (including Bulbagarden), run at a loss. The only major exception to that is Serebii, who claims to make significant profits from his advertising. Since he lives in the UK, and apparently isn't hosted in the US anymore (can anyone confirm that last part?), he's not as easy to take down however.

 

[evkl]

Nintendo wouldn't care if we broke even, really--I think the issue they take is with people making money, basically, without paying Nintendo their fair share or something.

*shrugs* It's a big pissing match, probably.

 

[Petey]

But if it isn't on CNN, i don't think it's true...

That may have been a sarcastic comment, but I feel there's a wave of truth in there. If something as big as this happens, it would be news all over the US, or atleast on the Internet.

 

[Serebii]

Butler, contact me over IM's.

Everyone else...no more speculation on PPN's personal history in regards to that particular issue, please. Rampant speculation when none of you know the full facts (and neither do we, for that matter, though we have looked into the issue in-depth) is going to get us nowhere at best, and create unjustified panic at worse.

For the record by the way, PPN was in #bulbagarden and #pocketmonsters earlier today, and gave us the same report as he posted on his site about the situation.

As for my own personal assessment of the issue...I'm thinking it was a matter of profits. All fansites operate under fair use restrictions. One issue there is that the sites are supposed to be non-profit. Technically, under law as it would be applied in the US, we're not supposed to have any income whatsoever. The companies usually give leeway for sites to run advertising to support hosting costs, but they're not required to. The issue here is that PPN's site almost certainly ran at a profit. The vast majority of the other fansites (including Bulbagarden), run at a loss. The only major exception to that is Serebii, who claims to make significant profits from his advertising. Since he lives in the UK, and apparently isn't hosted in the US anymore (can anyone confirm that last part?), he's not as easy to take down however.

Erm, I don't claim that?

 

[The Big Al]

If I remember correct your bragging is about the traffic your site gets.

I still think this all stinks to high heaven. Given how things work you'd think there would be something out there to back up his story.

 

[Doctor Oak]

Butler, contact me over IM's.

Everyone else...no more speculation on PPN's personal history in regards to that particular issue, please. Rampant speculation when none of you know the full facts (and neither do we, for that matter, though we have looked into the issue in-depth) is going to get us nowhere at best, and create unjustified panic at worse.

For the record by the way, PPN was in #bulbagarden and #pocketmonsters earlier today, and gave us the same report as he posted on his site about the situation.

As for my own personal assessment of the issue...I'm thinking it was a matter of profits. All fansites operate under fair use restrictions. One issue there is that the sites are supposed to be non-profit. Technically, under law as it would be applied in the US, we're not supposed to have any income whatsoever. The companies usually give leeway for sites to run advertising to support hosting costs, but they're not required to. The issue here is that PPN's site almost certainly ran at a profit. The vast majority of the other fansites (including Bulbagarden), run at a loss. The only major exception to that is Serebii, who claims to make significant profits from his advertising. Since he lives in the UK, and apparently isn't hosted in the US anymore (can anyone confirm that last part?), he's not as easy to take down however.

Your home can't be raided, your stuff seized or your website removed without your own actions for that either. Especially since it's impossible to prove.

 

[Serebii]

If I remember correct your bragging is about the traffic your site gets.

I still think this all stinks to high heaven. Given how things work you'd think there would be something out there to back up his story.

There are too many inconsistencies to go with the legal standings on cases such as this

 

[Water Pokémon Master]

Erm, I don't claim that?

Weren't you bragging recently that you make $150 a day? :/

 

[ルカリオ]

Your home can't be raided, your stuff seized or your website removed without your own actions for that either. Especially since it's impossible to prove.

In the UK, they have to apply for a court order to have your home raided and stuff seized. So they need to prove to a judge that there is "reasonable suspicion" that you've violated the relevant laws. (The likes of the BSA do this do this.)

A more pressing question is, have there been any other Pokémon fansites that have been forcibly taken down? The major fear is, once the news was released that PPN was taken down, that PUSA would start taking action against other sites.

Well, Bulbagarden is still with us, as is Serebii. (These are the only two I can access behind the work firewall; no thanks to Websense.) And I'm sure that we'd hear of the death of any other sites here first. So far, this doesn't seem to have happened.

If we hear of another site going down, then I'll start worrying...

 

[The Big Al]

So far PPN is the only site to go down. That what it says in the follow story on bulbanews.

 

[Serebii]

Weren't you bragging recently that you make $150 a day? :/

All the revenue goes to server costs. The servers we use are by no means cheap

 

[evkl]

Let's try to steer this back on topic, if we can...

 

[eX.A.K.R.]

But we have been told not to speculate (and I will gladly oblige), and the more I read this, the more my head is going nowhere...

But, as I have said repeatedly earlier, shouldn't it possible to check with the U.S. government on this? Maybe we may be able to get more leads on this, unless I'm missing something...

And how's everyone's letters to P.U.S.A.? Any replies?

 

[Doctor Oak]

PUSA should really be sending out a Press reply to this anyway, either to confirm any details or completely deny it as false. I'm amazed they haven't said anything yet at all, or that none of the American webmasters have even got in touch with their PR contacts. (Again, I ask, is it still Golin Harris?)

As for contacting the Government, there's nothing they could tell you outside of a local police press release for the matter anyway as they can't divulge details of any case publicly because of confidentiality.

 

[empoleon dynamite]

Pokémon Palace Network, a large fan site and affiliate of Bulbagarden, has been deleted as a result of action by Pokémon USA. According to staff members, the U.S. Government raided Web master PPNSteve's California home, confiscating his belongings under suspicion of copyright infringement.

Read more on Bulbanews

Im sorry but this sounds quite funny, if only you could see what im thinking of in the back of my head =D. please dont ban me though. I do feel sorry for him.

 

[Every Breaking Wave]

Lets all just face it - no amount of speculation will produce solid fact. The only way any information on this will be gleaned is if:

A) PPN Steve provides some more information to members of BMGF or Serebii.net that he is in contact with, and they relay it back

B) PUSA, the party currently being "accused" (for lack of a better word) of orchestrating this provides a press release detailing what happened. Note that WPM's contact at PUSA had no knowledge of this happening.

C) Some information on this matter is released by the local police and/or press


So far none of this has occured beyond the initial report given to us by PPN Steve. It also seems unlikely at this point that any more information will be released.

 

[izzy2]

Lets all just face it - no amount of speculation will produce solid fact. The only way any information on this will be gleaned is if:

A) PPN Steve provides some more information to members of BMGF or Serebii.net that he is in contact with, and they relay it back

B) PUSA, the party currently being "accused" (for lack of a better word) of orchestrating this provides a press release detailing what happened. Note that WPM's contact at PUSA had no knowledge of this happening.

This sounds so strange. Like others have said, a C&D would apply. I don't know how many warnings someone would get, but I doubt the government would get involved. People make up way out-there stories all the time.

 

[Dogasu]

And I'm sure that we'd hear of the death of any other sites here first.

Back in August 2003, a Japanese fansite called Encyclopedia Pokemonica was shut down by Shogakukan because of some English language translations they had of a book entitled "Pocket Monsters: The Animation," a book that offered some information about what the characters were doing before Episode 001.

Here's an archive of the site.

I know it has nothing to do with the PPN situation; I just brought it up because it proves that it wouldn't be the first site to be closed down by outside sources.

 

[Misty]

this topic has no raison d'etre, except for rampant and pointless speculation