Anti-Piracy

Thank you for your interest in Drillimation Systems and our games. This section of our website is designed to answer any questions you might have about our stance on piracy. Keep in mind that infringement or abuse of Drillimation’s intellectual property and personality rights not only hurts us, but our players and legitimate business entities connected to us. Piracy is a serious problem for game developers, and Drillimation will strive the best they can to ensure their intellectual property rights are protected.

Drillimation Systems owns the exclusive distribution rights to all of their games. As the copyright holder, they have the exclusive right to distribute and/or perform them in public. If you are a person wishing to use our IP for non-piracy or derivative means, we recommend you review our Game Content and Brand Usage Rules.

What are “cracks”?

A crack, otherwise known as a keygen or warez, is an illegal copy of authentic software. These often originate from torrent sites such as uTorrent or The Pirate Bay. The distribution of cracks or keygens is illegal, and Drillimation has lashed out a number of legal actions against those individuals and companies to stop the illegal distribution of our games. In addition, law enforcement networks such as the FBI are often brought into these investigations and have brought criminal prosecution to those who are caught distributing or reproducing illegal copies of software, including video games.

Back-up copies cannot protect your software either. There is a great deal of misinformation online regarding backup/archival copies. The backup provision of the US Copyright Act covers only a very narrow section. This is because most video games are comprised of numerous copyrighted works including graphics and audio. No matter whether or not you own the authentic game, it is illegal to download and play cracked software from the internet. Developers have employed numerous DRM methods to ensure the copyright of their software is protected. However, hackers still manage to find methods to get around them.

Is piracy illegal?

In most countries, yes. Cracking sites enable users to illegally download software onto their PC. This allows users to make, play, or even distribute illegal copies of games, which violate Drillimation’s IP rights as well as international copyright and trademark treaties. Based upon the functions of these sites, they are therefore illegal.

In some cases, some cracking sites require users to complete surveys and/or offers to gain access to illegal software (referred to as pay-per-download). If you fill these out, you could be redirected to spam or even malware. Most of the time, they are scams and deceptive, even if the crack claims “no survey.” Other times, the downloads can be laced with malware.

A long series of court rulings have confirmed that uploading or downloading cracked versions of games without the copyright holder’s authorization is a crime. Common examples of this include:

  • You download an app that allows you to strip the digital rights management (DRM) components from any game.
  • You make a copy of a game because the physical copy you bought expressly permits you, and then you put the copy online using a file sharing network so that millions of other players can download it.
  • Even if you don’t illegally offer cracks to others, you join a file-sharing network and download unauthorized copies of all the games you want from the computers of other network members. Some of those services make you pay a fee to do so.
  • You transfer a crack through an instant messaging service.
  • You burn copies of a game on a jump drive and share it with your friends.
  • Someone you don’t know emails a crack of a game which you forward to your friends.

Rapid advancements in technology has made copying easier than ever, but the possibility of copying games doesn’t mean it’s legal to do so. Here are a few tips on how to obtain games in the digital era while respecting the rights of the creators:

  • It is okay to download games from sites authorized by the copyright owners, whether or not sites charge a fee. Here is a list of a number of authorized and safe sites where permission has been granted for downloading.
  • It is never okay to download cracked games from pirate sites or peer-to-peer systems, such as BitTorrent. Additionally, it is never okay to make cracked versions of games available to others on such networks.

What are the risks that pirates face?

There are a number of risks you face when you decide to go the pirate’s way in playing our games.

  • All of Drillimation’s games are virus-free, including the demo versions. By downloading cracked versions of the games, you risk exposing yourself to malware or phishing, such as having your YouTube channel or other social media accounts hacked. Sometimes, they can upload advertisements for cracks without your consent, and your channel gets terminated due to copyright strikes, and we cannot restore it.
  • When you purchase our games through Steam and itch.io, you get lifetime free updates. This means when we release a new version to patch bugs or add new features, you can download these updates for free.
  • Owners of our games receive authorization for support every time they need help or have questions. Our staff directly provides you with this assistance. We deliver answers accurately and promptly in order to ensure your experience with our games is the best. You can also discuss tips and techniques, problems, and share your ideas with our ever-growing community.
  • If you want to play our older games, there is no need to get a cracked copy. You can purchase them at any time on Steam and itch.io.
  • Cracked versions of games are sold all over the world on sites such as eBay, Amazon, Craigslist, Etsy, etc., and various warez sites. Warez groups fuel an enormous black market by providing the raw materials. They can end up making millions and use that money to fund terrorist groups and drug cartels, which both greatly hurt economies around the world. Like the first example above, these sites are known to host malware.

We provide demo versions for some of our games so you can try them before you buy. There’s no need to get a cracked version so you can “test” it. You were prepared to pay for everything, including your computer or game console, television/monitor, speakers, and your ISP subscription. You would never steal a car, and you shouldn’t do the same for software and games.

It’s a crime because every time someone installs a cracked version of our games, they break the law by infringing our copyrights. Even helping others get cracked games or stripping the DRM components is an offense known as circumvention of technological measures. No one wants to take the risk of facing civil liability or criminal prosecution.

Haven’t the copyrights for the old Drillimation products expired yet?

The US Copyright Act states that copyrights last the duration of the owner’s life, plus an additional 70 years following the owner’s death. This is to give the creator and their estate sufficient time to profit from the work. All copyrights for works published in 2002 and later in the US last 95 years from their first date of publication. Because Drillimation has only been around for over a decade, the copyrights for all Drillimation products will not expire until at least 2110, when all Drillimation products created in its founding year expire. In the case of the first Chuhou Joutai game, it will not expire until 2116.

Yes. Websites that provide links to illegal copies of software can be held liable for copyright/trademark infringement. Performing such actions can lead to civil and/or criminal liability. Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by the FBI and other law enforcement networks and can result in up to five years in federal prison and/or a fine of no more than $250,000.

What do I do if I find illegal copies of Drillimation’s software distributed on a cracking site?

We recommend you report it to us via this form. Include the link(s) to the offending pages and where you discovered it, and Drillimation Systems will take the appropriate legal action(s) to remove it from the internet. Unless we ask you to act on our behalf, only the copyright holder can submit DMCA takedown notices.