SCP Community,
Update: The Donation link is live! Please share, and donate at https://www.gofundme.com/f/scp-legal-funds
6 months ago, we alerted you to the actions of Andrey Duksin, a Russian man who has illegally registered an illegitimate trademark for SCP within the Eurasian Customs Union. He has used said trademark to threaten and extort legitimate sellers of SCP merchandise, and in addition is guilty of copyright infringement, as his own merchandise completely violates the SCP content license: Creative Commons Share-alike 3.0. For a time, the situation calmed as we slowly pursued the dissolution of Duksin’s illegitimate trademark via Rospatent, but it has now escalated.
Duksin has recently resumed his efforts to threaten and extort competitors, and has now begun to threaten SCP itself. He utilized the illegitimate trademark to shut down the official social media page of the Russian branch of the SCP Foundation Wiki, as well as a separate fan-page. We attempted to negotiate with VK, the social media company in question, but so long as the trademark registration stands they will abide by it. Now, Duksin has followed this by making a ridiculous demand to be administrator of the Russian wiki, and that said wiki be twisted into an advertisement for his merchandise rather than the writing community that it is.
These actions threaten not only the Russian community, but every SCP branch, writer, and fan around the world. We stand with SCP-RU, reject these threats, and are organizing a lawsuit against Duksin to annul his false trademark and prevent his continued copyright infringement. As an organization of volunteers, this is a measure we do not often pursue due to the costs involved.
Last May, we received many offers from generous SCP fans offering to donate to a legal fund. At the time we did not accept any offers, as we believed the situation could be resolved via diplomacy. With these new developments, this is no longer possible. As such, we humbly ask that anyone who loves SCP and has some money to spare donate to our legal fund here in order to protect our global community. The goal amount was determined via the advice of our legal counsel based on the costs of similar cases in the past. In the event that any money raised in this fundraiser remains following the conclusion of the lawsuit and any associated appeals, it will be held in an account specifically earmarked for the collective legal defense of the SCP Foundation branches.
The SCP community maintains a unified front against Duksin's threats. Please spread the word about this situation on social media using the hashtag #standwithscpru. With your help, SCP will continue to thrive.
