In a statement given to a Club Penguin fan blog, Detective Constable Daryl Fryatt, from the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU), said “Following a complaint under copyright law, PIPCU have seized a gaming website as part of an ongoing investigation into the site.” The statement continues: “Three people were arrested on 12th April on suspicion of distributing materials infringing copyright and searches were carried out. They have been released under investigation and to aid with the police investigation, they agreed to sign over the website to the control of PIPCU.” The City of London is the UK’s lead force in investigating and prosecuting serious intellectual property crimes. Disney, the copyright holder of the Club Penguin trademark, was likely behind the complaint. A message posted on the Club Penguin Rewritten Discord appears to confirm it is indeed Disney. The revived site, Club Penguin Rewritten, was launched in 2017, the same year the original site was shut down. Anyone entering the site now is greeted with a plain black background featuring the City of London Police emblem and the following message: “This site has been taken over by Operation Creative, Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU).” Such messages are typical of websites seized by law enforcement. This isn’t the first time Disney has issued takedown notices for Club Penguin clones. In 2020, issued copyright notices on clones that contained explicit content.
