Assault on Freeware
I'm sure many of you have read or know about the high profile thefts of freeware gauges and panels. That is the area where we have heard most of this. However, I found that it is also happening with scenery.
I received an e-mail message from a gentleman in the UK that wanted to know some details about installing my scenery after the had purchased it on a CD-ROM at a local computer store. I immediately inquired further about this, and received wonderful cooperation from him. The gentleman also told me that after further study, he found several works on the CD that clearly stated they were freeware and could not be distributed for money. I investigated this, and I indeed verified that my scenery and others had been pressed onto a CD that was being commercially distributed in Europe, violating several copyrights.
Target Media in the UK was the retail outlet selling this CD. I sent a message asking for immediate removal of this product from their offerings, and to identify the publisher and distributor of the product. I offer below the complete response by the company:
Dear Mr Widup
Thank you for your E-mail dated 12/9/1999 regarding copyrighted material
contained on "Flight Sim Add-ons". As per your request we have immediately
withdrawn it from sale but, due to advance bookings, it will take 2 weeks to
remove it from our adverts. However, our sales staff have been told not to
accept any more orders on this item. The CD's were bought several months ago
from a trader who was having a closing down sale at a computer show and the
publisher appears to be Gigasoft. Please be assured that we are a reputable
company and would not knowingly infringe copyrights and accept our apologies
for our apparent indiscretion. All our existing stock of this product have
been destroyed.
Yours Faithfully
N J Wilby
I assume Target Media did indeed remove this offering and should be commended. It was no longer listed as available on their website within a day after my message. It's just too bad a reputable retailer has to take it in the shorts because of the greed of some publisher that preys on the work of others.
I have researched Gigasoft, and I have found several companies doing business with that name. I have found one in the U.S., one in Germany, one in Finland and one in Belgium. All appear to be reputable companies that are in product lines that make it appear unlikely these companies are the culprit. It appears that the greed of the true publisher was so great, and they apparently knew they were violating the law, so they copycatted the name of reputable firms to hide their own identity. I hope these folks can sleep well at night.
We ALL must help combat this assault on freeware by a few greedy and unscrupulous people. I was and still am greatly angered that some lazy and unprincipled jerk profited by selling what I have put hundreds of hours into creating then gladly giving it away. If you purchase any add-on and find copyrighted freeware products in it without express permission, please return it immediately and notify the retailer that they are selling illegal copies of copyrighted software. Report the item to the author, or let me know and I'll report it. We cannot stand idly by and allow this to continue to happen, or freeware will go away completely.
Thanks for reading my ranting. I hope this is a start at helping to solve this problem.