All designers take a look at the this(urgent):

[Guest CX001]

Guess what's on Ebay? Some guy is selling a CD of FS freeware addons and seems like people are really falling for it. Bill, Your Trinidad is on it, and a few others that I recognize. Take a look for yourself.http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=1950983125It's a shame that people do this just cause it's freeware. :-8This one got away:http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=3000394557I'll check into this seeler and see how many other CDs he's got.

[Guest]

a BIG BUMP!The bid is up to $39.99!!This is such a shame... thanks for pointing this out. I hope somebody will do something.-----------------------------------------------------Jeff M.

[Guest CX001]

A bump, and more bad news: there is a identical CD from the same seller up for auction:http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=3000568501

[Guest]

>Guess what's on Ebay? Some guy is selling a CD of FS >freeware addons and seems like people are really falling for >it. Bill, Your Trinidad is on it, and a few others that I >recognize. Take a look for yourself. >>http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=1950983125 >>It's a shame that people do this just cause it's freeware. >:-8 Well, as much as I hate to say this, with this disclaimer on the ad, there's not a whole lot anyone can do about it..."THESE FILES ARE FREEWARE AND CAN BE FOUND ON THE INTERNET. WHAT YOU ARE PAYING FOR IS MY TIME. I HAVE SPENT MANY HOURS COMPILING THESE AIRCRAFT AND THEN BURNING THEM TO A CD SO THAT YOU DON'T HAVE TO."Effectively speaking, this is in no way different than someone posting the same files on a 'subscription based' website where the user must pay for access to the file directory.I'll have to amend the GNU license in my future models to preclude this happening again. As it is, there's nothing in the wording to exclude this type of exploitation... The "neat part" of this type of deal is that the seller doesn't even have to burn a CD until one is sold, so effectively there is no 'cost' involved until and unless one is sold.I have a fairly good idea who it is selling this CD, based on the person's listed location of Peoria, IL.

[Guest guyjr]

ebay does have a form you can submit about "illegal" auctions such as this one. You have to be a registered user to submit a complaint, but I did that one time a couple of years ago, and they pulled the auction within a few hours. I'll see about submiting one for this as well.

[Guest CX001]

Ahhh... Intricate legal matters. Well put, Bill. Seems that 30 bucks for a CD seems a bit much, though. For a buck or two, fine, but he seems to be crossing the line IMO. Then again, you could think of it this way: someone is paying a bunch of money to enjoy your product, so maybe that's saying something there. In the end, if I had a model of mine on that CD, I would at least write to the guy and ask him to not put it on one of his CDs.

[Guest odog]

Nice work Christopher, You have been promoted! Chief of Freeware Defense, your salary will be doubled :-) I spread this info around to a few places. We cant allow people to bend and slither around the "freeware" policies. Even if its "legal" if enough people bare down on Ebay, we may get this pulled. Wrong is wrong. And for him to say "I'VE DONE ALL THE WORK" really sent me off! He's made arond 500 bucks at my guesstimate.joe

[Guest]

This is the mail I've sended to Ebay:=============This guy is selling pirated FREEWARE add-ons for Microsoft FS200X. Many people have taken lots of time to build this add-ons and informed the FlightSim community by means of a readme file that the add-on may NOT be ditributed on any kind of media. This person is claiming theat he/she build those add-ons and is now selling them.Note: Most of this files can be found on either www.avsim.com or www.flightsim.com in the File Libraries.Note 2: This was one auction with the same pircaystory: 3000394557 and this one 3000568501 too. I hope you can at least end the auction. What I actually hope more for is that you'll post his email-adress in the Avsim forum so that each designer and FS-community user can tell this person how wrong he is by selling FREEWARE!!!=============

[Guest guyjr]

Looks like ebay took notice... the item's no longer available!

[Guest odog]

I see its changed a bit.http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=3000799864Still slimey if you ask me.I see Bill's Socata has been removed from the list. He must have read the READ ME.oh well. Only an idiot would pay 20-40 dollars for free planes.

[PeterR 9]

Yes, now he's claiming that the planes are all public domain. That's not the same as freeware. If they are public domain, then he can do anything he wants with them.To all aircraft authors: See if you recognize your work on the CD. If you do and you didn't authorize redistribution, then you can contact the seller or eBay.I sent an email to Milton regarding the Dash 7. I don't know if it's his but it's the most well known so there's a pretty good chance it is his.Peter http://bfu.avsim.net/sigpics/PeterR.gifBFU Forums Moderator[table border=2 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=1][tr][td][table border=0 cellpadding=8 cellspacing=0][tr][td bgcolor=#540000]http://bfu.avsim.net/sigpics/logo75t.gif[/td][td align="center" bgcolor=#FFFFF6]Bush Flying Unlimited"At home in the wild"Looking for adventure? Come join us! * [link:bfu.avsim.net|Web Site] * [link:www.cafepress.com/bfu,bfu2,bfu3,bfu4|BFU Store] * [link:bfu.avsim.net/join.htm]Join!][/td][/tr][/table][/td][/tr][/table

[Guest Stefanosg]

It looks to me, especially from the aircraft listed, that they are mostly the work of Chuck Dome. If I recall correctly, he usually clearly states that his work is Public Domain. As for the rest of the planes on the list I am not so certain.

[PeterR 9]

Thanks for the info. As long as they are public domain, that's fine.Peter http://bfu.avsim.net/sigpics/PeterR.gifBFU Forums Moderator

[Guest Stefanosg]

I just did some checking around. I typed in "Public Domain" at Flightsim.com and I was able to find a version of every plane on his list. Still pretty sleazy, taking advantage of people who don't know any better.

[PeterR 9]

Well, he does say that you're paying for his time to download and make the CDs. I don't know if he said that before. So, people should bid accordingly although I think his starting price is too high. A CD-R costs about 15 cents and can be burned in about five minutes.Peter http://bfu.avsim.net/sigpics/PeterR.gifBFU Forums Moderator