Copyright theft again!

[Rick Piper 0]

Hi AllSomeone e mailed me to say my A-22 Foxbat model was uploaded to a group website.we need to name and shame these people but i will only show you the proof!http://www.simgameit.com/i asked them politely to remove it and the site owner almost instantly barred me from the forum and all those that posted in my supportI am totally sick of the of my stolen work turning up on Websites & Ebay discsJust wanted to warn other developers as your stuff will be here sooner or later and these guys don't follow the LawSorry if this is the wrong section guys & feel free to move it to the correct place if you need toRegardsRick

[n4gix 4,947]

Rick, I surely don't see your A-22 Foxbat listed there for download, unless it's hidden somewhere other than their very short "Download" list... ???

[Rick Piper 0]

Hi Billyes mate it's still there.the link was their frontpage until about 4 hours ago when they edited the site.now you go to FSX when it asks you to choose then you will see STOLSeekers at the top right and it's at the bottom of that page when it opens.RegardsRick

[WarpD 824]

Confirmed... it's stolen. They even include the original "readme" file.

[n4gix 4,947]

Yep... I found it now. Good grief, "they've" got lousy tastes in their 'custom liveries' though... ...particularly the "texture.stolspace" version! :-erks As distasteful as their practices might be however, the fact that they've taken pains to NOT enforce any claim on the files, and indeed insist on giving "the original author" (you) full credit for the "model and other componenets," unfortunately makes the use of the term "copyright theft" specious... "This aircraft was modded and repainted by SimGameIt. All credit for the model and other components goes to the original author. Ive included the original readme file for reference to those forementioned."...I had rather hoped to find a "smoking gun" in their download. :-samurai

[Rick Piper 0]

Hi BillNot sure what you mean My copyright says the model cannot be uploaded.which they have done.my annoyance at this type of thief is when i kindly asked them to remove my file by posting on their they barred me from their forum.The model is covered by Horizon Simulations Copyright anyway as they had to agree to the copyright before they could download the model in the first place.RegardsRick

[Guest fbnweoghnwd]

Unfortunately this happens all the time. My H-21C is on about 15 sites, only a few of them with permission - despite a similar message that it can't be uploaded without my consent. It's not so much that I mind the wide distribution, but it's nice to ask.

[ozbeowulf 0]

This kind of unauthorized file-snatching by lazy webmasters is very common. My FlightSim and AvSim uploads pop up on other sites continually. FSPlanet is one of the long-standing offenders, but there are dozens of others.I must admit I get annoyed when the bootleg sites don't use counters so I can measure the total downloads. Since my work is freeware, that's only ego satisfaction, of course.I don't know what one can do except relax and live with it... or stop uploading.Cheers,Glenn

[n4gix 4,947]

Well, one could view it as a compliment, particularly sites like the Simgameit.com folks, who have an extremely limited selection of models. This means that only the very best are offered...

[Rick Piper 0]

Hi Billyes much like you would view it as a compliment when an Eaglesoft model turns up for download on their site.it makes no difference in my view and most developers view.there is right & there is wrong there is no maybeRegardsRick

[n4gix 4,947]

>yes much like you would view it as a compliment when an>Eaglesoft model turns up for download on their site.>>it makes no difference in my view and most developers view.>>there is right & there is wrong >there is no maybeRick, I do not disagree with you one iota. I have an extremely well-developed and conservative ethical/moral viewpoint. However, I have determined that there are more important things to which I should invest myself rather than continuing to tilt at this particular windmill.I would posit though that there are entirely seperate motivating factors at work when it comes to some website such as Simgameit.com (mis)appropriating a freeware model for their member's use than there is some actual hacker cracking a commercial model.In the case of freeware, it could be viewed as a form of left-handed compliment, but in the instance of a hacker/cracker it is merely a case of a challenge: "can I crack this protection scheme" and has nothing whatever to do with the quality (or lack thereof) of a particular model.

[Guest Patrick_Waugh]

While I know everyone thinks that thier "copyright" allows them to control the distribution of their freeware, I doubt anyone ever consulted a copyright attorney. More likely, people just thought of the limitation or copied the idea from someone else's readme.txt.I suspect that if you consulted an attorney you would find that while a copyright is designed to provide some limited protection of your IP (intellectual property), it does not provide for such ad-hoc limitations. You might want to review wikipedia on the subject.You will note that there are no such similar copyright distribution limitations. For example, you don't open a book you have purchased at Barnes & Noble and note a copyright, "May not be sold at Books-a-Million".That said, this has nothing to do with copyright per se, and certainly is not theft. That said, it might perhaps be a violation of your software's licensing, if your license is properly disclosed and agreed to prior to them downloading it. However, this would still not be classified as "theft" in the eyes of the law, so I'd be careful exposing yourself to any libel lawsuit just in case. Certain US software licenses requires that you agree to not distribute it overseas, for example, but there are laws that make it illegal too.This is not to say that I don't agree that it would be wrong to not respect your license, and/or wishes in the matter, just that you might want to actually see an attorney before you assume you are protected legally.Like Bill says, you might also want to pick your battles, your blood pressure will thank you.Patrick

[WarpD 824]

Actually, there are indeed copyright distribution limitations.Barnes & Noble doesn't distribute... thus it's actually a bad example. A book publishing firm does the distribution and they generally have a contract that gives them the 'right' to distribute the book. No other publishing firm can do it, as the contracts are usually exclusive. Thus, indeed there are copyright distribution limitations. In fact, they use the fact it's a copyrighted work to enforce the publishing rights.Publishing control is most definitely something the IP owner has control/say over. Even legally. However, enforcing that on the internet is rather expensive.As for the rest, I agree... pick your battles.

[Guest SimGameIt]

well to be quite honest it should be a compliment.....i never meant any harm and the only reason i dealt with the issue the way i did was in reaction to their initial action....rick could have emailed me in private and discussed the matter yet he chose to be tacky and do it publicly on our forum......i do what i do for a few reasons...1 and most important to learn...i want to make complete planes like you guys some day....#2 is our planes dont fly the same...i modify the flight config files and diffrent planes serve us with diffrent purposes......but all this doesnt even matter anymore as i started college for game design and someday in the future ill have payware....payware quality freeware...and maybe even complete games eventually......simgameit has exploded in popularity beyond my wildest dreams so im going to nurture it...why not?......and what are we hurting?...we are a non-profit christian organization and whenever there is any "profit" it will go to build a church...were terrible people i know......and as for rick.....that foxbat is a beautiful plane....you have alot of talent...too bad you lack people skills and understanding......rick even physically threatened me in a sim-outhouse forum.....way out of line.....sometimes i wonder if hes mad because my version is more popular...oh well i just felt like i should have a say here as well...but i wanted everyone to get their views out before i butted in......thanks for reading......mike aka simgameit

[WarpD 824]

>well to be quite honest it should be a compliment.....i never>meant any harm and the only reason i dealt with the issue the>way i did was in reaction to their initial action....rick>could have emailed me in private and discussed the matter yet>he chose to be tacky and do it publicly on our forum......i do>what i do for a few reasons...1 and most important to>learn...i want to make complete planes like you guys some>day....#2 is our planes dont fly the same...i modify the>flight config files and diffrent planes serve us with diffrent>purposes......but all this doesnt even matter anymore as i>started college for game design and someday in the future ill>have payware....payware quality freeware...and maybe even>complete games eventually......simgameit has exploded in>popularity beyond my wildest dreams so im going to nurture>it...why not?......and what are we hurting?...we are a>non-profit christian organization and whenever there is any>"profit" it will go to build a church...were terrible people i>know......and as for rick.....that foxbat is a beautiful>plane....you have alot of talent...too bad you lack people>skills and understanding......rick even physically threatened>me in a sim-outhouse forum.....way out of line.....sometimes i>wonder if hes mad because my version is more popular...oh well>i just felt like i should have a say here as well...but i>wanted everyone to get their views out before i butted>in......thanks for reading......mike aka simgameitAs a Christian, I would expect you of all people to understand theft is wrong. It is not yours, it is not yours to control/distribute/modify/etc. Doing so is theft, which is wrong.People skills aren't required to deal with thieves.