Hi I downloaded some stuff (Actually a complete site) from rapid share whose link was given through some other wares site. I have today only hosted that at my end(in a subdomain), though its not working but I should fix the issue. What I wanted to know : 1. How can the original creator of that site(which is actually selling this site) come to know that a unlicensed copy is being hosted somewhere. Given that I will remove their backlinks(promoting their site) and copyright information, they will need webcrawlers like google and actually compare the source code. Possible ?. Anyother ways ? 2. Its a bulgarian company. I heard laws in US are only worth a concern. 3. Is their a way to circumvent the laws, can I hide whois, use a new domain etc. Site is quite costly if its not feasible i will think otherways.
Most of the time, it's very hard for a software development company to detect if their software is being used, especially if its a web-based application. Even comparing source code can still be tough, because it only displays the HTML of page, and not the inner workings (like the PHP code, for example). What i've seen done before is that there is a piece of code in the script that "calls" to the home website for license verification. But i've rarely seen it used. This would definitely make it tricky for them to pursue you if they wanted to. If it was an American company, they could still get your information regardless if you hide the Whois information.
Don't be a scumbag and pay for their product. Of course they can go after you, it's copyright infringement. They can also file a DMCA and have your site removed from search engines, and if you use a US host, they can have the offending material removed, and it will often result in your host terminating your account.
Oh! well I hope thats valid for large complete sites only. There is a lot of site builder codes, shopping cart scripts etc. which are paid but we get from some P2P. And is their anything like you got a product from some one else or an accidental copyright cos you got it from else, and you dont have time to read each and every term or get it verified urself. Do these big companies actually sue the enduser. I read some where free gift sites not caring withdrawn cash via fake leads cos an international law suit itself costs them 100K $. unless they have an equally or bigger company to sue against. What happens sues against financial frauds or end user TM things also ? Rep with difference in speculation and what can be ,, to what actally is,,and to what levels of software, scripts, then I will have to cross check every stuff I use.
If it's a small non-US company, you're taking a risk of course, but pretty small. However, I wouldn't do that at all if it's a bigger US based company.