For a couple years I have sold PHP scripts I built and until this last year did I start protecting my sites with encryption. Since then no one has ripped me off, however sometime ago so guy accessed my site with a stolen credit card and downloaded everything. Then my scripts are on ebay, stormpay but some a-holes offering resale rights with my scripts for as little as $1.00 for all 40 of them! Man was I pissed. 5 years of work, $1000's of dollars lost. So I became a Vero program member and I send DMCA's to hosts which up to one jerk has worked. DMCA is good when you own the rights, but how much does my code need to be changed for someone else to claim ownership? Reason I ask is because I am dealing with some idiot who I keep shutting down with DMCA, who then moves to a new host the next day and because it takes time for hosts to act it really has not affected this guy at all. Now what this loser tells me that he never will stop because he has modified my scripts by 10% which technically makes them his. Personally I think the guy is a moron, but I can't seem to find what I need to deal with this. What worries me is this guy will register my scripts with 10% changes done and then try to shut me down! He threatened it already. So I have phoned lawyers but no one seems to have a straight answer. Any help appreciated so I can deal with this F**ckhead once and for all. There is no point in me paying to pursue him legally if he can claim ownership with a redicloius 10% change.
First, let me say that I am not a lawyer. Here is my understanding. Since he is offering the derivative for sale, he has no claim to "fair use." If he obtained the software illegally, the derivative is illegal. If he did have the right to make a derivative copy, then only the 10% is "his." The other 90% is still yours. What does the original license that you sold the scripts under say about derivative works and redistribution?
I'm not a laywer either. I will have to agree with Selkirk. Let's say you steal a car and modify the car by 10%. It doesn't change that you stole the car from the owner even though you modified it. And don't you hate these retards who have nothing better to do than to mess your life up. I hope it all works out. Skinny
Thanks guys. On one level this jerk has made $1000's of my scripts and affected my own sales and I say he should burn in hell but on the other scale I don't want to get caught and it pisses me off that I have to spend the money and time to shut this prick down. Anyway I have a sorta solution I wanted to share... Because this guy is selling my scripts, all be it older ones, he has them installed on his server. Since I built these scripts I know the version history for bugs and security problems that can be expolited...ya I can see you know where this is heading... Using a proxy server I exploited one of my own scripts and got a password that I used to figure out another password. A password this genius uses for EVERYTHING inlcuding his domain registration account. Nothing was hacked or forced. It is just a simple function call I never protected. So the little throught entered my mind that I should change his DNS and the password on his account. Sure it would be an inconvenience and shut him down until he can proove his id with the registrar (credit card etc.,) but then its business as usually and he would learn to choose a better password. ICANN law says that users have 5 days to deny or accept a transfer to another registrar as if I do something to this guy I want him to loose his domain or that it has to cost him more than he made of me to get it back. At the very least it would take weeks or months and possible court to get anywhere. Do you think personally I should look into do this? I am assume it's stealing and extremely illegally but what are your thoughts...To be honest the only reason I have not done this yet is because of getting caught as I have to pay for the transfer some how. Thoughts?
I think you can only get in trouble by doing something like that. I especially wouldn't do it after having posted on a forum about it. Anyway, they guy's achilles heel is probably not his domain name, but his payment processor. Paypal - unauthorized copies policy
This is a really old post now, but wanted to update. Chased the guy around the net for a while. Filed with his payment processors 2co and PayPal. 2co shut him down within 1 week, took a few months for PayPal. Got an apology from him a few weeks ago and he said that if he were to credit the scripts to me, could he keep selling them. I said sure if you want to pay me the $20,000 in illegal sales and costs to me. Haven't heard from him since. Thanks Selkirk for the advice. Truth of the matter be told, a huge chunk of payment processors used as US based.