UFO:AI on Ebay??

[Destructavator]

On another thought, one that wouldn't cost anything, perhaps a little note could be added to the game's installer/setup screen?  Something that explains before the license that the game is free and any sale is unauthorized and illegal (or something similar)?

[BTAxis]

Nobody ever reads what is written on the initial screens of an installer. We've got a notice on the game's loading screen, which is a lot more effective.

[Destructavator]

Yeah, I guess you're right, now that I think about it.

This looks like one of those things in life where someone does something bad and not too much can be done about it.

Unless anyone has any great new ideas about what can be done about it (that would actually work), I don't see much point in going on and on any more on this topic, IMO.  I admit I'm still a little mad about it, but other than the already-implemented loading screen message in the game I don't think much more can realistically be done.

[BTAxis]

Well, what you COULD do is remove the SF download altogether and make a download page of your own. You could then put a captcha system in place or something to prevent people downloading it from elsewhere, and stick a big sign saying "if you paid for this download you were ripped off" on that page.

But I suspect it's more trouble than it's worth.

[Winter]

Well, what you COULD do is remove the SF download altogether and make a download page of your own. You could then put a captcha system in place or something to prevent people downloading it from elsewhere, and stick a big sign saying "if you paid for this download you were ripped off" on that page.

But I suspect it's more trouble than it's worth.

The bandwidth costs would be enormous. I could provide a mirror for a terabyte or two, but for a new release of a popular 300+meg file, that's nothing.

Regards,
Winter

[Inhuman]

As destructavator said, buying the game from the seller might be a good idea. Once you buy it, you can open a dispute, have your money back, and still be able to leave feedback. However, the seller will most certainly leave negative feedback on you as well, so one better sign up just for this lest his feedback score be stained.

[XaverXN]

I don't think everyone here understands that this guy doesn't do anything illegal. It's his good right to sell GPLed software. So I don't think you could get your money back, and I don't think you could do anything to stop that. (E.g., some weeks ago, I saw a shop chain selling OpenOffice here in germany. And think about Linux distributors!)

The only thing someone selling open source software has to do is, he has to give the complete source code to anyone interested...

[BTAxis]

The point is that he isn't offering ANYTHING. He's only charging people money for the sourceforge URL. It may not be strictly illegal, but it's definitely a scam.

[Destructavator]

True, it certainly opens the door to prosecution, although whether it would be in civil court or criminal court I'm not sure, plus the fact that the game content is from various international creators, which makes it even more complicated as license and copyright laws vary from country to country - I've researched United States copyright law on my own in the past (though I don't know everything about it), but I know next to nothing about such laws in other countries.

Last time I checked, this seller was located in the United States, although United States laws on intellectual property also have special, additional rules for "imported" or otherwise foreign works that originate from other nations (which effs-up the math even more, into a gigantic legal equation).

Do we happen to have any lawyers who are in this forum?  Don't be shy, raise your hand and shout!

As a side note, I noticed in a recent news report about the very first major lawsuit over an open-source project license violation - I don't remember all the details of the article, but somewhere in it it explained that such lawsuits apparently are quite rare.  (If I'm remembering correctly, I could be wrong.)

[TroubleMaker]

He's only charging people money for the sourceforge URL.

How about creating large textual banner, and make the link just a redirection to another downloading site? And let the "innocent" buyers write complaints against him

[BTAxis]

The scammer would just link to the new download site directly. That's why I mentioned the captcha-or-similar system before, because you can't circumvent it (in theory).

[TroubleMaker]

Hmm... agree.
How about putting a similar lot with price of 0$ ? And distinct explanation about scammer?

[Destructavator]

To have a listing on EBay, even with a selling price of nothing, costs a listing fee, I think it is per month, if I remember correctly...