UFO:AI on Ebay??

[BlakeD]

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=m37&satitle=x-com

Check it out.

[inquisiteur2]

That's stupid, there are two sellers, one of the is totally unknown, the other has 604 good ratings ?!

Anyway most of the people will go on google before purchasing something, they won't be fooled by those lowless cheapskates.

Did Ufo AI already appear as a bundle CD in a game review magasine ? that would be an explanation...

[BTAxis]

What does the GPL say about this? I don't think it states you can't make money off the software.

[blondandy]

I would find it upsetting if someone was conned into paying for UFO:AI.

The ad states UFO:AI is LGPL, which is incorrect, it is GPL.

Note to eBay Staff: We are authorized to distribute this software by the copyright holder under GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL).

You may charge any price or no price for each copy that you convey, and you may offer support or warranty protection for a fee.

So they are allowed to put it on ebay for a fee. I think we could report the seller to ebay on the grounds they have the license wrong. I will do this, if people are in agreement.

[BTAxis]

I was looking into reporting the item myself, but since you seem to know more of this than I do I will leave it to you.

[blondandy]

Seems to be a problem with the ebay reporting submissions system. Could someone with a US ebay account try to report it? My suggested text for the report is

"
There are several items listed as
"Computer PC Game - UFO ALIEN INVASION comparable X-COM"
The adverts say the game is released under the LGPL. This is not allowed. The game is GPL, and so may never be redistributed under LGPL. It is free, open source
http://sourceforge.net/project/platformdownload.php?group_id=157793
"

It occurs to me that a good way to ensure this doe not happen would be to create a UFO:AI "buy it now" item for zero money, or 1 cent. The advert could direct people to get it free from sourceforge.

[BTAxis]

Hah. Actually, take a look here:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/downloadable.html

Any digitally delivered item may not be pornographic in nature.

We have a couple of images like that. We could nab him on that!

[MDA]

There's no way to actually submit a text report - you pick categories from menus and submenus - so I reported it as selling beta, test, or evaluation software.  Seems to be the best I could do.  It would be nice if I could submit an actual explanation, but based on how their reporting system is set up, Ebay doesn't seem interested in hearing it.

Received an email from ebay saying I woudn't be hearing back, they will resolve the issue on their own with the information I gave them.  :roll:  

Maybe someone with a little more ebay experience will know a better way to communicate the problem, because I'm not at all confident what I did will result in any action.

[Zenerka]

We have a couple of images like that.

I believe we do not. But blondandy is right, of course. Anyone can sell GPL stuff anytime as long as seller saves the license.
But! We do have some CC stuff with Attribute-NonCommercial. Now this is *forbidden* to be sold in any way.

[BTAxis]

I believe we do not.

/base/textures/tex_pics/x_calendar_up*.jpg

[Zenerka]

I wish you good luck convincing the ebay or the US court that such images are pornography.

EDIT: the bigger problem is that we do not have permissions to use them, I believe, while these are placed on three maps.

[BTAxis]

Heh. Anyone here up for taking nude photographs of themselves and releasing them under the GPL?

[BlakeD]

I have a male tom that's been meowing for weeks for a woman...

Best I could do is offer some "Kittie" porn under GPL.

[blondandy]

I have tried again. Created a US ebay account for the purpose. In fact I reported it 3 times under different systems. (it is a crap submissions system with only certain categories). depending on the category, you can send a detailed message. I chose stolen/intellectual property. my message was (thanks for the CC noncommercial hint, Zen)

"
items
200132366909
200134152309
200133761501

This game is released under GPL. It is free open source.
see
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ufoai/
The seller has no right to release it under LGPL.
It contains CC noncommercial material. This may not be sold.
"

Please could other people report to ebay.com too. I reckon that a flood of communication may make them take notice. looking at the vendor's account, you can see that some people have already been cheated of 10 dollars.

[blondandy]

Dear Andy,

Thank you for writing eBay in regard to the potential infringement of
intellectual property.

If you come across an item that you believe may infringe someone's
intellectual property rights, we encourage you to contact the rights
owner. Rights owners can have infringing listings removed through the
eBay Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) program.

You'll find a list of rights owners and contact information, as well as
information about infringing items, in the VeRO Program About Me pages.
To view the list, please go to:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/vero-aboutme.html

If you are a rights owner and would like more information about the VeRO
Program, visit:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/tp/programs-vero-ov.html

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Isabella

eBay Customer Support

sounds like they are not going to do anything unless they are told more and repeatedly. would members of the dev team ("rights owners") like to follow those links and pursue this?