UFO:AI on Ebay??

[blondandy]

I was going to "sell" a version of the game on ebay to compete, for as little money as i could. in the advert i planned to redirect people to sourceforge to get it for free.

it turns out that i can only list on ebay.co.uk. would an american would like to create a listing on ebay.com?

[Destructavator]

I'm up for this - One of my music scores is in the package, under CC *non*-commercial, specifically the 3.0 United States version - I'll say right here and now that I'll give permission for the devs to speak on my behalf if they fight this.

[Destructavator]

BlondAndy, In response to your message, I'm willing to open a US account with a redirecting link, but before I do so, do I have permission from the devs?  Also, exactly which URL should I use - ufoai.ninex.info or ufoai.sf.net?

EDIT: Should I also include a copy of the proper license in the listing if I do this?

[Mattn]

please redirect to ufoai.sf.net

a proper license ... no - just link to the license article in the wiki maybe - because there are a lot of licenses we are using. or just write, that the game is released under several open-source licenses

[blondandy]

It seems I can contact people who have been defrauded.

UFO alien invasion is a free open source game.
see
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ufoai

selling you the game was fraudulent. it is GPL, so may never be sold under LGPL. It also has CC-noncommercial content.

Please report the vendor to ebay and demand a refund. I have reported the issue to ebay, but they are being very slow to do anything.

but ebay is making me wait 3 days (from me signing up for ebay.com) before i can transmit this to the defrauded parties.

[Destructavator]

Status Report:

The United States Ebay system is apparantly a little different, I was just able to get an immediate account opened including a seller account, but they want to charge me monthly fees to have any kind of listing with additional fees for special options, like digital downloads, etc.

I'll attempt to figure out how to contact people who were already swindled by the sellers, if the system lets me do it at all.

[Destructavator]

Update: The USA Ebay website doesn't list any previous buyers for me, but I was able to get an email form for reporting copyright violations, infringement of intellectual property, etc., and I sent a detailed message which included the URL for this project website for them to look at for reference.  I got an email back right away saying I should get an official response in 24-48 hours.

If I see that some poor buyer payed money for the game, I'll try to contact them.

I guess that's all I can do right now, when they reply I'll post another update.

EDIT: I noticed that the seller uses "we" in the description to imply that he/she created the game!

I also noticed the seller is based in the US, and I can tell you that US copyright and intellectual property laws are very tough here - this seller could potentially be liable for felony charges including up to five years in jail if this was really pushed all the way in court.  (Not that I'm recommending going that far, but just so everyone knows.)

[Voller]

When I read the seller's text it sounded to me like he just copied it from the UFO:AI website, hence the "we". People like him make me sick.

[Zenerka]

I hope all of you are aware of the fact, that if anyone will remove the stuff released under CC-Attribute-NonCommercial, he is free to sell the rest stuff in UFO:AI and that will be pretty legal.

[BlakeD]

I realized I was the one who kicked off this little thread, but has anyone considered additional exposure (even this) might be good for the project?

Just a thought.

[blondandy]

I hope all of you are aware of the fact, that if anyone will remove the stuff released under CC-Attribute-NonCommercial, he is free to sell the rest stuff in UFO:AI and that will be pretty legal.

The small print of his advert says LGPL. He is not allowed to do that.  (GPL is contagious).

I think the sell it on ebay for a small fee (and direct shoppers to get it for free in the advert) is a reasonable strategy. will need to cover the cost of posting on ebay.

[Destructavator]

Ebay just wrote back, I got about the same message BlondAndy did, I would have to go through the VERO program and fax in the form to get any further.

Speaking for myself, I'm not really interested in a lengthy drawn-out legal battle that could take a year before settlement.  Yes, we could probably eventually win in court, and yes we could win money plus the cost of court and legal fees, but I personally don't think it is worth it.

Posting an ad that says the game is free from this website seems to make more sense, although it can't be done for free from Ebay (at least on the U.S. site) and I don't personally have the spare money for a monthly listing fee (as a matter of fact, I'm progessing slowly out of debt right now).

At the very least, perhaps something could be posted on other websites or this one that people should not pay money on Ebay for the game?

I also noticed that this game shows up on IGN, Gamespy, Mobygames, and a number of other gaming sites that normally show info about commercial games.  These other sites tell the truth that it is free, although some of their entries have older versions and don't have complete listings (such as a link to this project website).

Any other ideas?

[zippythezip]

I have emailed a customer who purchased the game to complain to ebay.
I know from experience that ebay really dont care about customer relations.
I will see if I can warn anyone else by putting a warning on the main notice board.

[Consultant]

How about mentioning this on the ufoai main page as a news item? That way ebay should quickly get sufficient complaints.

[zippythezip]

A customer who purchased the game says

"This seller is selling a specialized version of the free game- he offers a few different functionalities that aren't offered on the free version, but the functionalities being offered also cause the game to be a little unstable-"

No idea what changes have been made.