/sigh ... Here we go again

[Darth Predator]

Well, for MoP releases I personally added a popup warning user that my addons will not work with GearScore enabled and 2 buttons to disable GS or my addon.
Can't think about anything better then that at the moment.

[Blazeflack]

Originally Posted by Phanx Looked it up where? Their domain's nameservers point to EraNet's servers. Or rather, the nameservers are owned by now.net.cn, which is in Chinese but is obviously advertising web hosting, and clicking "English" on that site redirects to eranet.com.

Originally Posted by Shadowhack I looked up the webhost not the place that the domain was registered with.

Would be nice if we could get a definitive answer to this one. I did some research myself and I could only find links to EraNet myself. Has anyone had success with contacting the people behind 'alladdon' or their host?

[Shadowed]

It looks like they're starting to respond to removal requests, the email I just got was: https://gist.github.com/9e663036fa85d2693a20

[Lombra]

I don't really know anything about copyrighting, nor what you put in your letter Shadowed, but surely one should not have to prove ones identity? Bar to override a previous stating that they have the right to publish your addons? On the contrary, couldn't we instead ask them for the legal proof that they have obtained such rights? Are you not allowed to ask someone to take down something for which they don't have distribution rights, if it's not your own work?

[Shadowed]

You're correct, but that only matters if they care about the legality, which they have proven they don't.

[Arrowmaster]

Posting a few points from IRC for everybody to see. Specifically about DMCA.

WoA is claiming they have 10 days to comply with any requests to remove content under the DMCA.

Master Games International is incorporated in Texas. They own TTH so all US laws apply to them.

TTH/WoA does not have a DMCA Registered agent, they do not have any protections under the DMCA.

WoA is hosted in Canada but by Tucows. Tucows has a DMCA Registered agent and does have DMCA protection and will comply with DMCA takedown notices.

The final most important point. It was WoA/TTH employees that uploaded the copyright content without permission. If they normally had protection under the DMCA, which they dont, they now have ZERO protection under the DMCA because they violated it themselves.

DO NOT ACCEPT ANY BULL**** FROM THEM ABOUT VERIFYING AUTHORS OR DELAYS IN REMOVING CONTENT! Send your DMCA takedown requests to Tucows for best results. WoA/TTH are legally up **** creek without a paddle in a kayak made of cardboard.

Tucows DMCA agent email: [email protected]

[Bluspacecow]

Their latest response on the comments page for their announcement of World of Addons

http://www.tentonhammer.com/playersc...welcome?page=2

Instead, they are being told at the encouragement of a few to spam us with DMCAs, which have legal consequences for not only us, but for them as well, and well... once the lawyers get involved everything slows down.

The heck are they smoking here ?

Why? Well the faster our new site goes down, the faster those sites can return to making 100% of the money because of the monopolistic nature of their service. We arn't trying to make boat loads of money here. We are trying to provide a free and simple to use service that benefits everyone.

/facepalm

Totally missing the point as per usual.

Anyone is free to join and be a part of that service, and anyone is free to opt out and go elsewhere either. We have no intention of forcing anyone to stay here.

Forcing anyone to stay ?

We'll leave them alone when they remove our copyrighted work thankyouverymuchandgooddaysir

[Xrystal]

Ah, a reply from wowaddons in response to my request that for the time being he turns nUI's download link into a link to the wowinterface page until Scott is able to make the decision himself whether he wants to host his addons there.

From: Jason Bechdel Sent: 16 August 2012 19:31 To: **************** Subject: World of Addons Removal Request Dear Xrystal, I am writing to let you know that we here at World of Addons have received your feedback. Thank you for your concern, and I have taken it upon myself to personally e-mail Scott about nUI. Hopefully, we will be hearing back from him shortly despite his absence. As far as your other concerns with nUI and a link being provided to the offical download page at WoWInterface, if you would kindly look to the bottom of the "About This Addon" section you will find links to WoWInterface as well as the website dedicated solely to nUI. In your message you also stated that you would not like your addons to be hosted with us. I would like to gently ask why and also ask if there was any way we could perhaps change your mind. If there is anything we at World of Addons can possibly do to change your feelings on this matter, please do not hesitate to let us know. From offering a helping hand with updates to various forms of compensation, we are willing to work with any and all addon authors to be able to reach an amicable agreement. Nothing would give us greater pleasure than to have your addons hosted on our site. Since I am unsure of which addons belong exclusively to you, I cannot tell you if any are currently hosted on World of Addons. If you find they are hosted, and wish to have them removed please e-mail me with the list of addon names so we can begin the ownership verification process that will allow us to proceed with removal. If however, you do indeed have a change of heart, head over to the site and be sure to upload and claim any addons that may be yours which will gain you an entry into our Claim Your Addon contest we are currently running (pending the verificiation process once again). Claiming your addon will also give you full control of your addon so you can edit, update, and even remove it if you so wish. Once again, we would love to have you host your addons on our site. In closing I would like to send my apologies for any distress and/or inconvenience this matter may have caused you as well as my sincere wishes that one day you will allow us to host your addons on World of Addons.

And my reply to that email is going to be ..

Dear Jason, I can only give great support for my addons if I am updating them on the one site. I tried using Curse as a second site and I just didn't have the time to deal with 2 lots of uploads and comment upkeeps and checks. Seeing as Wow Interface was where I first learned how to make addons and have assisted many people and gain assistance by just as many if not more I chose to make wowinterface my addon home. I removed my addons from Curse as well. I have my own webserver so I could just as easily just hosted them myself but again, it would involve yet more support making sure the server stays safe from viruses and other IT related problems. On top of my 9 to 7 job I just cannot afford to spend time on something like that. That is the main reason. I don't personally have a problem with multiple sites hosting addons. I do however have a problem with sites hosting addons without getting permission from their owners, prior to it happening. I know that Scott is currently out of communication, which is why I am currently the one keeping it up to date with Mists of Pandaria, so you will likely not be getting a reply any time soon. He is currently unable to access emails or the internet but is currently working hard on getting the new version of nUI ready for the new expansion. So, in lights to nUI, all I am asking that instead of having the download from your site directly you point to either his curse link ( which points to wowinterface for support ) or his wowinterface link where he chose to host his addons, at least until he is back on the scene to personally choose whether he wants your site to also host his addons. From what I can see you currently are not hosting any of my addons. That of course could be because I no longer use curse as my secondary addon host due to the explanation above. In lights of Scott's addons they would be all the ones that start with nUI. Both the main addon and plugins. I wouldn't be surprised to find these are the ones he has chosen to put on curse. Just as I respect your decision to give the user another option for downloads please respect authors decisions to host their addons with you. Xrystal

[Phanx]

Originally Posted by Arrowmaster WoA is hosted in Canada but by Tucows. Tucows has a DMCA Registered agent and does have DMCA protection and will comply with DMCA takedown notices.

They're actually hosted by Convoke Communications (info in my post here).

I did send a takedown notice to Tucows for good measure; their response indicated that the site in question was not hosted on their servers, but is using their "domain whois privacy" service, and that they had forwarded the message to the domain registrant.

I have not recieved a response from Convoke yet. I couldn't find a DMCA registered agent for them on the US Copyright Office list, so I just sent it to the support email address listed on their website.

[Cairenn]

If we were not spammed by fake takedown requests sent by staff of competing sites this would be a much quicker process.

I'd love to see their proof of this. I know that no one here has sent any.

[Resa1983]

Originally Posted by Phanx They're actually hosted by Convoke Communications (info in my post here). I did send a takedown notice to Tucows for good measure; their response indicated that the site in question was not hosted on their servers, but is using their "domain whois privacy" service, and that they had forwarded the message to the domain registrant. I have not recieved a response from Convoke yet. I couldn't find a DMCA registered agent for them on the US Copyright Office list, so I just sent it to the support email address listed on their website.

Convoke is 100% Canadian - they'll accept a DMCA, and forward it to their customer, and that's the extent of their involvement. I called them yesterday and he summarized what they could & couldn't do, and sent me an email (because I said I was calling on behalf of several dozen authors who'd had their works infringed upon) and sent this to me for you all:
http://pastebin.com/MME0RytK

The lawyer I talked to last night, said that your only recourse may be to sue if they're going to pull nonsense and refuse to remove addons, despite the fact that original authors are gone, and new authors have picked up the reins.

[Coote]

Originally Posted by Darth Predator Well, for MoP releases I personally added a popup warning user that my addons will not work with GearScore enabled and 2 buttons to disable GS or my addon. Can't think about anything better then that at the moment.

Ooohh, that sounds like a nice idea. Is this actually allowed within the addon tos? If so, more people ought to do this.

Originally Posted by Shadowed It looks like they're starting to respond to removal requests, the email I just got was: https://gist.github.com/9e663036fa85d2693a20

That's pretty scummy demanding that you show proof of ownership before they even consider doing anything.