Wowkon violating Author Copyright

***Cairenn*** · 08-12-08, 01:32 PM

Short version:

1) Wowkon is downloading mods from various sites (primarily us and Curse) and uploading them to their site, removing all mention of who the actual authors are and claiming copyright on all of them. They're also stealing the news posts straight off the front page of Curse.

2) A whole bunch of us, authors & site admins, go to their site and post messages asking them to take down our stuff. Site admins quote their sites' ToU, etc.

3) Wowkon removes all the messages from everyone and bans all of us. Nothing else gets removed (ie mods & news are all still there, etc)

4) Clad sends a DMCA takedown notice to their host provider, they remove clad's two mods (TomTom & LightHeaded) but everything else stays

Long version (conversations by WoWI staff privately and steps we've taken to try to resolve)

If you want the even longer version, I can try to go through the logs for all the IRC channels this has been discussed in and compile them for you, but I think the above pretty well covers it.

DMCA Takedown Request Template for your use.

Tekkub · 08-12-08, 01:47 PM

Aw, they don't have any of mine, I miss out on the fun...

**Seerah** · 08-12-08, 02:04 PM

Yep. This took place back in the end of May/early June. It was a month or so after that that I noticed they had banned us and deleted our threads on their forums. All that's left is a post from Clad in a thread someone started about LightHeaded, and they edited Clad's post to say that LightHeaded was a terrible addon or something. There were 4 different threads on their forums about removing addons and removing news posts from Curse staff. One of the threads I bumped multiple times a day, counting the hours of their inaction. All of those threads are gone. The PM I sent their admin the first day this came up also went unheeded.

They have not posted any new addon versions or news since, but they have also not removed any of the other addons or plagiarized news/articles on their site.

Note:

NONE of these downloads list the author's (your) name.
ANY links to other download site pages that were in the descriptions for your addons were either removed or changed to point back to the WoWKon site.
ALL addons there were stolen/scraped from the various addon sites (wowi, curse, wowace, and wowui).
Any users who download the old versions from that site will probably be having problems with your addon.

Authors: We have done all that we can to assist you. It's up to you now to file the DMCA Takedown notice.

Tsikura · 08-12-08, 02:43 PM

Can't believe they managed to use a Bleach character for a WoW site. Bunch of scum stealing addons like this.

Dreadlorde · 08-12-08, 02:52 PM

The sites name is WoWkon, what do you expect?

Why don't the mods here stop them from pulling mods from by blocking IPs?

Ackis · 08-12-08, 03:02 PM

The only thing that looked to be linked was a wowwiki page for bongos 3.

Also, if you look at the date of posts on their forum, it doesn't look like there's much activity.

My mods weren't taken on that site, so I miss out on the fun there as well.

On a slightly related note, a couple questions about licenses.

If you have license A and then switch to license B, are previous revisions of the work covered under license B? (ie: switch from MIT to All Rights Reserved)

And what about forums? If an addon is hosted on a forum without permission, are you able do request it be removed as well? What if it's in a "private" section of the forum? Can you go as far of requesting that it be removed from the individuals computers as well?

MidgetMage55 · 08-12-08, 05:31 PM

What i find utterly amusing is their list of site rules.

One states you are not allowed to post cpoyrighted material, then at the bottom it says all mods are assumed to be the copyrighted material of the original author.

Ill be making sure to post a link to this thread on my guilds forums encouraging people to boycott this site.

**Shirik** · 08-12-08, 06:27 PM

Originally Posted by Dreadlorde

The sites name is WoWkon, what do you expect?

Why don't the mods here stop them from pulling mods from by blocking IPs?

We've done about all we can. They already have the addons, that's not going to change anything. I contacted their datacenter approximately a month ago regarding this, but unfortunately they turned back saying that they'd need an official DMCA complaint to do anything -- that's where cladhaire stepped in. Unfortunately, what they did is both in line with the DMCA and not what we really wanted (they removed his mods, and nothing else). So now the community has to rise up together to get those addons removed.

Hopefully with enough complaints, the datacenter might shut the entire site down, but they are neither obligated to do that nor would they want to (that's a loss of business). However they also don't want to be on the bad side of the law

**Seerah** · 08-12-08, 06:32 PM

Originally Posted by MidgetMage55

What i find utterly amusing is their list of site rules.

One states you are not allowed to post cpoyrighted material, then at the bottom it says all mods are assumed to be the copyrighted material of the original author.

Yeah, I mentioned that in one of the forum threads over there. That their site rules were against uploading material unless the owner of the copyright, but that their admins did just that (for both addons and articles/news from Curse).

schnoggo · 08-12-08, 07:18 PM

I don't want to give them any free pubicity.
Alexa has them ranked as... well just ahead of my personal site.

And their traffic is dropping.
Hopefully they will just go and quietly die in a corner.

I figured signing up would yield a street address or some other legal identification, but no.

They didn't bother with any of my Addons, so I can't help out with requests.

Nynaeve · 08-12-08, 10:35 PM

Wow.

And I'm sorry I can't help.

Petrah · 08-13-08, 12:27 AM

Cairenn,

What are the ToU/AuP for the registrar this person is using? Sometimes, that might be an avenue to look into. No Domain, no site.

Cladhaire · 08-13-08, 12:29 AM

Originally Posted by Ackis

On a slightly related note, a couple questions about licenses.

If you have license A and then switch to license B, are previous revisions of the work covered under license B? (ie: switch from MIT to All Rights Reserved)

And what about forums? If an addon is hosted on a forum without permission, are you able do request it be removed as well? What if it's in a "private" section of the forum? Can you go as far of requesting that it be removed from the individuals computers as well?

I assume you are referring to TomTom, which was previously New BSD and was later changed to all rights reserved. In this case, I own the sole copyright of the code in question, which the exception of the crazy arrow craphic, and the bundled libraries. The bundled libraries don't change my licensing requirement because I haven't changed them and the source is fully available for my code. However, due to the issues I was having with everyone and their brother posting my addons on Curse I went with a more restricive license.

Licensing and Copyright are completely different, however and that is what gives me the ability to file a DMCA takedown notification. On their addons page, and on each project page beneath they claim copyright (through a footer at the bottom of the page) on each addon posted on that site. Coupled with the fact that "Bagelz" is the "owner" of each addon, and you have someone who is actively trying to take credit for my copyright, which is pretty much a no-no regardless of license.

Licensing is a very sketchy game, but with the issues I have with two of my addons in particular, I've taken the steps that I needd to.

Cladhaire · 08-13-08, 12:33 AM

Originally Posted by Silenia

Cairenn,

What are the ToU/AuP for the registrar this person is using? Sometimes, that might be an avenue to look into. No Domain, no site.

Hostgator is the host, and they require a DMCA takedown to be filed via mail or fax, which I have a difficult submitting at the moment. However, I no longer have a DMCA claim simply because my files are no longer posted on the site, which means Bagelz received the notification and is continuing to willfully violate copyright.

***Dolby*** · 08-13-08, 01:06 AM

ThePlanet is hostgators host (see). Go directly to ThePlanet and hostgator gets their server pulled. I dont think ThePlanet requires fax/mail.

Cladhaire · 08-13-08, 02:39 AM

Originally Posted by Dolby

ThePlanet is hostgators host (see). Go directly to ThePlanet and hostgator gets their server pulled. I dont think ThePlanet requires fax/mail.

Yes, I'm fully aware and I've already done this as evidenced by the fact that my addons have been removed. I don't have the rights to make a blanket copyright infringement claim, since my copyright is no longer on their site.

Petrah · 08-13-08, 08:52 AM

Originally Posted by Dolby

ThePlanet is hostgators host (see). Go directly to ThePlanet and hostgator gets their server pulled. I dont think ThePlanet requires fax/mail.

I would pay money to see The Planet do anything to respect an artists copyright (they think bandwidth theft is funny). I've had entirely too many dealings with those people, and I have absolutely nothing good to say about them.

Petrah · 08-13-08, 08:55 AM

Originally Posted by Cladhaire

Hostgator is the host, and they require a DMCA takedown to be filed via mail or fax, which I have a difficult submitting at the moment. However, I no longer have a DMCA claim simply because my files are no longer posted on the site, which means Bagelz received the notification and is continuing to willfully violate copyright.

I'm not talking about the host, I'm talking about the registrar... unless Hostgator owns the domain name. More than likely they are leasing their registrar services.

***Dolby*** · 08-13-08, 09:08 AM

Originally Posted by Cladhaire

Yes, I'm fully aware and I've already done this as evidenced by the fact that my addons have been removed. I don't have the rights to make a blanket copyright infringement claim, since my copyright is no longer on their site.

I know you know this, was posting for other people. k thx bye

Cladhaire · 08-13-08, 09:09 AM

Originally Posted by Silenia

I would pay money to see The Planet do anything to respect an artists copyright (they think bandwidth theft is funny). I've had entirely too many dealings with those people, and I have absolutely nothing good to say about them.

Well, they've already removed my addons... so if the request is formulated correctly they comply, as one would expect.

Originally Posted by Silenia

I'm not talking about the host, I'm talking about the registrar... unless Hostgator owns the domain name. More than likely they are leasing their registrar services.

Regardless, you are missing the point. I no longer have any claim, anything that people want to do must be done through someone with a valid copyright infringement claim.