[proBiotic]

Hi,

I run a commercial script and I have found a company on a different continent selling a reskinned version of my work for three times the price I do.

I'm basiaclly after advice about how I can take legal action against them. Are there any authorities people can direct me to? I have crystal clear evidense against the offending company and I wish to sue them.

If it helps I am based in the United Kingdom and the offender is based in Canada. I have a professional license agreement binding all downloaders to the laws of England & Wales. It is a custom license agreement not GNU etc...

I would very much appreciate any advice on this matter as not only do I lose business I feel very angered that that people can be so dishonest.

Many thanks.

[C. Michael]

This is not the place to come to for legal advice.

You should speak with an attorney (or whatever they're called in the UK).

[proBiotic]

edited post....

[ImGeek]

I think your best consulting a local intellectual property attorney. However, if you can get a lawyer to write a harshly worded letter to the culprits, that might do it.

[HackMaster]

dude, i live in the USA, but i think around the world, you can get them in deep trouble. contact the companys CEO, if possible. if not, get as high as possible in their company. Demand them to remove the script NOW, and request them to contact all the people that have purchased your software through them, and admit to everything. require that they CarbonCopy a copy of the e-mail to you, and ensure that it has all of the offendings company's clients e-mails on it.
Could you link us your product, and their product.

WARNING: you cannot do any of the above if you have not Copyrighted your code.

dude, if you do this correctly, then u will have everything all happy, and their company will be almost useless...

--HackMaster
www.hmstudios.net

[ermau]

I don't know about UK law, but in the USA you own the copyright on anything you create the second its created, HackMaster.

Only trouble is proving it without purchasing a copyright.

[jsjohnst]

Before I came to work for iNET Interactive, I previously owned a script development company. We combatted piracy daily with several different russian based companies who were selling illegal copies of our script. Not only were they selling the script, they were telling people who came to them for support "oh, we didn't write the script email <address removed> for support and tell them we sent you and they will help you". So not only did we have them selling pirated copies of the script, we had pissed off people who had spent $2-3k for something we sold for $300 who couldn't understand why they were overcharged and how come we wouldn't support them. We attempted basically every possible avenue, from sending DMCA's to their ISP's, contacting virtually every law enforcement branch who would answer the phone (or we could find a mailing address for) and it never stopped. We finally partially resolved the issue by releasing a totally new version which was partially encrypted and including a licensing system which locked the install to the specific website URL and IP address. Even then we still had the angry people who thought we should help them, but after sending a form letter explaining the situation along with supporting legal documentation they usally stopped hounding us and in turn started trying to get their money back from the fraudsters. The real point I am trying to make is that unless your lucky and scare tactics work, there is really nothing you can do to touch them without costing tens of thousands of dollars and even then having no guarantees. But of course IANAL, so I am only giving my experience and not actual legal advice.

[feha]

The best protection is to encrypt your source code...
I have developed online liecensing system for my applications ...

[nameeta]

Yes this script theft problem is always there and in USA there are atleast options of some LAW but in India such laws are not so strict at all.

So the best way is i think to have encryted data only.

[sadcox66]

Originally Posted by jsjohnst

...
We finally partially resolved the issue by releasing a totally new version which was partially encrypted and including a licensing system which locked the install to the specific website URL and IP address.

What product would you recommend, do you like/dislike what your using now.

I need to 'partially' encrypt PHP source and lock to a domain name.

TIA