On 06/23/2015 06:05 PM, TeoZ wrote:
They didn't burn it, they just made it inoperable when the owner wanted
to install new legit copyrighted firmware. If you kept it as is when
purchased nothing would have happened.
If you took that fake unit into a company shop for free user upgrades I
think they would have the right to rip off their logo (or deface it),
remove the ROM contents, and toss it back to you. Granted they will not
get your business but then again they never had it anyway.
Granted, but how does the average purchaser *know* that he has a
counterfeit version? Do you read every line of text on every vendor's
website before you download software? I don't--I go to the page (I
might have gotten there via a search engine, so not have seen any other
pages) that I'm interested in and download the software.
A simple--"you've got a clone, so we're not doing anything for you"
would suffice. But going to the extent of "and we're going make your
unit inoperable, such that you'll need to seek out expert advice to get
it back to where it was" is not cricket. You are stealing functionality
and putting a burden on the unwitting customer to return his unit,
counterfeit or not, to functionality. As I mentioned, that return to
functionality may involve paying someone with the necessary equipment to
do just that.
Your quarrel as a vendor is not with the purchaser who may be
guiltless--being offered a product at a good price with no indication of
its illegitimacy. You've stolen from him. He will probably hate you
for a very long time. While he might have jumped at the chance to
upgrade to a legitimate unit, he'll avoid any of your products at any
cost.
It's not just dishonest; it's stupid.
--Chuck
