If your mod is made under GPL it is not protected from being electronically copied and distributed. The license is actually setup to encourage distribution as long as the provisions of the license are met. If the people selling the CD say they are not selling the software they are simply charging for the media, jewel case, shipping handling etc they have a leg to stand on. Same with file planet, they actually provide free access to the files, it's just that if you don't want to wait 3 hours you pay them money and they provide a no wait server for you. Again not charging for the software but instead charging for an improved distribution mechanism.
Software companies protect themselves from this by including statements in their copyrights stating it is unlawful to copy (electronic or otherwise) the software. The kicker is if you were to do this for GPL it kills the whole concept behind GPL and would freeze the distribution. My Two cents: - If someone is providing the public the impression they are "selling" your GPL software, then stop them with legal letters and lawsuits if necessary. - If you are mad that someone is making money off the distribution of your GPL software and you are not, don't create GPL software. Remember, the stronger the distribution channels the more people see our software. How are people that don't have internet access going to gain access to our mods? Are each of us going to pay out of our own pockets the money to burn CD's and ship them all over the world? -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Commando Sent: Sunday, December 29, 2002 10:46 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [hlcoders] Our MOD's are for sale !! It does kind-of irk me that these guys are making so much money off of our hard work, but is it really anything different than organizations like fileplanet does? They are charging you for downloading and making a CD copy for you, not for the games themselves (or so they could argue). Maybe the question we should be asking is if it is okay for us to do the same sorts of things to recoup some of our costs? As long as mods continue to be freely available to download, can we set up services to distribute the mod on CD for a small fee to customers that prefer not to download 100+ meg? Not that I had even thought of this before now, but it might be a way for some mods to pay for some of the bandwidth required to host mod sites and fund development. Rob Prouse (Commando) Tour of Duty Mod http://www.tourofdutymod.com At 02:01 PM 29/12/2002 +0000, you wrote: >This maybe a little OT, but in any case it affects a lot of us.... > >I recently went to a "computer fair" here in the UK, one stand was selling >lots of obviously "copied" CD's... The Quality of the CD Labels and Inserts >were infact diabolical.. > >I stumbled across a CD with several HL mod's on it... the main picture was >of Counter Stirke.... the mods were listed on the back, amongst the mods >were my own mod "Wanted", as well as lots of other popular mods, Action HL, >DoD etc..etc... too many to list... but the vendor was illegally selling the >CD's for �10.00 GBP. > >When I confronted the seller asking what permission he had for selling these >mod's.. he stated they were all free-ware... I know this is not the case, >although Mods are avaliable freely for download, it is not legal to re-sell >them... So I want to know what you people think of this... I know that many >of us don't get a penny for all the time and effort we put in to creating >these mods, but it drives me mad to think that someone else is just >downloading them, cutting them to disc and making money out of doing so. > >I forced the seller to give me the details of the person who he gets them >from, which I now have. (although I only have a name and UK Telephone >number). > >What are your thoughts ? > >Mike. _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit: http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit: http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders
