How to report software ripoffs?

[Kirby]

I've been a long-time licensed user of mst Defrag. Just recently, a ripoff called DiskMagik has surfaced....

DiskMagik maintains your Windows PC for Peak Performance

I already sent the mst Defrag developers an e-mail.....are there any organizations I can contact that deals with this kind of stuff?

[DaStinger77]

Umm if they didnt steal any of the code, i dont see how similar products is doing any kind of illegal activity?

[conquerall691]

Any site that offers it as a download besides the company.

[Hard core Rikki]

there are, but not much can be done to force them out of business. i'll check this particular case a little. how much of a ripoff was it? actual code is there? just renamed, or different GUI ? Licence violation ? did anyone decorticate the code for both for comparison, if deemed ok by the licence ?

a lot of softs out there rip off code from opensource or free apps, slap on a fancy gui, and dare to ask for 30 bucks for the eyecandy. 69 dollars for a stupid LAME encoding frontend, when better ones are available for free??? now THATS some MAJOR ripoff.
awards from download sites mean nothing, btw. thats just a trick for nonorganically-increased visibility. remove this from them, and theyll sink back into the darkness from where they shouldve never come out.


Ripoff Report: By Consumers, For Consumers

Example of an unrelated ripoff report


There's also gpl-violations,org, but it wouldn't be appropriate to deal with the current situation described here

[Kirby]

getting a little interesting over here:

Originally Posted by email from DiskMagik

I'm sure Martin will be pleased to hear from you, since it was built under
license from them :-) Point to the download file with with your mouse and
you will see it says "mst Germany". But thanks for your concern!

also sent a little reply of my own:

prove to me that you actually obtained permission to use mst Defrag's license. If you indeed retained the license legally, why isn't it mentioned anywhere in your license agreement? I'm pretty sure you would have been required to mention something about using mst Defrag's engine, as well as a huge chunk of their GUI and help file text

as for how bad the copy really is, here are 2 screenshots depicting each of their help file:

[Hard core Rikki]

Ripoff Report always looked like a nice way to debunk liars, and have consumers have the last word.
There sure are many ripoffs going on around the net, and way shadier than this particular case. What was mst defrag's reply on that ?

[Kirby]

Originally Posted by Hard core Rikki

Ripoff Report always looked like a nice way to debunk liars, and have consumers have the last word.
There sure are many ripoffs going on around the net, and way shadier than this particular case. What was mst defrag's reply on that ?

hadn't got a reply from them yet

[refraction]

there awards are lies too ;p

you look at the 3kdownload one, their icon says 5/5, you click on it, its 3/5

[Hard core Rikki]

not lies, the "awards" stuff these years is pretty much just a sham to artifically increase visibility of both sites. while most dl sites even give pcsx2 5 stars, some dare have a bios included as well so at least, we can be sure there's no human verifications

quick article on the software awards thingy

I put out a new product a couple of weeks ago. This new product has so far won 16 different awards and recommendations from software download sites. Some of them even emailed me messages of encouragement such as “Great job, we’re really impressed!”. I should be delighted at this recognition of the quality of my software, except that the ’software’ doesn’t even run. This is hardly surprising when you consider that it is just a text file with the words “this program does nothing at all” repeated a few times and then renamed as an .exe. The PAD file that described the software even contains the description “This program does nothing at all”.

[Kirby]

Originally Posted by reply from Diskmagik

Look... I don't have to 'prove' anything to you. I'm telling you how it
is. Obviously it is not in our best interests to make it obvious that
Diskmagik is based on mst defrag.... or we drive traffic to that software
instead of our own. As I said, if you point to the install file you will
see it mentions mst Germany... and I cc'd the developer at mstsoftware on
the last email as well as this one. That should make it pretty plain this
is 100% above board.

JB

[Hard core Rikki]

bah, no need to even bother with these pricks. throwing greedy corporate scrooges into the clutches of GPL-violations.org is much more fun
In any case, nice spotting this one. I myself stopped caring about the proliferation of these ripoffs. As long as no sacred GPL is violated...

[Kirby]

Originally Posted by Hard core Rikki

bah, no need to even bother with these pricks. throwing greedy corporate scrooges into the clutches of GPL-violations.org is much more fun
In any case, nice spotting this one. I myself stopped caring about the proliferation of these ripoffs. As long as no sacred GPL is violated...

It's not GPL software.....I paid for a license of mst Defrag...

[Hard core Rikki]

didn't mean GPL for this case
Even if violations confirmed, and proper measures taken, I don't really think it'd involve much more than some amount of compensation, plus the good ol' cease and desist stuff, if not properized affiliation (doubtful, as these guys shouldn't be as lucky as to land on their feet unharmed)...

[jonc2006]

stab those fools kirby.

[Kirby]

Hi Ryan,

thanks for your open eyes against piracy.
But in this case it's like Joe said. They
licenced our software.

With kind regards

Martin Stiemerling
----------------------------------------------

mst software GmbH
maintenance - security - tuning

Oranienburger Str. 173-175,
13437 Berlin, Germany

Url: mst software - maintenance - security - tuning! Windows Tools, Defragmentation, Password reset and more

----------------------------------------------
CEO: | Geschäftsführer:
Martin Stiemerling | Martin Stiemerling
|
Commercial Register: | Registergericht:
Local Court Berlin | Amtsgericht
Charlottenburg | Berlin Charlottenburg
|
Register Number: | Registernummer:
HRB 100056B | HRB 100056B
|
VAT-ID: | Umsatzsteueridenti-
DE814562927 | fikationsnummer:
| DE814562927
----------------------------------------------

so I was legit after all....hmph

[Hard core Rikki]

No biggie. Obviously, undisclosed sublicencing like this obviously could ring a bunch of bells.
Hunting GPL violators is much more fun, especially to force source code out from their treasure chests