Company misuses source code to sell full game, competing with real game
polycounter lvl 14
While we do understand [Wolfire's] regrets, this does not change the fact that we have every legal right to market and sell the software, and we feel that $1.99 is a fair price.
Really? People actually do this? Wolfire gives out the source-code of Lugaru as a thanks for all the charity money they raised with the Humble Indie Bundle, they specifically state (in the blog iCoder uses as proof nontheless) that it's for mod making and that they may not use the code to redestribute the game without Wolfire's permission.
iCoder ports the game to the AppStore (without permission) and starts selling it 2 weeks after Lugaru HD (the actual real version of the game made by Wolfire) for $8 less.
And they still have the audacity to claim they have the right to do this. They stole someone elses work and were literally able to sell it in the same damn store as the original, and Apple has not done anything yet.
I mean, it says what they're doing is illegal in the damn proof they're using that this IS legal.We have included enough of the game data to run the demo version. Please note that the game data is not under the GPL, and forbids commercial redistribution.
I hope Alex Matlin and everyone in iCoder spend the rest of their lives struggling after this, goddamn dregs of humanity.
Replies
Yes. There are a lot of nuts like them that misinterpret the term 'open source' being synonymous with 'public domain' and take advantage of their own ignorance making a quick buck off of other's work (in this case, the data set and the trademarks). It's not the first time this has happened on the AppStore.
Kind of sad how some intentionally mistake partially open source (code only) releases as a fully open source release to derive copyrighted work off of to con with, assuming the whole game and its media were free entirely to 'do what you want' with.
don't hold your breath.
I'm working on my own Iphone game and doubt anything like this would happen to me but I would not be amused if Apple didn't sort it out immediately.
For the iCoder employees blacklist themselves in the rest of the industry for a fast $. Seems kind of insane to me.
But then again if the best they've got is to copy other people's code and art to make money then I suppose they don't have the skills to make it anywhere else anyway.
This is actually worse since they took the trust the dev gave them, threw it in the trash, stole from the dev, sold it for profit and spit in the devs face when confronted about it.
Oh hi there! I haven't been in a discussion about piracy in like 3 hours now.
But yeah, this one doesn't apply.
First off, assuming you were talking about me, I never ever said piracy was fine. Just that it's not a crime we should use guns to punish.
Second, this isn't piracy, just dumbness. To quote the person selling the product:
IF that's true, assuming he's not lying, then wtf? Why would anyone use this kind of license, then be surprised when someone actually sells it? Not to mention give the freakin' source code on their website. My mind is blown.
This isn't about piracy at all. Just poor business.
Only they did get permission. In fact, everyone did when the project went open-source.
it's just data, you're not really stealing it from them, it's just a copy, you're free to do whatever you want with it, etc etc etc
to bigjohn: wasn't speaking to anyone in particular
Only the code was GPL2'd
So they can make cyborg ninja space game using the sourcode and sell it as many times they want, they need to supply all sourcecode changes in any case.
They cannot however sell the game using the assets of the game, since they were never a part of the source deal, the IP and assets still belong to wolffire.
It's the same with doom 1,2 and quake 3, all the sourcecode for those games are GPL, but you can never sell the games themselves.
Then I believe there's also a part somewhere in there that you can't trick people, and that you have to notify the user (money involved or not) that there source is available, and all source-changes has to be available.
Shouldn't apple's review process caught this? or at least been quicker to remove the ripped version?
snip from the blog post:
"The game assets are included in the snapshot, and can be redistributed for free, but cannot be resold without our permission."
Yes, but after multiple failed attempts by Apple to protect there IP / Product maybe they should take it seriously and run a real business instead of complaining. As soon as you start to sell a product like this your in the crude world of business, and if you want to protect your product you can't just rely on Apple.
This opinion is only based off the Kotaku article, who knows what else is going on.
Ahh I see. In that case, yeah, this is bullshit and needs to be removed from the appstore, if not worse.
Secondly, the assets of Wolffire are not under GPL, expressibly so. So this iCoder douchewaffle is in fact, breaking the law and GPL license as stated. He's using the same non-GPL assets and has kept the product close enough to the original that it's in violation.
Ninjas and anyone else who works there probably can't comment on it, and even if they can, probably shouldn't since at this point its looking like a legal issue and there isn't anything they could post here that would help their legal battle.
But yeah, fuck these iCoder guys.
It is kind of amazing to see this kind of behavior.
But I guess that doesn't stop Wolfire from being a huggable bunch: