Some site is ripping products off from here
 

Mine for example: http://<<Link Removed>>/f12/embed-xh...video-284.html

Can you guys block them from the RSS feed or something? Rather annoying that they're doing that. :(

nobody here will be able to do anything.

if they ripped your style and content, it's all up to you and yourself alone to protect your ownership... vBulletin does not protect anything on your site.

and what about the modifications that are included in this site? you know that if you wanna download/use some hacks from vb.org you must have a valid license otherwise you cannot view/download any file attached ... BUT if you've a license you can download all the hacks and put them onto your site ... and maybe your site can be a 'pirate site' ...

RSS feeds do not contain modifications. They see the same content as a regular guest.

i know Marco, my question is different, i can download all the things from this site and post them into mine ... i mean this :)

Sorry my answer was not directed towards you, but to the topic starter.

:)

but what about my question?

as we usually say KURTZ, start your own topic if you have specific questions... you spoil this OP request...

you're right Nexialys, but i don't wanna spam into this area ... i only asked a legitimate question if someone want/can answer me is better, otherwise is the same ... :)

And your question is?

check post #3, i hope that my point is clear :)

I still fail to see the question in that post.

OK let me explain better (i try cause i don't speak english correctly):

we all know that if we wanna download/use some hacks from this site we must have a current and valid vB license from Jelsoft otherwise we can't view anything ... so if we own this (i mean the license) we can register here and use this forum ... obviously we can download all the things that are posted here, but after that we can upload the hacks that we have downloaded from here in other sites ... now it's the point that i wanna ask to you Marco :), we can upload the 'vB.org's hacks' onto other sites, but these site that i mean don't request us any valid and current license by Jelsoft so we can bypass the license and use all the hacks that are posted here without any license ...

so the question is: is legally correct (i mean without legal troubles) reproduce the hacks from vB.org to another site? the copyrights are owned by the authors or also by the web site that host these files?

hope you can understand what i mean and what i ask to you :)

A modification author can post his modification wherever he pleases, he owns the copyright. A user can not download a modification here and then redistribute it elsewhere on the internet without the Author's direct permission - that is illegal.

thx Danny that's what i wanna know, but what i previously know is this: 'if we haven't any specific or direct deny' to redistribute we can use anything the only thing that's required is 'specify' the name of the author ...

anyway thx

This would be wrong.

You can not redistribute any modification unless you have permission from the author.

But isn't it left up to the author to go after the sites that have their files illegally?

unfortunately i'm not a lawyer and also i can't explain better my thoughts about this ... however i tried to read the creative commons license, and it says that if an author don't tell what are the restrictions there aren't restrictions ... also i think that if there are some limitations the authors can be legally responsible if something goes wrong (if we use something from them) ...

i know it's a complex issue :)

the problem Kurtz is that vb.org is not ruled under the Creative Commons... there is a copyright in the footer of this site....

yes Nexia, but the rights about the hacks that are posted here are owned by the authors ... not by vB.org ... that's what Danny told us ...

edit: so if i post here something without the clear permission by the original author, Marco (or someone) deletes my post/files, but the question is the opposite ...

actually, having your stuff here is a privilege, not a right, so the owners of THIS site can trash your work if they consider it is not following rules...

yes i definitely agreed with this, any home's owner can rule like he wants in his home ... :) but the point is another, if we can redistribute anything from this site (i mean the hacks from third part - the users - NOT directly from the owners of the staff of vB.org) :) and, if yes, what are the legal restrictions ...

You cannot redistribute anything from this site without the authors permission - thats already been stated once. :)

Seems you still don't get the point: Any original work is automatically copyrighted, unless stated different by the author. You can (are not allowed to) not redistribute the work without permission from the original author. It makes no difference if the author is a staff member on vB.org.

Work released on vB.org is always copyrighted to the author, never to "vBulletin.org".

If we become aware that someone is posting the work of others without prior permission from the original author then he will most likely get an infraction and the release is removed.

Just to clarify - even if you do mention the author's name, that's not enough to warrant permission to redistribute. You need specific permission from the author to redistribute...(and that is with any copyrighted work.)

Edit: Didn't see the all of these replies basically saying what I did.

What remedy do we, as authors, have when someone takes our hacks from here and posts them on another site?

actually, a good technique is to go to that site and ask POLITELY to remove the release... i've done it at some occasions on pirate websites and they gladly answer to our requests... when you go directly to threaten them, they laugh at you, because you act the opposite way of a politically correct guy... but being polite, human and professional makes you having a good positive answer from them in most of the situations...

I've tried the polite route and gotten laughed at and ignored all the same. The point I was trying to make is no matter what the rules are here concerning the copyright issue, it doesn't carry on outside the org, that I know of, anyway. If they get it from here and post it, will the org go after them?

they can't sue the borrower, if it's your question... we do not pay any protection police here... they are not hired by us to protect our stuff... (that's manly why i do not release here anyway.)

Then there is no real protection or copyright in the long run.

I do not agree. This site is privileged to have a community that contributes to it, it's not the other way around. Without the members, vb.org is useless.

--------------- Added [DATE]1212440866[/DATE] at [TIME]1212440866[/TIME] ---------------

Correct.

any copyright statement is just a statement... to apply it to your goods, you have to have an advocate representing you to the court... so you have to pay for this representation. Jelsoft is paying their own lawyer for their own script, but they will never pay for the scripts released here for one reason... we are not part of Jelsoft...

and this is correct.

Send their host a DMCA...it works sometimes ;)

Then why even bother having any copyright rules here if they can't be enforced when the hacks are taken from here in the first place? The author has no real protection from anything.

Copyright is law.

Which brings our conversation one philosophical leap deeper into the Rabbit hole...

sorry but it's not ... copyright is a statement. a law is enforced by the government. if the copyright would be a law, we would have a council at the government which would protect all authors from theifs.. that is not the case... you have to represent yourself in any case, not the government.

i know you are talking about the laws that are supposed to protect the authors with copyrights, but they are written to make everything not-protected by the government... there is only a few countries where the authors are protected by the government, and they are places where piracy is so limited it's useless to enforce the laws... (Bengladesh is one of those)

Law or not, it doesn't help us as authors if someone puts the hacks on another site and we can't afford to go after them. Especially is they got the hacks from here where we are supposed to be protected.

Unless you're in Afghanistan of course.

There is also the issue of my copyrights not begin upheld in some country half-way around the world. I can't speak Russian so how the heck am I supposed to report it anyway? ;)

Friendly advice: If you don't want your work on random servers on the internet do not publish it anywhere. Otherwise you have a 99.9% chance of begin disappointed and angry at your fellow man.

Noted, for future hacks I won't be releasing here then. ;)