iSlayer

Vista hasnt been out for long but we are already seeing a big issue relating to gadgets which is piracy. I have already seen probably 5 examples of people taking someone elses gadget, making a few changes and re-releasing it.

I have been developing widgets/gadgets for Mac OS X and Yahoo Widget Engine for 2 years now and i dont think i can even think of 5 similar cases in that time.

As far as im concerned unless a gadget specifically states that you may modify and re-release it then those people are breaking copyrights. Just because you can view the source of a gadget that does not mean it should be considered open source in a typical sense.

I've released more then 25 widgets/gadgets over the past 2 years and ive never had a problem with copyright issues. I've never bothered to include copyright notices in my code simply because i have had no reason to. But seeing the amount of piracy of sidebar gadgets its really made me think about what i can do to protect my code and images. Im working on 6 or so sidebar gadgets right now and gadget piracy has really made me question if i should even release them. I dont want my hard work to be stolen by someone else.

Im not sure anything can really be done to stop it happening but i would like to see Microsoft take an active stance and make it easy for us to report offending gadgets so they can remove them quickly to minimize damage to the real authors. As far as im concerned gadget piracy is no different to application piracy, music piracy, movie piracy etc....



Re: Sidebar Gadget Development Gadget Piracy

Nyura

i dont know.... but since you say you have made many gadgets can you make me one im really new at this and i dont have much time. my topic is the noob one if you want or need to know




Re: Sidebar Gadget Development Gadget Piracy

PuggsinCyberspace

Let me ask, how many web pages have you looked at the source and decided it was a good idea and used part or all of in a web page

I have a lot of gadgets that i have downloaded, some of them have errors, so i will fix them, other i want to add together into one. If i was to release them i'm sure to put the original authers details in.

I have no idea how you can pirate something thats free anyway. It would be plagurism though, claiming someone elses work as your own, but thats quite common in the computer world.

Puggs





Re: Sidebar Gadget Development Gadget Piracy

iSlayer

Fixing errors in a gadget so you can use it is fine.

Re-releasing the gadget without permission is wrong. Gadgets may be free but it doesnt mean you can do whatever you want with them without even asking for permission which is what alot of people are doing.

"I have no idea how you can pirate something thats free anyway"

Free products are usually still copyrighted though.... modfying and re-releasing something that is copyrighted is illegal





Re: Sidebar Gadget Development Gadget Piracy

PuggsinCyberspace

Prehaps you should read the agreement before you upload your gadgets, http://gallery.live.com/legal.aspx as below;

Microsoft does not claim ownership of the Submissions, except for any material in your Submission that we licensed to you. By uploading your Submission, you give us all the necessary rights to make your Submission available on this site and other Microsoft sites. These rights include granting Microsoft a free, worldwide license to:

  • use, copy, distribute, display, publish and modify your Submission, each in connection with the service;
  • publish your name in connection with your Submission; and
  • grant these permissions to others.




Re: Sidebar Gadget Development Gadget Piracy

iSlayer

I think you may be misunderstaning that a litte.

"Grant these permissions to others" does not mean you have to allow anyone to do whatever they want with your gadget

What it means is your granting microsoft permission to grant permission to others. And i havent seen anything from microsoft granting those permission to anyone. And id seriously hope they wouldnt as it would then be impossible for anyone to protect there work.

Without formal authorization from microsoft(or the gadget author) no one except them is granted those permissions





Re: Sidebar Gadget Development Gadget Piracy

PuggsinCyberspace

iSlayer wrote:

I think you may be misunderstaning that a litte.

"Grant these permissions to others" does not mean you have to allow anyone to do whatever they want with your gadget

What it means is your granting microsoft permission to grant permission to others. And i havent seen anything from microsoft granting those permission to anyone. And id seriously hope they wouldnt as it would then be impossible for anyone to protect there work.

Without formal authorization from microsoft(or the gadget author) no one except them is granted those permissions

You for got this line as well

You also consent and authorize all acts that might otherwise infringe your moral rights in your Submission.

you have no moral right to complain about piracy :)





Re: Sidebar Gadget Development Gadget Piracy

iSlayer

and pirates have no morals ;)

In all seriousness i hope microsoft do help protect authors. Some gadgets take along time to build so its not really fair if someone else can come along, change a few things and claim it as there own.





Re: Sidebar Gadget Development Gadget Piracy

sandyk - MSFT

It's a tricky issue and it's hard to know where to draw the line between "borrowing" and clear infringement of IP (which is really what we're talking about here).  I know I used Daniel Moth's gadget to get me started and learn how to write the manifest, but I took it much further than that and you wouldn't recognize it.  Should I give him credit (I suppose I just did  ). 

I'm sure the cases you refer to are more obvious and concerning, but I am not sure what MS can do.  On CodePlex, Microsoft's open source site, Microsoft has suggested licenses for anything on that site.  Perhaps you can take the text of those licenses and post the best one in your code   That way, you've declared your rights and expectations to anyone reading your code. 





Re: Sidebar Gadget Development Gadget Piracy

iSlayer

If there is a blatent case of plagerism i was hoping Microsoft would help by removing offending gadgets from the gallery if requested.

Im not worried about my code so much but ill definitly include copyright notices. Personally its people stealing images that would bother me most. I'd be very annoyed if i saw images from one of my gadgets being used elsewhere as many of the images are the result of months of evolution and many of them are used in dashboard widgets and applications my site makes.

Hopefully ill never have to worry about it but i was just hoping Microsoft had some kind of policy in place to get offending gadgets removed from the gallery to make it as painless as possible for all involved





Re: Sidebar Gadget Development Gadget Piracy

PuggsinCyberspace

iSlayer wrote:
If there is a blatent case of plagerism i was hoping Microsoft would help by removing offending gadgets from the gallery if requested.

Im not worried about my code so much but ill definitly include copyright notices. Personally its people stealing images that would bother me most. I'd be very annoyed if i saw images from one of my gadgets being used elsewhere as many of the images are the result of months of evolution and many of them are used in dashboard widgets and applications my site makes.

I have to agree with you there, images are off limits, (X)HTML / JavaScript they can have what they want of mine, even my PHP, C++ / Java, if they asked i would more than likely give it to them, if it didn't expose my server, etc. etc.

I have noticed most of the backgrounds look the same in the gadgets i have installed, i don't know if this is due to there being a pack of graphics. I have also notice a few with microsoft images (eg drive images) but are they claiming them as their own, i don't know.

Puggs





Re: Sidebar Gadget Development Gadget Piracy

Chris Butler

Hi everyone.

Yes, Windows Live Gallery does take down gadgets if they are in violation of trademark, copyright, etc. after notification by the original owner of the content.

To make such a request go to this page:

http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyrtInfrg.htm

This page has instructions on how to make the request so our legal team can process it.

Thanks.