Reporting pirates on eBay

[Magic-Merl]

You know.  Generally I have very little to say on the forums.  I have been registered for about 3/4 years but I have to say.

People.  get a life.

What can you get off e-bay that you can't get through e-mule, Warez or Back to the Roots.

P-lease.

Sometimes.  Just sometimes.  Ignorance is bliss.  

[AndreasM]

>You are one of the people who my post does not quite fit. Althoguh your site is German (I'm a silly American who knows little of other languages) I do belive when you said you make one product for the Amiga, you mean the newer ones.

hmm, when you dont click on the button "english".. yes, than is the page only in german

>Even if that is not the case, and you do make product for the "classic Amigas" as some call them, keep in mind your company DOES in fact exist, and we CAN buy it from you. As

yes, we make something for classic and os4. is all on our page. only the tolls and game in develope are not on the page.

> I mentioned, I refer to strictly companies who have dissolved/disappeared/left the scene way back when the Amiga "faded away". Just clarifying that so that you understand. I in no way condone priacy. What I do condone is the continuation of product. I do not believe that someone's work should simply disappear from the face of the Earth just because the media cannot sustain it life. I'm not saying it's right to take 1 copy (the original) and make 5000 copies and sell em. But I am saying if you hold 1 legal copy, be it from ebay or the original company 20 years ago, no matter whether it's on original media or not, you retain the right to that software.. Which would include moving it to newer media to allow it to continue to work. Until you sell it, of course, which then you would surrender your rights to the software. If that makes any sense at all..

i never talk from software which the user can nowhere buy legal. i talk from the software where the user can buy on the legal way. but its give users/shops/auction where illegal copies from this software, too. thats the problem.

>All that aside, legal questions for anyone out there who knows. This topic got me curious. How many years in fact must pass for software to become public domain, assuming the company did not set it so when they shutdown/closed?

in germany 75 year after the dead from the copyrightholder.
and i have talk from our software. we are not closed. me make support for our fisrt product from 1992, too.

> And is there a list of such titles/companies anywhere?

a list from which software? old commerzial software what now are free? is a small list. i think 1% are free. not more.

[Rooster]

 >You are one of the people who my post does not quite fit. Althoguh your site is German (I'm a silly American who knows little of other languages) I do belive when you said you make one product for the Amiga, you mean the newer ones.

>hmm, when you dont click on the button "english".. yes, than is the page only in german

Ok, do this, and put on your English cap.  Click Englsih.  Now, click the first icon/picture you see, entitled "Ausgabe 55".(not English)  Yes, there is some English in the top text, but many of the buttons are what I assume is German.  (a side-side totally OT:  I love Settlers of Catan, a German-made (a company called Cosmos) makes it.  There is an American conversion, but it is not as good.  Anyway..  I do appologize for the snap comment on no English.  I just didn't research it enough ;(

I did look over your site more now..  I hit the first link originally just to see what it was you did real quick that you were sharing links to.  In fact, you seem to be the type of place to do exactly what I mentioned.  You are a publisher, yes?  Not specially a software house, programming games.  Why is it that no pub., like yourself, by chance, swoops in and gets the rights to all these "dead" games/programs?  I'd assume a decent amount of money could be made off it.  They could be released, on a need be basis by order and demand on floppy.  Has your company ever considered that, I mean, obviously they have, you ARE a publisher..  But what about something on a grander scale?  There are plenty of "classic Amiga" fans who'd line up at your eDoor!

   Rooster

[AndreasM]

>>hmm, when you dont click on the button "english".. yes, than is the page only in german

>Ok, do this, and put on your English cap. Click Englsih. Now, click the first icon/picture you see, entitled "Ausgabe 55".(not English) Yes, there is some English in the top text, but many of the buttons are what I assume is German. (a side-side totally OT: I love Settlers of Catan, a German-made (a company called Cosmos) makes it. There is an American conversion, but it is not as good. Anyway.. I do appologize for the snap comment on no English. I just didn't research it enough ;(

argh, you are on the page from our german print mag

Amiga Future is a print mag not a company

www.apc-tcp.de is our company

>I did look over your site more now.. I hit the first link originally just to see what it was you did real quick that you were sharing links to. In fact, you seem to be the type of place to do exactly what I mentioned. You are a publisher, yes? Not specially a software house, programming games. Why is it that no pub., like yourself, by chance, swoops in and gets the rights to all these "dead" games/programs? I'd assume a decent amount of money could be made off it. They could be released, on a need be basis by order and demand on floppy. Has your company ever considered that, I mean, obviously they have, you ARE a publisher.. But what about something on a grander scale? There are plenty of "classic Amiga" fans who'd line up at your eDoor!

go on the correct page, than we can talk

[TheMagicM]

AndreasM: i'm not saying what you're donig is bad for YOUR software that YOU are selling.  But if its old software that isnt being sold currently because of its age I dont care if its copied or not.  What people do on their own time is their business.  

[AndreasM]

hmm, from wher you know how many copies from our softare we sell?

yes, what the people do is their own time and risk.

when we found someone where sell illegal copies (every way, donates an on the page is the same as selling) cost this the user many money. the price for the police and lawyer are not cheap but some user dont check this. dont know why.

[X-ray]

@ Magic-Merl

"...What can you get off e-bay that you can't get through e-mule, Warez or Back to the Roots..."
---------------------------------------------------------

Money, my friend. That is the crux of the matter. An individual is seeking to profit from the work of another. That is what leaves the bitter taste in the mouth, not any attempt to attach value to obsolete software. To this end, I regard an Ebay sale of copied software with significant disgust, whereas people who copy obsolete software for no financial gain have not received money that should otherwise have gone to the author.

[TheMagicM]

hmm, from wher you know how many copies from our softare we sell?

Did I say I knew how many copies?  No offense but the software you have is of no use to me.

  I have not bought any classic Amiga software in *years* (but I've been *given* alot of software, originals and copies).  Hardware, thats a different story.. On the Amiga I'd rather just play old games and collect old hardware (but I prefer C=64,128,vic 20 though).

Now if Genesi and MorphOS would get their A$$ in gear maybe then I'd buy something.  I'm tellin ya.. that Peg running Debian is sexy. :-o :-o :-o

-Alex

[Cyberus]

X-ray wrote:
@ Magic-Merl

"...What can you get off e-bay that you can't get through e-mule, Warez or Back to the Roots..."
---------------------------------------------------------

Money, my friend. That is the crux of the matter. An individual is seeking to profit from the work of another. That is what leaves the bitter taste in the mouth, not any attempt to attach value to obsolete software. To this end, I regard an Ebay sale of copied software with significant disgust, whereas people who copy obsolete software for no financial gain have not received money that should otherwise have gone to the author.

You've hit the nail on the head, I've been trying to say exactly the same thing!!!

I really couldn't give a {bleep} about someone copying old software, and may I say it, ashamed though I am, I don't really care about people ripping off commercial software too much either e.g. Windows (unless they are really damaging some small production, as the German guy who posted on this thread suggests). Its just that if anyone should make MONEY from it, it should be the people who produced it. Call me a bleeding heart liberal, a commie or whatever, but its the same principle with coffee or whatever, sold at huge markups in the developed world, the people who did the work should be seeing the economic benefits, not some lamer who sits on his arse....

[Thomas]

@krize: you didn't get the point. Andreas *is* a developer or at least a publisher who tries to sell many recent games. But his company has suffered so much from piracy that he has cancelled all ongoing developments. They cannot sell enough copies because of piracy, so they rather put their effords into projects they can earn some money with.

There have been quite a few developers leaving the Amiga because of piracy in the last one or two years.

We all agree that spreading software for free might increase hardware sales. But there is no new Amiga hardware. Only software companies are left. Software companies have to earn money. If their software is spread for free, they stop developing new software -> the market is dead.

Commodore killed the Amiga but piracy killed the remaining Amiga market.

Bye,
Thomas

[TheMagicM]

people stopped buying software because there is only so much you can do with the current 'classic Amiga'.  Its obsolete.  Replacement parts will be harder to aquire at decent prices.  The only people hanging on to their classics are the true die-hards.

Whats here and now is the A1 and the Pegasos.  If software developers want to make money they should develop software for those systems, not a has-been 20yr old system* (or however old your classic is).  (as rough as that sounds, its the truth).