Oolite for sale on ebay

[Gimi]

Just found this:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Space-Combat-and- ... 27b896f44b

NOT GOOD!

[Cody]

No... that is not good.

[Svengali]

First the Amazon thing with Drews work and now this!

Thanks for sharing, Gimi.

[JD]

There's an option to report it, but as I don't have an ebay account I can't do it. Anyone else feel like doing it?

Cheers
John

[Cody]

Smivs has reported it.

[Ganelon]

If you check the seller's "other items", there are two listings for Oolite. Also one for what appears to be Supertuxkart, as well as some language software and what appears to be some sort of hacker/spy software.

If you check their feedback, people have been buying Oolite from this seller.

http://feedback.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI ... llFeedback

Looks like they've been selling it from at least as far back as April 2010.

This really sucks.

[Cody]

The bloody thing even has Oolite fiction in it.

[Commander McLane]

At the bottom of the description he says that all his articles are either his own copyright or GPL. Which is technically true for Oolite.

[aegidian]

That's GPL for you, I expected this would happen eventually.

Yes, Oolite can be sold and bought, and the guy could even be said to be doing people a favour by supplying it on CD. If it bothers anyone then probably the best thing to do is to sell a cheaper CD version. You could even use his box graphics since as they're derivative works they're covered by the same licences as Oolite's other graphics.

Rather than annoyed, I feel vaguely flattered. It's like when you first see a keygen for your software being traded by pirates. You know you've arrived.

[Commander McLane]

I seemed to remember that you already mentioned that GPL in fact doesn't prevent anybody from charging something, as long as he distributes the software according to the license.

So it seems that we can't prevent him from doing what he does. As long as people are willing to pay 5.75£ for a CD with Oolite 1.73(!), instead of downloading 1.75 for free, he'll be in business.

But what about the OXPs he is distributing alongside, which may have a CC by-nc-sa license? He would be breaching that one, wouldn't he?

And last but not least, what about the long-standing fear that someone selling Oolite might waken the dragons?

[Fatleaf]

I have reported them also to eBay. I have also reported them to... [email protected] I also contacted the seller and told them they have been reported.

Any other ideas?

Swinebags.

EDIT: How about setting up another Oolite page for sale. But only for one penny and make it clear they can get it for free at http://www.oolite.org/

[Cmd. Cheyd]

Sounded the warning about this happening over 2 years ago.

Was promptly ignored...

[Fatleaf]

I may have done a bad thing...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 500wt_1156

[Ganelon]

You *did* notice the "LG Software" logo on the box when you swiped the pic, right?

[Cmd. Cheyd]

My Solution:

Dear lg-software,

Isn't this game freely available already from http://www.oolite.org? And aren't you violating the license of the included 55 Add-Ons since the majority of them utilize a CC BY-NC-SA license? (NC meaning NON-COMMERCIAL http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/)

If I remember correctly, any questions that are asked are added to the bottom of the auction for other 'bidders' to be able to read also... Subtle, but hopefully effective.