vBulletin Piracy.

[Davey]

You know the piracy form?
It would be nice if we could comment on the site we're submitting.
Ex: Not all boards are pirated.
Some may contain illegal things or not be running the copyright notice or whatever.
It would be nice for us to choose the category we're submitting it to.

Dave.

[Floris]

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=57730

[John]

Thanks for the suggestions. Our anti-piracy guys are pretty good at working out what's up, so don't worry about that too much.

John

[TripleH]

I submitted a site for that reason that Davey mentioned over a month ago, and the site is still up..

[filburt1]

Thanks for the suggestions. Our anti-piracy guys are pretty good at working out what's up, so don't worry about that too much.

John

Does it already ignore URLs that have matches in the license database (i.e., to save you guys time)?

[fury]

I think that would make it ineffective against boards that are licensed but support illegal activities in the forum.

[filburt1]

Good point.

[Wayne Luke]

We investigate each board as to whether they have a license or are engaged in illegal activities.

[TripleH]

When you do this, and find that a legal license is used, and engaging in illegal activities... I would think that the license would be removed... I am not meaning to sound impatient.. But it kind of bothers me that poeple can use vB to distribute bad thigns... and not get their license revoked.. I knwo you cant comment on the action taken or anything.. But isnt a month a long time?

[Wayne Luke]

How do you know their license is revoked. Just because their site is up doesn't mean they haven't had their license revoked. We do revoke licenses when the license agreement is not being followed.

As for bringing a website down, sometimes it is easy and sometimes it isn't. When it isn't then lawyers get involved and when you start moving through the legal system 1 month is nothing. Often times it will take a year or more just to be assigned an initial hearing date, especially in civil court which is how these cases are handled.

[padmaster]

Just curious, how can vbulletin have any say, beyond the license agreement, over what someone does within their board? I would think the most you could do is report someone for illegal activity.

[Wayne Luke]

We can revoke their license for not following the license agreement which includes a clause that forbids them from using the software to break copyright. When their license is revoked, they are notified. If they do not remove vBulletin from their server, we can pursue them for this because they are using our protected product illegally once their license is revoked.

They can also be reported to various other agencies in addition to this.

[N!ck]

We can revoke their license for not following the license agreement which includes a clause that forbids them from using the software to break copyright. When their license is revoked, they are notified. If they do not remove vBulletin from their server, we can pursue them for this because they are using our protected product illegally once their license is revoked.

They can also be reported to various other agencies in addition to this.

Quick question...how can you even prove they're using vBulletin? Couldn't someone just claim to be using a look-alike?

[Wayne Luke]

Among other ways, a quick look at a code file will let us know.

[IDN]

It could be a look alike, but functions such as urls for thread handling, ect, error messages..

It would take a lot of work, and a like of time not worth it to conceal that someone is using a vbulletin.

[padmaster]

We can revoke their license for not following the license agreement which includes a clause that forbids them from using the software to break copyright. When their license is revoked, they are notified. If they do not remove vBulletin from their server, we can pursue them for this because they are using our protected product illegally once their license is revoked.

They can also be reported to various other agencies in addition to this.


So basically copyright infringement is the only illegal activity that vbulletin would be able to 'act on' themselves? Does vbulletin police all copyright infringement or just software/music piracy?

I'm not trying to antagonize you, just would like to know ;)

[Wayne Luke]

Our license doesn't allow vBulletin to be used to infringe on any copyright. However the laws are vague in some countries as to what actual copyright infringement is so that also has to be taken into account.

We are also only looking in regards to breaking our license.