pirated sofware on DVD

Crown · 21 September 2006, 11:26

I just wanted to point out the website of: http://www.amigagames.co.uk/

that guy is selling pirated software on DVDs. He's even in campaign on adwords (google).

I really blame people making money out of pirated software!

that's lame (as we used to say).

sniperchaz · 21 September 2006, 13:20

Eitherway its a rip off if you spend just a few hours surffin you,ll nearly if not all the games in the PD or private sites for free download anyway i know iv got 4000+ on ADF and all thats cost me is the time to look and download also some of the games cannot be played straight away on a pc (without a joystick ) plus some only work on a real amiga becouse of the keyboard layout to execute the file to run is different lol then all you need to do is transfer the ADF,s to youre AMIGA (this is the slow bit) and have plenty of blank Disks and use TRANS ADF-GUI (works better than ADF2DISK )to convert back to Amiga Disks saving you loads of money that could be used to upgrade your miggy

aldo · 21 September 2006, 13:57

Theres people selling similar sorts of things on ebay

Ultron · 21 September 2006, 14:35

It's not pirated. To be pirated it'd needed to be happening 15 years ago.

Why people buy them is the real issue. Heck, you can get it for free. Which i'm guessing is why less tech savy people may buy them. Since they can't find them easily on the web once horrid violators of abandoned decades old software copyrights are quickly smitten by the holy crusaders of the Order of Cloanto.

For some people, i guess it pays to pay and forget the hassle of finding them. It's sad, but true.

alexh · 21 September 2006, 15:33

These people are a huge drop ship company. They sell their DVD-R disks to 10's of people in the UK who then try to flog em on ebay. They are Ex-Amiga shop people and have contacts with amongst others Forematt computing.

I reported them to Codemasters last year who did something, but they just Pheonixed under a different name

Magno Boots · 22 September 2006, 00:57

Why is it that CD-R's called Amiga Gold/Arcade Classix/Flashrom/Emulators Unlimited/Giana Trilogy etc etc can continue to be sold on the net and Ebay without any of you guys batting an eyelid, yet there is uproar when one chap advertises single cracked games for sale on Ebay? (as per other current thread).

I know this/these 'Classix' sellers have been active for some time and are maybe old skool (maybe they're your EAB buddies), but I fail to understand the double standards shown from certain members.

Ok to sell CDs with hundreds of game images and roms?, but feeling the need to persecute an individual who chooses to sell singular games is just daft; although I understand that he was quite selective in not stating the games were copies.

Why was it acceptable to pay £2 a disk at the car boot in the early 90's, yet not accpetable now that all pirated games are freely downloadable?

My post is not to upset anybody, nor get anyone into trouble, but just to a provoke your thoughts on this matter.

alexh · 22 September 2006, 09:53

The problem with these people is that they have made a lot of money. And as such they are prepared to protect their investment.

I phoned up their ISP last year and said that they were selling copyrighted material. Their websites came down for about an hour or so and then I got a phone call back saying that their solicitor had been on the phone saying they had rights to all these games and I had to provide copyright documentation or it was going back up. I said to the ISP, have you seen these "rights"? And they said "Erm, no. But we've not seen anyone elses either and they were our customer first."

I phoned several of the companies who were still alive (codemasters etc.) and they basically told me "Piracy you say? Thanks for bringing this to our attention. What platform? Amiga? 1991 you say? Goodbye"

In desparation I even called FAST (federation against software theft) and they again told me there hands were tied unless one of the companies, with written proof of copyright ownership, got in touch there was nothing they could do.

AmigaGames / Butterfly Media (what ever you want to call them) is "above the law" in this area until someone with some time and money and more importantly documentation and a lawyer/solicitor can go after them.

If you want to send them some hate mail, they stoopidly used their real name and address in Swindon for one of their earliest Domain Name registrations

Quote:

Why was it acceptable to pay £2 a disk at the car boot in the early 90's

I dont know what it was like in your area, but in our "scene" it was never acceptable to pay anything (except postage and media costs). It was ok for no-one to benefit financially, or the authors/publishers to benefit, but never the traders. "Share and Enjoy".

Crown · 22 September 2006, 09:59

It is one thing to download for free these material (which is also illegal of course) and another to actually make money with it.

Same goes for people that make profit over amiga demos, mods cds/dvds.

Kurtz · 25 October 2006, 01:39

Just bringing to your attention that thes guys seem to follow some sort of removal policy eg. Thalion games do not belong. See here:

http://www.amigagames.co.uk/GamesINDEX.htm

I suppose they were solicited to do so, but does that help their cause?

DamienD · 25 October 2006, 12:51

Yeah I see the new statement saying:

"This compilation contains no games from APC&TCP or Thalion."

i.e. AndreaM's company and alexh's website.

Good work guys, I wonder how the rest can be stopped? Probably very difficult as explained in one of alexh's posts

Kurtz · 25 October 2006, 13:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by DamienD

Good work guys, I wonder how the rest can be stopped? Probably very difficult as explained in one of alexh's posts

Right... at least they made it, eventually. But I sense few other publishers would be concerned, as alexh put it with regard to Codemasters. Okay, maybe they won't put up a fight and all the legal mumbo jumbo to prevent Advanced Ski Simulator (or other titles they shouldn't be very proud of) from appearing, whilst dealing with the TOCA 3 sale figures or who knows what.

What about Ubisoft or Infogrames/Atari? Won't the presence of BAT or North & South touch them at all?

Codetapper · 25 October 2006, 13:16

Maybe the other way to approach it is something like this...

Send an email to Infogrames/Codemasters etc saying "I am selling some of your old games on a DVD compilation on EBay. I assume this is OK with you, please let me know if it is not. This is just a courtesy message" and put a link to the EBay auctions.

And let Codemasters etc go to EBay complaining about the auctions if they so desire. EBay would take more action if contacted from a big publisher than you would ever get!

alexh · 25 October 2006, 13:46

They have A320 Airbus which was, last time I looked, a Thalion game.

Ok, so the rights are owned by Flightmedia but hey.

Codemasters did do some work to get rid of them, but nothing happened

pbareges · 25 October 2006, 22:28

i understand all of your principles guys...but for nostalgic guys like us, such compilations do have value and they give us the ability to save time and money in collecting all of their contents on the web. if original copyrights owners do not bother, why should you? if you have enough bandwith and time to download the same through torrents ... fine! but if someone prefers to pay for the DVD instead of suscribing to high speed internet, that's at least as fair...

so i think this DVD has some inherent value other than the copyrights, considering the time it took to collect all its contents and i don't see why the sellers should be prosecuted!!

Codetapper · 26 October 2006, 00:14

This wanker is charging $100 or $200 for other peoples work. It's not like he's selling them for the price of media + postage, that's a lot of money per sale (assuming there are idiots around are buying those discs for that kind of money)

Galahad/FLT · 26 October 2006, 01:07

As Codetapper suggests, but also put in there that everyone is loving getting Sensible World of Soccer for next to nothing.

Its Codemasters next big release on PS2/Xbox so that would encourage them to get it gone

17 November 2006, 07:20

Even Better, someone get the DVD, decline the creditcard payment, torrent it, keep it seeded, then everyone gets it free!

17 November 2006, 13:14

I have a better idea: simply get that fucker overflooded with spam.

I have found two email addresses which we should spread over the internet (forums, websites, etc.) so that the spambots get to register it.

Shouldn't take too long before his mail box gets crammed!

sales@home-arcade.co.uk

sales.amiga@eqwik.com

_ThEcRoW · 17 November 2006, 14:14

Putting someone elses email address without his permission isn't a polite way of doing things. Also suggesting mail bombing to an account is a punishable action.
I simply don't know why all this fuss, ah.. oh.. this is AMIGA scene , ok understand.

P.D: Just look at the speccy scene and you will know what i mean.

Photon · 17 November 2006, 20:27

Codetapper's idea is good. This is clearly wrong.
eBay would be quicker to respond. The game companies wouldn't care. Maybe Jeff Minter though.

He's a man of principles.

Another way to attack them:
It says the compilations run the games on PC, so some emulator is probably included.

I don't know what the agreement coming with f.ex. WinUAE says, but if it says "for free distribution but not allowed to be sold for profit" as almost all "freeware" does, Toni would have a valid case for a law suit.

Yet another way would be to provide the same service for less money and make part of the money go to Amiga projects. Are the TOSEC guys interested?

21 September 2006, 11:26	#1
Crown Demoscener Join Date: May 2006 Location: FR Age: 54 Posts: 459	pirated sofware on DVD I just wanted to point out the website of: http://www.amigagames.co.uk/ that guy is selling pirated software on DVDs. He's even in campaign on adwords (google). I really blame people making money out of pirated software! that's lame (as we used to say).

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21 September 2006, 13:20	#2
sniperchaz Zone Friend Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: MARGATE UK Age: 62 Posts: 33	Eitherway its a rip off if you spend just a few hours surffin you,ll nearly if not all the games in the PD or private sites for free download anyway i know iv got 4000+ on ADF and all thats cost me is the time to look and download also some of the games cannot be played straight away on a pc (without a joystick ) plus some only work on a real amiga becouse of the keyboard layout to execute the file to run is different lol then all you need to do is transfer the ADF,s to youre AMIGA (this is the slow bit) and have plenty of blank Disks and use TRANS ADF-GUI (works better than ADF2DISK )to convert back to Amiga Disks saving you loads of money that could be used to upgrade your miggy

21 September 2006, 13:57	#3
aldo Registered User Join Date: May 2006 Location: Scotland Posts: 125	Theres people selling similar sorts of things on ebay

21 September 2006, 14:35	#4
Ultron Something Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Amigaland, Nostalgia Age: 48 Posts: 757	It's not pirated. To be pirated it'd needed to be happening 15 years ago. Why people buy them is the real issue. Heck, you can get it for free. Which i'm guessing is why less tech savy people may buy them. Since they can't find them easily on the web once horrid violators of abandoned decades old software copyrights are quickly smitten by the holy crusaders of the Order of Cloanto. For some people, i guess it pays to pay and forget the hassle of finding them. It's sad, but true.

21 September 2006, 15:33	#5
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 14,337	These people are a huge drop ship company. They sell their DVD-R disks to 10's of people in the UK who then try to flog em on ebay. They are Ex-Amiga shop people and have contacts with amongst others Forematt computing. I reported them to Codemasters last year who did something, but they just Pheonixed under a different name

22 September 2006, 00:57	#6
Magno Boots Zone Friend Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Hertfordshire Posts: 688	Why is it that CD-R's called Amiga Gold/Arcade Classix/Flashrom/Emulators Unlimited/Giana Trilogy etc etc can continue to be sold on the net and Ebay without any of you guys batting an eyelid, yet there is uproar when one chap advertises single cracked games for sale on Ebay? (as per other current thread). I know this/these 'Classix' sellers have been active for some time and are maybe old skool (maybe they're your EAB buddies), but I fail to understand the double standards shown from certain members. Ok to sell CDs with hundreds of game images and roms?, but feeling the need to persecute an individual who chooses to sell singular games is just daft; although I understand that he was quite selective in not stating the games were copies. Why was it acceptable to pay £2 a disk at the car boot in the early 90's, yet not accpetable now that all pirated games are freely downloadable? My post is not to upset anybody, nor get anyone into trouble, but just to a provoke your thoughts on this matter.

22 September 2006, 09:59	#8
Crown Demoscener Join Date: May 2006 Location: FR Age: 54 Posts: 459	It is one thing to download for free these material (which is also illegal of course) and another to actually make money with it. Same goes for people that make profit over amiga demos, mods cds/dvds.

25 October 2006, 01:39	#9
Kurtz No right to judge him. Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 52	Just bringing to your attention that thes guys seem to follow some sort of removal policy eg. Thalion games do not belong. See here: http://www.amigagames.co.uk/GamesINDEX.htm I suppose they were solicited to do so, but does that help their cause?

25 October 2006, 12:51	#10
DamienD Banned Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: London / Sydney Age: 47 Posts: 20,420	Yeah I see the new statement saying: "This compilation contains no games from APC&TCP or Thalion." i.e. AndreaM's company and alexh's website. Good work guys, I wonder how the rest can be stopped? Probably very difficult as explained in one of alexh's posts

25 October 2006, 13:16	#12
Codetapper 2 contact me: email only! Join Date: May 2001 Location: Auckland / New Zealand Posts: 3,182	Maybe the other way to approach it is something like this... Send an email to Infogrames/Codemasters etc saying "I am selling some of your old games on a DVD compilation on EBay. I assume this is OK with you, please let me know if it is not. This is just a courtesy message" and put a link to the EBay auctions. And let Codemasters etc go to EBay complaining about the auctions if they so desire. EBay would take more action if contacted from a big publisher than you would ever get!

25 October 2006, 13:46	#13
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 14,337	They have A320 Airbus which was, last time I looked, a Thalion game. Ok, so the rights are owned by Flightmedia but hey. Codemasters did do some work to get rid of them, but nothing happened

25 October 2006, 22:28	#14
pbareges Registered User Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: montreal / canada Age: 47 Posts: 722	i understand all of your principles guys...but for nostalgic guys like us, such compilations do have value and they give us the ability to save time and money in collecting all of their contents on the web. if original copyrights owners do not bother, why should you? if you have enough bandwith and time to download the same through torrents ... fine! but if someone prefers to pay for the DVD instead of suscribing to high speed internet, that's at least as fair... so i think this DVD has some inherent value other than the copyrights, considering the time it took to collect all its contents and i don't see why the sellers should be prosecuted!!

26 October 2006, 00:14	#15
Codetapper 2 contact me: email only! Join Date: May 2001 Location: Auckland / New Zealand Posts: 3,182	This wanker is charging $100 or $200 for other peoples work. It's not like he's selling them for the price of media + postage, that's a lot of money per sale (assuming there are idiots around are buying those discs for that kind of money)

26 October 2006, 01:07	#16
Galahad/FLT Going nowhere Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: United Kingdom Age: 50 Posts: 8,986	As Codetapper suggests, but also put in there that everyone is loving getting Sensible World of Soccer for next to nothing. Its Codemasters next big release on PS2/Xbox so that would encourage them to get it gone

17 November 2006, 07:20	#17
MazinA Posts: n/a	Even Better, someone get the DVD, decline the creditcard payment, torrent it, keep it seeded, then everyone gets it free!

17 November 2006, 13:14	#18
crashbone Posts: n/a	I have a better idea: simply get that fucker overflooded with spam. I have found two email addresses which we should spread over the internet (forums, websites, etc.) so that the spambots get to register it. Shouldn't take too long before his mail box gets crammed! sales@home-arcade.co.uk sales.amiga@eqwik.com

17 November 2006, 14:14	#19
_ThEcRoW Amiga NetRunner Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Spain Age: 45 Posts: 941	Putting someone elses email address without his permission isn't a polite way of doing things. Also suggesting mail bombing to an account is a punishable action. I simply don't know why all this fuss, ah.. oh.. this is AMIGA scene , ok understand. P.D: Just look at the speccy scene and you will know what i mean.

17 November 2006, 20:27	#20
Photon Moderator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Eksjö / Sweden Posts: 5,602	Codetapper's idea is good. This is clearly wrong. eBay would be quicker to respond. The game companies wouldn't care. Maybe Jeff Minter though. He's a man of principles. Another way to attack them: It says the compilations run the games on PC, so some emulator is probably included. I don't know what the agreement coming with f.ex. WinUAE says, but if it says "for free distribution but not allowed to be sold for profit" as almost all "freeware" does, Toni would have a valid case for a law suit. Yet another way would be to provide the same service for less money and make part of the money go to Amiga projects. Are the TOSEC guys interested?

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