[Bf-webcontent] ebay and other reseller scammers.

[Stephen Swaney]

On Fri, Jun 01, 2007 at 08:09:40AM -0800, Tom M wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> the Blender Foundation has been receiving a lot of complaints about
> ebay scammers and such - for instance
> 
> http://cgi.ebay.com/3d-Animation-studio-works-with-max-maya-for-mac-osx_W0QQitemZ300116263535QQihZ020QQ
> 
> That are selling Blender but making no mention that it actually
> Blender they are selling or that it can be freely downloaded from
> blender.org.
> 
> To combat this he would like us to consider moving to a unified
> license such as the Creative Commons attribution license for the
> images (ie the images in the features section) and possibly other
> content.

I am not sure I see what changing the license will accomplish.  It
does not change the fact that selling Blender is legal, and you do not
seem to have any better legal tools than the already existing
copyright laws.

Recently, I contacted eBay about one of the Blender scams that was using
image content from b.org without attribution.  eBay has rule against
seller's copying content from other auctions or websites.

eBay's response was, essentially, that the intellectul property holder - the 
Blender Foundation in this case - would have to fax eBay a document
claiming infringement.  Info on eBay's Verified Owner's Rights program 
is here

http://pages.ebay.com/help/tp/vero-rights-owner.html

In response to a question about illegal software, the seller replied
that he was properly licensed to sell it.

At most, the scammers are guilty of some Intellectual Property
infringement which could be fixed by linking to the Blender website.

Right now there are a half-dozen or so eBay sellers offering what
appears to be Blender for prices ranging from $3 (digital download!) 
to $20 USD.

My personal plan for combating these weasels is thru rampant
capitalism.  The solution to the problem of selling Blender is more
selling Blender.  And cheaper.  I'm thinking about a Buy It Now
auction for a CD containing Blender and some documentation for a few
dollars.  Contents would be something like:

- Blender.
	latest versions for all platforms

- Docs and Tutorials
	Blender manuals in .pdf
	maybe that nify Blender Basics pdf? (will contact author)
	video tuts?

- Source code?


I see the auction page as mainly linking to the Blender website for
images and more information.  However, the IMPORTANT part is the
repeated notice that Blender can be downloaded for free.  Repeated
repeatedly in case someone misses it.  Maybe even nifty BLINK tags
on the download url! (ok.  just kidding)

-- 
Stephen Swaney			
sswaney at centurytel.net