Illegal BVE site found!!

[Joao_CG]

Another site is providing a direct link to a illegal
download of Mackoy's BVE sim:
At ther beginning, they start with a cool
review about the game, and for
my surprise, at the bottom of the page there has a direct link to download BVE. The offending URL is:

http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/abandonware/pc/simulations/games_b/bve_a_k_a_boso_view_express_.html

Yours,

[smikes]

RE: Illegal BVE site found!!

And if you click on the download link,they want you to pay $4 for their "download service"!

[abarten]

RE: Illegal BVE site found!!

I just sent him a note:
==================================
Are you aware that Mackoy does not permit direct links to his BVE download files? By having this link you are jeopardizing the future availablity of Trainz. Mackoy has threatened in the past.

-- Al

Alfred Barten, Editor/Publisher
Virtual Railroader

http://www.virtualrailroader.com

======================================

---------------------
Alfred Barten, Editor
Virtual Railroader

http://www.virtualrailroader.com/VR_sig.jpg

[abarten]

RE: Illegal BVE site found!!

WOW! I caught the mistake before I sent it. Here's what went out:

==========
Are you aware that Mackoy does not permit direct links to his BVE download files? By having this link you are jeopardizing the future availablity of BVE. Mackoy has threatened in the past to pull the plug on western availability.

==========
-- Al

---------------------
Alfred Barten, Editor
Virtual Railroader

http://www.virtualrailroader.com/VR_sig.jpg

[Nightstar2001]

RE: Illegal BVE site found!!

If you don't get a favourable reply here's the information for the service provider I'm sure they would be interested.

The provider is Lunarpages (http://www.lunarpages.com/), here's a little blurb from their Terms of Use, which the site obviously violates.

4.1 You agree that you will not violate the laws, regulations, ordinances or other such requirements of any applicable Federal, State or local government.

4.7 You agree not to infringe any copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, or other proprietary rights of any third party, including, but not limited to, the unauthorized copying of copyrighted material, the digitization and distribution of photographs from magazines, books, or other copyrighted sources, and the unauthorized transmittal of copyrighted software.

The server the site is based on is xena.lunarpages.com IP address 216.193.215.146

Hope this will help you shut this guy down if need be,

AL

[Robertj]

RE: Illegal BVE site found!!

you don't have to tell what he can't do, you don't have to explain, the distribution is an infrigement of copyright.

Most ISP's don't even blink with there eyes when they take the page down.

Edit: Any i decided to send them a mail anyhow

http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/abandonware/pc/simulations/games_b/bve_a

_k_a_boso_view_express_.html

Is a webpage that is located on one of your servers, the suggestion that
Abandonware and the especially the program BVE is free to distribute is
wrong, and basically is a infrigement of copyright.

The software comes from the website http://mackoy.cool.ne.jp/ and is
anything but abandonware, the software is free but one of the conditions is
that distribution of this software only takes place from the website

http://mackoy.cool.ne.jp/

Upon further inspection of the site i came across a lot more that still is
an infrigement of copyright, to name one: Codemasters Dizzy Series for the
Sinclair Spectrum Computers. A small percentage of Spectrum software may be
freely distributed, their owners gave permission, but this is usually only
allowed through the website World of Spectrum
(http://www.worldofspectrum.org/index.html), any other distribution is still
an infrigement of copyright.

This may be old software and not being sold anymore but the owners of
Codemasters LTD have denied free distribution of that software. Anyway the
distribution on http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com is not even free, at 4$
a download it is in my eyes even criminal.

More info on the Codemasters LTD denial
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekpub.cgi?regexp=^codemasters+ltd$

[Stooopid_person]

RE: Illegal BVE site found!!

I believe it is only BVE 1 hosted since I see this quote?
"If you want to just enjoy the scenery, though, you can select the "free ride" option, which allows you to crank up the speed and watch the train go wild."

[Robertj]

RE: Illegal BVE site found!!

And this the answer that i got from them, i guess i am going to send an E-mail to Codemasters then, they can be reached at press@codemasters.co.uk (best adress i guess since i can't find something like abuse)

Hello:

Thank you for contacting Lunarpages regarding your recent copyright concerns. Please be advised that Lunarpages takes copyright issues very seriously and has implemented policies and procedures specifically to deal with claims such as yours pursuant to applicable law so as to protect the rights of all parties involved.

In addition to the steps set forth below we strongly encourage you to contact the web site owner directly as that may be a more direct route to the solution of your problem and the satisfaction of your concerns.

In order for Lunarpages to act upon the allegedly infringing material we require the following information:

1. A physical or electronic signature of the owner of the copyrighted work or an authorized agent of that owner.

2. identification of the copyrighted work alleged to have been infringed.

3. identification of the allegedly infringing material sufficiently precise to allow Lunarpages to locate the material.

4. Adequate information by which we can contact the complaining party specifically including a physical postal address, telephone number and email address.

5. a proper statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted material is not authorized by the copyright owner, the copyright owners agent or the law.

6. a statement under penalty of perjury that the information in the notice is true and correct. and

7. a statement under penalty of perjury that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.

In particular items that would be helpful to us would include proof of your federally filed Copyright as to the particular images if they have indeed been Federally registered, Information as to the identity of the owner of the copyright and a description of how those rights came into being, and information as to whether there are any other individuals or entities with copyright ownership of the material.

Once we receive a notice which is in compliance with the above notice provisions we can consider taking further action which might include but would not be limited to notification to our customer, warning our customer or disabling of the web site as Lunarpages determines might be reasonable and necessary under the circumstances.

As mentioned above Lunarpages is a strong supporter of Copyright and Trademark rights on the Internet. We believe that we have adopted a fair, comprehensive policy toward the protection of those rights and we look forward to assisting you in any way possible in this regard to ensure a fair, appropriate and expeditious response toward the protection of those rights.

Of course if you should have any further questions, comments or concerns regarding this matter please do not hesitate to let us know.

[Robertj]

RE: Illegal BVE site found!!

Not yet, but it could be an idea. All in al it was a proper response, they cover their asses, most ISP won't hesitate to take down the offending site, but it makes this so much harder for us.

Anyway, the way others here where trying to solve the problem is not going to help much either, i don't think that this person gives a flying sh*t about copyrights and such. He won't care if BVE is no longer distributed, that would not even make a dent in his profits (if he has any). He won't care, wich shows because he has an older BVE version for download.

You could always consider downloading the same software if you really have to from or through the home of the underdogs, technically it is still illegal, but at least they are working on it to make people aware that not everthing is what is seems to be. And above all it is free there.

[abarten]

RE: Illegal BVE site found!!

Here's the response I got:
============================
Helllo,

thank you for the information.
We'll remove the link during our next update.

PS: We do not link to Mackoy's download site.

Regards,
Ondrej Muncinsky

http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/

===============================

-- Al

---------------------
Alfred Barten, Editor
Virtual Railroader

http://www.virtualrailroader.com/VR_sig.jpg

[Joao_CG]

RE: Illegal BVE site found!!

<<We'll remove the link during our next update.>>
When?? The link should be removed immediately.
I acessed the illegal page today and the illegal link
is still there!


<<PS: We do not link to Mackoy's download site.>>
It's just a confession that the file was being distributed
illegaly, and we have to pay $4 for that. What a shame!!!

[Joao_CG]

RE: Illegal BVE site found!!

Today is December 22nd and the link is still there!!
I'll report this every two days until the
illegal download link gonna be vanished forever.
I still can't believe I have to pay $4
to download a freeware program (

[abarten]

RE: Illegal BVE site found!!

I just received this -
=====================================
Hello,

thank you for your notification. We've just removed BVE game immediately
(there
are still some links but they're blind - we'll remove these links during our
next update).

Regards,
Ondrej Muncinsky

http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/

----- Original Message -----
From: "Alfred Barten" <abarten@virtualrailroader.com>
To: "games.mosw.com" <games@mosw.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 21, 2004 6:29 PM
Subject: RE: BVE Download


> Mackoy doesn't permit distribution of any kind. The only way a person can
> legally get BVE is by downloading it directly from his site.
> -- Al
>
> Alfred Barten, Editor/Publisher
> Virtual Railroader
> http://www.virtualrailroader.com
>
=========================================

Al



---------------------
Alfred Barten, Editor
Virtual Railroader

http://www.virtualrailroader.com/VR_sig.jpg

[43184]

RE: Illegal BVE site found!!

sounds like a lot of bother for a site that seems to be old and lost in the world wide web :/

[Dirty Boy]

RE: Illegal BVE site found!!

As filed in sction 121a, "http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/abandonware/pc/simulations/games_b/bve_a_k_a_boso_view_express_.html" should read off of :

sec. 24 sec. 44 sec. 36D sec. 32 sec.41D
sec. 12A sec. 120
(http://www.bitlaw.com/software-patent/index.html is a great site)
Reports of 120/121D.

If the software is copyrighted, Mackoy has all his rights to take legal action against the offender.

The boy who bathes in mud and eats pie.