FreeGameDev

Hi,

I am the project admin of SuperTuxKart, and we have recently been made aware that a company is taking our sources and potentially some of our art assets, to sell a game on Google Play for Anroid and Apple iTunes Apps store for iOS.

Our Source Code is GPL (v3 - some files are v2, but contain the " or (at your option) any later version" clause), all our art assets are CC, GPL, or Public Domain. The developer called the game "Super Kart 3D" on iOS, and "Super Kart 3D" as well as 'SuperTuxKart" on Google Play. 'Super Kart 3d" is obviously using the same engine (based on the included data file, our shaders, symbols in the .so file), and even though most tracks look new, they are based on existing tracks, just with new textures or new models (e.g. the track outlines shown in a minimap are still identical).

The developer does not "carry prominent notices stating that you modified it" nor "carry prominent notices stating that it is released under this License", both required under the GPL. The source code is not released (afaik), an email requesting the sources was not answered. He does not provide credits for any original developer or artist (required for any CC asset).

On iOS the situation should be clear, the iTunes license is not compatible with GPL. I've contacted Apple around 3 days ago, but nothing has happened yet. Does anyone have experience with the infringement process on iTunes? How long does it take? What kind of evidence do we need to provide? The online form only contained a very small entry field, so I only wrote a shortish-paragraph there. Do we need to provide more?

On Android GPL is acceptable, but the developer is obviously still violating the GPL. Does anyone here have experience with the complaint process on Google Play?

Potentially we can even claim a trademark infringement for 'SuperTuxKart" (according to wikipedia: "The United States, Canada and other countries also recognize common law trademark rights, which means action can be taken to protect an unregistered trademark if it is in use"). Not sure if this helps.

Any other recommendations? Any organisations we can/should contact that could support us (though we don't have much if any money - maybe enough for 2 hours from a lawyer ).

Any help is highly appreciated!

Cheers,
Joerg

Contact the Free Software Foundation and ask for their help, they do GPL enforcement and will be able to help you or provide more info about those issues. A trademark infringement is probably a better option for getting Apple's attention, but please try the FSF for more info.

Knitter {l Wrote}:Contact the Free Software Foundation and ask for their help, they do GPL enforcement and will be able to help you or provide more info about those issues. A trademark infringement is probably a better option for getting Apple's attention, but please try the FSF for more info.

Thanks a lot. I had a look at their web page, but (according to the FAQ) they advise people to contact the license holder, though there is a vague statement: "we offer assistance to any other copyright holder who wishes [to act on GPL violations]".

But someone pointed me to https://www.softwarefreedom.org, which "...also assists clients and the general FOSS community in resolution of disputes relating to the use and development of FOSS. " I've sent them an email, and will see how we go. I'll keep this thread updated, since it might be interesting for other projects as well.

Again, thanks for your help!
Joerg

Good luck with softwarefreedom!

You should be able to make the distributors take them down by writing DMCA notices.
https://support.google.com/legal/contac ... googleplay
http://www.apple.com/legal/internet-ser ... renotices/ (not sure whether there might be another form for the iOS store, perhaps http://www.apple.com/legal/contact/ )

http://faif.us/ podcast often talks about infringement and it might be calming to listen that these problems are common and that there are people in free software who take care of them.

In the future, it might make sense to think whether an organization like http://sfconservancy.org/overview/ might be beneficial to STK.

hiker {l Wrote}:But someone pointed me to https://www.softwarefreedom.org, which "...also assists clients and the general FOSS community in resolution of disputes relating to the use and development of FOSS. " I've sent them an email, and will see how we go. I'll keep this thread updated, since it might be interesting for other projects as well.

Also http://www.gpl-violations.org/, especially if you are european: "The gpl-violations.org project was founded in 2004 by Harald Welte. Welte was a kernel developer who had been actively enforcing the GPL license on his netfilter/iptables code since late 2003. Since then, other developers have given gpl-Violations.org legal right to represent them. While the Software Freedom Law Center, an organisation with similar goals operates from the USA, gpl-violations.org operates from Germany, Welte's home country." (quoted from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gpl-violations.org)

Hi all,

thanks a lot for the useful feedback. I did some research, and it appears that it can take a week ore more before iTunes react to a copyright infringement notice. I just find it a bit strange that apple did not even send a confirmation that it received my complaint. By now I've asked the artists whose work was mis-used to complain as well (and they didn't get a confirmation either ... so unlikely that we all mispelled our email addresses ).

I also had a first answer from the Software Freedom Law Center (for anyone else who might need them: it might be worth adding that you are aware that you are not going to have a attorney-client relationship with them and that therefore any communication with them is considered public or so - that might save some time ) - I am now waiting for further updates (bad timezones ).

I'll keep this thread updated.

A first analysis of the packages showed several blatant violation of CC By SA release art work (not to mention the missing source code ).

Again, thanks for your help!
Joerg

I really hope it will end well for you all.

Plus, I must say it's really cool to you to tell what is happening. Might unfortunately help other people.

Best regards,

Maybe you can ask Blender people, maybe one year ago there are two softwares stolen source code of Blender and art assets from various Blender site.

Deleted.

FaTony {l Wrote}:Copyright infringement is not a theft.

I'm sorry, I don't have any better word to describe this

FaTony {l Wrote}:

acme_pjz {l Wrote}:there are two softwares stolen source code of Blender and art assets from various Blender site.

Copyright infringement is not a theft.

Looks like someone went to law school. Or it is pedantry school? :P

Hi,

a (hopefully) final update on this issue:

• We analysed the .so in the android application, and could show that the function signature is identical to our functions. Together with identical textures that was enough to complain to google play. They reacted quite quickly, and within 4 days we had confirmation that the Android apps was taken down.
• We complained to apple immediately, mostly based on track design, but got no response. A few days later one artist complained about his CC-BY-SA textures which had his name removed (all license and/or credit information was removed), again received no response (i.e. neither a confirmation, nor any reaction). After a few weeks (and some delays due to our release of the next version) I compiled a three page document listing the textures, license, location of our textures online. We did a thorough analysis of the some tracks (i.e. could show that some tracks had a bitwise identical shape, though mostly new textures and new objects placed). We couldn't get anything out of the executable (which is encrypted afaik), but they included a supertuxkart.pot file - which contained file names and line numbers - which of course were mostly identical to ours (though they contained some strings from specific to the apps, so it was clear that their supertuxkart.pot file was created from their sources). But when I tried to submit this complain, it turns out that the apps was not available in the apple store anymore. No explanation or reaction from apple at all.
• The answer from softwarefreedom.org was not too helpful. It contained URLs where complaints could be lodged, and some generic statements (including the offer of an attorney). Additional questions I had (like how much detail do we have to provide to show the violation) were not answered.

We have taken some time to check our licenses, and while we were quite thorough in keeping track of licenses, we e.g. had not updated the (c) statement in our sources, and some files had not an explicit license, which we all fixed (e.g. shaders were used as well, but they did not contain a CC-by-sa statement, which would have been nice).

Thanks a lot for all the help and suggestions here!

Cheers,
Joerg