My work is being illegally sold on World Zombie.ru

[-martin- 10]

Good evening gentlemen,

It is my deepest regret to inform you of this in our community, but it has been brought to my attention and confirmed by me that my addon Taviana Island and other mods, including DayZ are being re-distributed for money by this site: http://worldzombie.ru

The owner of this site and project leader is a man called Andrey Mukhyn a.k.a. fly_byte.

Site: http://worldzombie.ru/

Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/worldzombieru/videos?flow=grid&view=15

vKontakte page: http://vk.com/worldzombieru

As you can see in the videos, it is by no doubt Taviana Island and a re-skin of DayZ.

The method in which these mods are being re-distributed for money is, that players are required to purchase a key to the server where these two (modified without permission) addons are present. The keys cost around 250 Russian Rubbles each, which is approximately 7 euros or 10 US dollars.

Proof of this can be found on their vKontakte social media group, posted by Andrey Mukhyn himself (Translated to English by me):

Attention gamers!

We are commencing the sale of access to the servers, the access is carried out using server ID. Each key has its own 6-7 number ID which can be found using the player profile settings, this way you do not need to change your code In order for your ID to be recognized in the list as authorized to enter the server you have to contact the manager of sales, his Skype is worldzombie.ru . Until now we have not organized a full price sale.

Our team is constantly working to make the mod better for you. The cost of the service connection to the server is the full version of the list of IDs. Cost is 250rub. In order to gain access to the server for the beta version, you must contact the manager, his skype worldzombieru.

I have made a topic on their forum regarding this matter:

Translation:

Hi,

This message is for the administrators World Zombie.

I am the author of the island Taviana for ArmA 2 that is used in your mod.

Recently, I was informed that my island, and a number of components from other mods such as DayZ is used in your models that are available on your paid server. I have already contacted the leader of the project World Zombie, Andrei Mukhin AK fly_byte on this issue. Andrei Mukhin assured me that the island Taviana will only be available on FREE servers, and will not be available on pay-servers.

But now I got the information that all free s servers have been closed and my island is still used in this and is available on pay-servers. I checked this information and it is true, and it violates the terms of use of Taviana Island.

Fly_byte:

In connection with the insults, the eternal trolling, and attempts are fair game, patience is over, free server off in an hour, and will include only the id ... all enough .. tired .. . Trolls can walk. Complaints about the bath considered only from those who have purchased access ... Requests and desires to open a free servers, and the ability to create your not considered ...

This is also true on the World Zombie site on vKontakte:

Because the presence of the island on your paid server infringes my copyright and license and of distribution Taviana island, and others copyright right, I ask that you remove my work (island Taviana) from your paid server within 48 hours.

I hope that this issue will be solved quickly or I will be forced to use alternative routes to remove my work from your paid server, including legal action.

Thank you very much for your understanding.

- Martin (Author of Taviana Island)

For your convenience, the license of the island Taviana:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Permissions & Liscence

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Taviana Island by Martin Bauer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0

Unported License.*

-> Link to liscence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en_GB

*This licence applies to the current version of the island (1.0), any future releases and any previous

releases (BETA 1, BETA 2, BETA 3, RC1 - RC6).

§1) You are free: To copy, distribute, display, and perform the work

Under the following conditions:

§2) Attribution: You must give the original author credit.

§3) Non-Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes, or to generate any kind of

financial income, i.e. using this addon on a server that requires the user to pay

for access/maintenance. Exchanging this addon for any sort of financial income i.e.

placing this addon on a site which requires the user to pay for downloading this

addon and so on...

§4) No Derivative Works:

You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work - it must always be distributed

in its original form.

*****************************

Usage in BIS and other games:

*****************************

§5) Using this map or any of its components (on other maps/games) or modifying any model

contained in this addon is not allowed.

§6) When using this addon as part of a mod, please make sure that this readme file

accompanies this addon.

**********************************

Logo, Flag & Coat of arms images:

**********************************

§7) The Taviana Island logo, flag and coat of arms where created and are property of Martin Bauer and

Rytis Tekorius.

§8) It is prohibited to use the logo, flag or coat of arms for any commercial purposes, or to generate

financial income of any kind, be it direct/indirect without the written permission from both Martin

Bauer and Rytis Tekorius.

§9) It is prohibited to use the logo, flag or coat of arms on any material object such as a t-shirt,

cup etc… and re-distribute it in MASS, even if this is free of charge without the written

permission from both Martin Bauer and Rytis Tekorius. However it is NOT prohibited for personal

use i.e. printing the logo on your OWN t-shirt.

NOTE: Users breaching the agreement that this addon may not be used for commercial purposes or generating

financial income e.g. on paid servers, will be legally perused.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Disclaimer

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Taviana Island is a free, unofficial add-on to the Armed Assault 2 series. It has been provided to you

free of charge and must always be re-distributed free of charge. The modification or usage of any

material contained within this add-on is not allowed for personal or commercial usage without written

permission from the author. This add-on has been downloaded by you at your own risk, therefore I,

Riptrough Studios, Bohemia Interactive or any other party cannot be held responsible for any damage

done to your computer by this add-on.

"Riptrough Studios" and the Riptrough Studios logo are the property of Martin Bauer and Rytis Tekorius.

100% compatibility with another add-ons cannot be guaranteed.

However after about 30 minutes my post was deleted:

Translation: "Requested topic not found"

And I was banned from the forum:

Translation: "This forum is closed to you, please contact and adminnistrator"

I also let the admin know on the vKontakte social media site:

Translation:

[Andrew] Hello Andrew AK Fly_byte,

Please refer to my post (http://worldzombie.ru/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=198) on World Zombie vashom forum about your violation of my copyrights using my island (Taviana Island) on your paid server - what you assured me that will not happen. Please remove my work from your paid server for 48 hours.

I hope that this issue will be solved quickly or will be forced to use alternative routes to my work remotely from your paid server, including lawsuits.

Thank you very much for your understanding.

- Martin

Now that I am in this situation and my work is under a CC license, this addon conntains work from other authors too, I do not know what to do next. Is there a way to blacklist their servers or who should I seek legal help from - if I should seek any?

Thanks for your help in advance!

- Martin

Edited November 12, 2012 by -Martin-

[-GR-Operative 10]

If you addon includes BIS assets, and that guys is reselling them (selling a new license, whatever) you could speak to BIS about it.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, doesn't Arma2 licence prohibits selling addons?

[-martin- 10]

Operative;2251682']If you addon includes BIS assets' date=' and that guys is reselling them (selling a new license, whatever) you could speak to BIS about it.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, doesn't Arma2 licence prohibits selling addons?[/quote']

Yes it does, and speaking to BIS is a good idea. He says that this is for "maintenance costs" well, 10 bucks per person (he has about 3000 in his social media group) is a bit too much for "maintenance costs" if you ask me...

[.kju 3244]

Regular payment is common for most gaming clans. Of course its mainly to pay the server, teamspeak, homepage etc.

5-10 euro per month is common. Outside Europe server are in fact even more expensive.

To give you some numbers:

50-150€/$ per month for a server is normal. AusArma is paying something like 300 AUS$ per server for dayZ due to the high traffic it creates.

So as long as someone isn't selling addons itself, I cannot really see the problem.

[max power 21]

The problem, Kju, is that these addons are edited without permission, and -Martin- doesn't wish his work to be affiliated with a pay service. It is clearly stated in his license.

No derivative works.

No income generating activity of any kind.

[PuFu 4599]

what kju said.

BUT, if he has modified your work, based on the fact that your EULA states No Derivative Work, you are able to force him to take it down.

send a mail to dwarden at bistudio dot com and/or placebo at bistudio dot com

[.kju 3244]

More meaningful would be to ask him why and what he modified, probably fixing issues/make it work in MP.

Sadly quite a few addon makers are not receptive to feedback and fixes even if you submit them to the author.

With that said I believe Martin is very open in that regard, and those people may just want to offer a playable version ASAP.

(the thread removal and ban is of course not a good sign - still it might have been a mod to delete, best to handle such via mail/PM rather than in forums)

[max power 21]

;2251729']More meaningful would be to ask him why and what he modified' date=' probably fixing issues/make it work in MP.

Sadly quite a few addon makers are not receptive to feedback and fixes even if you submit them to the author.[/quote']

I'm not quite sure what you mean by 'not receptive to feedback => modified addons'. That sounds a bit like victim blaming.

[.kju 3244]

Dont stop early - continue to read the rest of the post.

And I speak from experience - very likely Ive submitted most fixes to any addon and mod.

And yes a lot of addons are unusable in MP at release state or lack the sign files.

If its true for Taviana, I didn't judge as you can read above.

[-martin- 10]

;2251729']More meaningful would be to ask him why and what he modified' date=' probably fixing issues/make it work in MP.

Sadly quite a few addon makers are not receptive to feedback and fixes even if you submit them to the author.

With that said I believe Martin is very open in that regard, and those people may just want to offer a playable version ASAP.

(the thread removal and ban is of course not a good sign - still it might have been a mod to delete, best to handle such via mail/PM rather than in forums)[/quote']

Well, I spoke to this guy on Skype numerous times and he reassured me every time that it will always be available on a free server and never a paid server. Then he blocked me on Skype

And as Max Power said, I don't want my addons to be associated with any kind of income generation at all, also keeping in mind that I am not the only author but people have been so generous to give me models and probably won't be so happy to hear that someone is making money off of it.

[derdoe 10]

Its Martin's decision if people are allowed to modify his work or not. And he clearly stated that he doesnt want it. Secondly: If someone with legit intentions would fix something on Taviana, he could supply his fix to Martin and Martin could build it into a new version of Taviana. Modifying it and then claiming money for it, is simply wrong. As this guy is apparently making some quite good money out of it, its not a simple IP violation, its a criminal act using someone else's free work to make money out of it - especially when a easily understandable license is delivered with it.

Another thing would be if you have free access to the server but you could voluntarily donate to keep the server running. Thats another thing and i am sure that Martin doesnt have a problem with that. But a closed server that you only gain access to by paying is something else.

@Martin: I hope you are able to solve that problems with those people. Unfortunately, Russian IP laws are basically non-existant. Good luck!

[-martin- 10]

Its Martin's decision if people are allowed to modify his work or not. And he clearly stated that he doesnt want it. Secondly: If someone with legit intentions would fix something on Taviana, he could supply his fix to Martin and Martin could build it into a new version of Taviana. Modifying it and then claiming money for it, is simply wrong. As this guy is apparently making some quite good money out of it, its not a simple IP violation, its a criminal act using someone else's free work to make money out of it - especially when a easily understandable license is delivered with it.

Another thing would be if you have free access to the server but you could voluntarily donate to keep the server running. Thats another thing and i am sure that Martin doesnt have a problem with that. But a closed server that you only gain access to by paying is something else.

@Martin: I hope you are able to solve that problems with those people. Unfortunately, Russian IP laws are basically non-existant. Good luck!

Thank you,

This is the part about modding that I always dreaded

[derdoe 10]

Thank you,

This is the part about modding that I always dreaded

Rest assured that the community is with you.

Martin, if you want, you could contact Youtube and report his video channel for infringing your Intelectual Property. With a bit of luck they will close his channel so he wont be able to make more advertisement for his community. I know thats very little but its better than doing nothing.

[MissileMoose 10]

Thank you,

This is the part about modding that I always dreaded

You could send a take-down request to his game and website host, providing he is renting or co-locating. It'll be an inconvenience to him and shall give you time to prepare for civil legal action for damages, or a criminal lawsuit if he doesn't discontinue use.

You have obviously done something right if he is taking great risks to modify and offer paid-use of your addon. Keep up the brilliant work, it's appreciated by many! :)

^ As above - If he is using any services to influence his illegal activity, contact the administrators with take-down requests.

@Martin: I hope you are able to solve that problems with those people. Unfortunately, Russian IP laws are basically non-existant. Good luck!

I didn't know that. It's worth a shot though Martin, the hosts may be sympathetic. :(

Edited November 12, 2012 by MissileMoose

[derdoe 10]

A friend i play Arma with has studied law in Russia and works in legal prosecution now. On another occasion he said to me that there is basically no IP laws at all in Russia.

@Martin: If you want i can contact youtube on your behalf, in Germany they are taking IP violations seriously, idk how they are acting in the UK.

Edited November 12, 2012 by derdoe

[gossamersolid 155]

What exactly have they modified with your island? Did they actually change the island or did they just sign the PBOs (or something like that)?

I'm just curious.

[-martin- 10]

You could send a take-down request to his game and website host, providing he is renting or co-locating. It'll be an inconvenience to him and shall give you time to prepare for civil legal action for damages, or a criminal lawsuit if he doesn't discontinue use.

You have obviously done something right if he is taking great risks to modify and offer paid-use of your addon. Keep up the brilliant work, it's appreciated by many! :)

^ As above - If he is using any services to influence his illegal activity, contact the administrators with take-down requests.

I didn't know that. It's worth a shot though Martin, the hosts may be sympathetic. :(

Thank you for your advice, I will do that - contact YouTube and his server company. How can I find his server host?

A friend i play Arma with has studied law in Russia and works in legal prosecution now. On another occasion he said to me that there is basically no IP laws at all in Russia.

@Martin: If you want i can contact youtube on your behalf, in Germany they are taking IP violations seriously, idk how they are acting in the UK.

Thank you for your reply. Yes.. It’s like a wild west so there isn't much that I can do…

But if you could contact YouTube in Germany on my behalf I and the others who helped me would be very great full for your help!

What exactly have they modified with your island? Did they actually change the island or did they just sign the PBOs (or something like that)?

I'm just curious.

No, if they just signed the Pbo there would be no problem. They have messed around with textures etc... Basically opened the objets pbo, replaced my textures and put their own and then make the whole thing available for everyone to download - also making people pay for their server to use this modified content on their server.

Here are some screenshots from their official videos and the original island:

1: Billboards, notice the one on the bank.

Which looks like this in original:

2: Magazine shop:

Which originally looks like this:

Edited November 12, 2012 by -Martin-

[-martin- 10]

3: Blocks

Which originally have a red portrait of Lenin on the side.

Post office:

4: Post office:

Original:

5: Other blocks, notice the grey strip on the side of this block:

Which is of course not there originally:

I have specifially not allowed modifying this addon for public release in the EULA:

§4) No Derivative Works:

You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work - it must always be distributed in its original form.

The original authors have not also not been mentioned anywhere in their mod which is another thing I put in the EULA:

§2) Attribution: You must give the original author credit.

And I specifically disallowed using this addon on pay servers:

§3) Non-Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes, or to generate any kind of

financial income, i.e. using this addon on a server that requires the user to pay

for access/maintenance. Exchanging this addon for any sort of financial income i.e.

placing this addon on a site which requires the user to pay for downloading this

addon and so on...

I have not been contacted by anyone from this project to obtain my permission to modify or use these add-ons on a pay server. Thing like this make me angry because I put so mmuch work in to this addon, other people where generous enough to spend their time helping me, donating their models etc.. and then someone just changes it, puts in on their pay server without asking and doesn’t even mention the authors.

As you can see, this type of game "Class3 " is being developed for the Xbox:

http://kotaku.com/5751063/open+world-zombie-survival-shambles-slowly-towards-xbox-live-arcade

And as you can see, they even used their concept art in their videos:

I know that bit was a bit irrelevant but it just goes to show their creditability.

[froggyluv 2135]

So you you do all this work for years finally release it for free and somebody just ups and cashes in on your hard work. Unbelievable. People who do this kinda shit deserve a special kind of a$$ beating. Sorry this happened to you man.

[-martin- 10]

So you you do all this work for years finally release it for free and somebody just ups and cashes in on your hard work. Unbelievable. People who do this kinda shit deserve a special kind of a$$ beating. Sorry this happened to you man.

Its ok. One bad apple in the basket won't stop me :p I just hope there is something that I can do to at least stop this. I will notify admins later on when I get some free time.

[mr burns 131]

From my very limitied perspective, i think this is getting out of hand more & more.

I´m beginning to understand the people wanting (better) pbo encryption now.

In the past i´d say "addon making is for hobbies and fun blabla, there must be ways to learn, when not in others pbos where else?", but in the past there wasn´t such a huge influx of rip-off dipshits making good ammounts of money on the base of the work of others! I now fear that if such behaviour isn´t being investigated and stopped, we soon may have addon makers stopping their efforts in order to completely deny such falseness before it can even begin.

BI please do something!

Release your pbo tools with the option to add same or similar encryption methods like VBS does.

Offer addonmakers a way they can rest assured ripoffs won´t have it thaaaat easy.

[[frl]myke 14]

Martin, about the host of their website, maybe this helps you: http://whois.net/whois/worldzombie.ru

[ProfTournesol 956]

I'm sorry for this Martin, hope to see those guys pop up here to explain themselves.

[-martin- 10]

I'm sorry for this Martin, hope to see those guys pop up here to explain themselves.

I doubt it, and if they did they would say what they told me:

The BIS EULA says that everything created on the ArmA 2 platform is handled by the ArmA 2 EULA which doesn't prohibit servers like these.

[.kju 3244]

burns you are way off with your assumption.