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Trying To Lure Suckers, Company Resells Open Source Blender
sylphsama writes "A company named 'IllusionMage" deceptively resells a 3D open source animation package (Blender) and claims it as their own. The software, dubbed IllusionMage, portrays flagrant similarities with Blender, although outdated compared to the original. The website itself is a patchwork of sorts, using renders from different users and numerous other packages as a way to impress its visitors. Not only is that a breach of copyright, but they intentionally hide that the software is distributed under the GNU GPL license, rendering it free to use. The Blender Foundation itself has spoken out through its chairman Ton Roosendaal." I love that they promise "Free Updates For Life. All From the Thriving Open Source Community, This Software is Forever Improving."
What he's doing is completely legal. Quite how much money he makes would be interesting to see, anyone buying a 3d package would surely do a small amount of research. Law of averages will prevail I suppose.
He's been doing this for ages, and does it with various other software packages.
At the bottom of the page it clearly says:
Help Brendan pay off his student loans
On the front page of their website (footer), it explicitly says "Released Under GNU GPL. Source code available for download."
It's not illegal to repackage and sell GPL software, as long as source is made available.
What exactly are people objecting to? That they created a derivative work? Like the GPL is supposed to encourage?
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=OTAyNg
http://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/02/03/1335213/Pirated-App-Sold-On-Mac-App-Store
It would appear that the good guys get trampled on too easily.
I knew it wasn't Blender because the commercial said it was "easy".
At the bottom of that long page says "Released Under GNU GPL. Source code available for download."
Also the term "Blender" can be found a few times throughout the page.
Now this isn't to say that it's wrong to sell GPL software - even RMS and the GPL v3 licenses say that you can sell it for whatever you can get for it - but that anyone else is free to do the same with the copy you sell them, so the price quickly drops to zero.
They're doing the "sucker born every minute" thing.
Type in "3D software" at ebay and you'll see many many examples of misleading repackaged Blender.
Isn't this also what McBurrz Software does?
Given that they must have a very low IQ to do this, I suppose they'll be like: "I can haz your work and call it mine?"
Have you heard about SoylentNews?
Frankly, I didn't realize Blender was looking that good until I saw this guy's site. The neckbeards in the Open Source community could pick up a few marketing tips from it.
Sorry you didn't get the outrage you tried to manufacturer, but this site is as kosher as Christmas.
Same, nearly identical, treatment for flightprosim.com knock off of flightgear.org. Shame....
There is a period after the ".com" in the company name (though before the "/") which may cause some browsers to not find the domain correctly.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
What first read as a guy selling Blender for profit actually turns out to be a guy selling an information tutorial DVD / PDF product for blender (albeit stealing images and not giving any credit where credit is due).
Considering he's charging $47 for it and (presumably) the dvds are not just further copyright theft, it isn't quite as bad as anybody who didn't RTFL may be led to believe.
Various companies are selling Flightgear under different names.
The problem is those companies do not contribute anything to the real developers, most of them do not even mention what their product is based upon and do not seem to offer anything beside the repackaged and rebranded flight simulator. Worse, some even copy media used to promote Flightgear for their own purposes. It's legal but it's not very nice of them.
"Legit" under standard current US law. That's not the only social circle most people are a part of, and not the only code most anyone abides by. There are rules galore in society - company policies, group behavior codes, clubs, game rules, social morals, principles, culture, tradition, decency, politics, neighborhoods, philosophy, religion, heck, just name a group, and they will have their body of rules, and some sort or another of enforcement or lack thereof. I'll wager this guy breaks a tad too many of these rules for a bunch of people, and is taking his chances. Some might be lawyers, skilled in the art of interpreting laws into purposes they were not meant for. Some might have more respect for other policies and codes, and other enforcement forms. I know I wouldn't want to be in this business with him.
Build your own energy sources from scratch. http://otherpower.com/
For those who don't like this kind of thing being done with their open-source software, are there OSS licenses available with a clause that says you can't charge for derivative works, similar to the Non-commerical version of the CC license?
There's nothing so shameless that no one would do it if they could make a buck.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
the only crime here is that site's design. eww. must. wash. eyes.
Thats right. Your investment for the entire course is only $47 (this launch offer will closed anytime after February 25, 2011 ) And when we reach that point, I'll withdraw this offer immediately and not apologize for it.
So you have to go through several pages worth of text before you get to the price, which has a grammatical error in it's explanation. And then a vaporous promise to increase the cost later:
First I'll bump it up to $97.00...then to $197.00 and more...and it'll still be a bargain for what you're getting. So don't waste any time! Take action right now:
Although I really love how they have a 60-day trial; which apparently you pay full ($47) price for. I guess the figure after 60 days if you realize that you just paid for open source software, you won't be willing to take the initiative to ask for your money back. If you go to the order form, you find a "special offer" where they throw in some additional software for a "low additional cost!".
This reminds me a lot of the operations that take the free utilities for unlocking the Wii, and sell it at a random price promising "extras".
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Want to create Pixar and Dreamworks In 2 Hours or Less? Easy! just ripp off this already free software, then ripp off some illegal Pixar models on the net and you are set! BEAUTIFUL Animations With Minimum Effort...
There's no way to make a decent animation in two hours, unless your movie is based on a bouncing ball in a squared box, heck even that would take more than two hours in blender, Producing 3D Animations & Graphics Ha[s] Never Been THIS EASY
I just noticed that their main page says you can try it "risk-free" for 60 days. However the order form tells you that you can try it risk-free for 8 weeks.
I also find it interesting that they don't offer a Linux version; as there is of course a Linux version of Blender...
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
I've seen quite a few selling open source software. I've also seen ones selling freeware that they don't have the license to resell. I'd question both his right to display the "example" images and are the tutorial videos ones that the Blender Foundation provides?
I've been doing 3d since 3dsr3 Dos. It's a life long learning adventure. 2 weeks my ass :)
GNU GPL:
.
IllusionMage is proudly part of the Open Source movement. Open Source software gives you more flexibility in regards to how and where you can use the software. Main program is based on Blender and released as an open source GNU license. As a note please be aware that IllusionMage is a trademark and although this code is released under a generous open license the name and logo are not.
Please note the game, some content and images has been released under GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 2, June 1991
Source code of these content and files is available to be downloaded from here.
As per the license agreement, please note that there is no warranty for the program, to the extent permitted by applicable law. Except when otherwise stated in writing the copyright holders and/or other parties provide the program “as is” without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of the program is with you. Should the program prove defective, you assume the cost of all necessary servicing, repair or correction.
At the bottom of the ClickBank page where you are asked to enter your details: [affiliate = arnell75]. Google says: http://www.google.com/search?q=arnell75. Gives you: http://twitter.com/#!/arnell75. Basic premise? How to use the Internet to make money. Sound familiar? Seems like the man behind this immoral scam to me.
New low, dude. New low.
I thought that intellectual property and copyright was all a load of crap?
Oh, I see, it's only until it affects an open source project.
Hypocrites.
See the disclaimer page.
You missed the bit where the software is being promoted using copyrighted artwork.
Legit or not, you gotta love the layout of that website. Someone should make a wordpress theme called "scam" that looks like that...
Of course there are going to be suckers out there, but why does anyone out there care about "protecting" them? They are still getting what they paid for - a thoroughly tested and robust software package.
I mean - that part is original material, right? Seems to me there is a value he's added to this mix and yes the Software is just Blender but so what? And if the images were made with Blender, then they're legit too, no?
Gee, it looks like most of the Slashdot forum posters have turned over since a guy named Michael Robertson created a continuing storm here by launching a GNU/Linux distro called "Lindows" (later rebranded as "Linspire", after some sparring/negotiating with Microsoft). Linspire featured a installer client to a software app store called "Click 'N run", which was nothing but free software already generally available under the GPL (Gimp, etc)... but the lucky customers got to purchase them for a small amount, just so they'd appreciate the value of the software.
There are plenty of comments here stating whether what was done was legal or not. But there are also many things while legal are immoral. These guys that are reselling a tweaked Blender as their own work are just low lives. A pox on these guys and their houses.
I would switch to the real thing, but where's the thrill?
Maybe find out what song(s) him and his alter ego http://www.3dmagixpro.com/ are using and if they don't have the rights sick the audio hounds on them?
Ignoring the specifics of this case (as they've been explored in other comments) I'd like to get back to the fundamental question here:
Is it "ok" to repackage open source software and sell it at greater than zero?
Under what circumstances is it ok? Do you need to add some significant "value"? Do you have to tell anyone who asks (or who didn't) where you got the source from or just your customers?
Don't quote me the GPL or the law.. I want to hear your opinion.
Are businessmen who buy hats for $1 and sell them for $12 morally superior because they transport the hats? Should they be required to tell their customers the cost price and where they got them from?
How we know is more important than what we know.
But you're getting a 100% Risk Free Unconditional Money-Back Guarantee, what could be ethically questionable about that?
sysadmins and parents of newborns get the same amount of sleep.
Did anyone notice how poor the quality of their animated advertisement video was? Or that it was all 2D?
Fantastic. The screenshots have the Blender 2008 watermark on them still.
If they replaced the "unusual" UI of Blender with something more natural, I'll fucking pay!
Table-ized A.I.
This many posts, and no one has asked the question...
"Does it blend?"
(sorry, couldn't resist)
"This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
...is doing the same kind of scammy crap to the FlightGear project. They've taken a very old build and are selling it for an absurd amount of money. Some people have been taken for over $100 with the scam. Clickbank seems to help them out too.
See http://www.flightgear.org/flightprosim.html for more info. If you spot these jerks on Facebook, please report their page as a scam.
tnx.
Once again we see the hypocrisy and failures of the open source cult. Preach one thing and turn to raving lunatics when someone takes advantage of the system... why is it that I expect nothing less from you smelly hippies?
| they intentionally hide that the software is distributed under the GNU GPL license, rendering it free to use.
The GPL makes no such stipulation. How is it that in 2011, a site like /. can still be making this mistake (even if it's the submitter's mistake, it should have been edited)? Oh wait, it's's /.
He and his money were lucky to get together in the first place.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Checkout the site and there is a place where he says the offer would close by 3 days.
"this launch offer will closed anytime after ". There is even a script which calculates the date after 3 days from today and displays that!! Quite ingenious!
So much for a scam!!
This part is awesome:
Your Dinky One-Time Investment Is Only $47!
(This is a special launch offer only, we're only opening this for the next 3 days only before the offer closes forever!)
Thats right. Your investment for the entire course is only $47 (this launch offer will closed anytime after February 26, 2011 )
Where February 26, 2011 is: // How many days to add to today // Add 10 days
days = 3;
d = new Date();
now = d.getTime();
d.setTime(now + days * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000);
document.getElementById("offerEnd1").innerHTML = formatDate(d);
function formatDate(d) {
var months = new Array("January", "February", "March", "April", "May", "June", "July", "August", "September", "October", "November", "December");
return months[d.getMonth()] + " " + d.getDate() + ", " + d.getFullYear();;
HA!
Got to love the "Pricacy Verified", "Company Verified" and "Security Verified" buttons which all lead to the order page.
Also I notice the site is using the VeriSign secure logo, is there action VeriSign can take if he is using this logo illegally?
http://www.illusionmage.com/images/Verisign.jpg
I did a whois lookup and saw an email address. A google search reveals this guy is involved in those pyramid scheme chain emails. Aren't chain emails illegal?
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!
The Blender contributors should be very proud!
I have seen this for all sorts of open source software, there is an ebay seller in Australia mailing DVDs of Battle for Wesnoth and GIMP. I don't think he was charging all that much for it, and with Australian internet costing what it does it may have been an effective way to get the software. Still, i don't think he made reference to the open source nature of what he was selling. He even made fake box art, for promotional purposes only. If you were to by it he would mail you the DVD in an envelope :p
That in 90% of the "live action" shots they're watermarked "Blender Foundation 2008"?
It's clearly a ploy to make quick cash. There's not much you can do about it unfortunately. I guarantee you the website is under a fake name/pay-as-you-go credit card, and all the proceeds are laundered through a few paypal accounts.
This truly is the only downside to FOSS.
The person who pays to own and use an open solution or the person who pays for a license to use a closed one?
So the guy did actually make some how-to videos, as far as I understand (unless the videos are also ripped off from the Blender project -- anyone willing to buy them and find out? lol). What would have been so bad about making a clean website to advertise just his how-to videos? Like so: "There's this awesome free software called Blender. It's a little bit complicated, so I've made some how-to videos. You can download Blender for free, and I've provided some supplemental videos in addition to the videos the Blender team has created. If you'd like to purchase my videos, which are more new-user-friendly and go into further detail than the Blender videos do, you can also purchase those from me here." Completely truthful about what the software is, and you could actually get frustrated users to buy your videos. It may even help them out. Woah. Everyone wins? Also, the source link in the disclaimer is a binary file. Even if someone using windows or mac finds the disclaimer page, they're not going to have any idea what to do with that file. Though, if they don't understand what source code is, a quick google search takes you to the wiki page that explains it. Is just providing the binary enough, legally speaking?
You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. -Plato
Please note the game, some content and images has been released under GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 2, June 1991 .
"...the game,"? What the fuck are they talking about? Apparently they [re]sell more than just blender and accidentally used the same verbiage. Good job, assholes.
Buy your next Linux PC at eightvirtues.com
An unhappy IllusionMage client showed me the full download package, and all (100%) of material has been copied from other resources. The Blender binaries are just renamed copies of blender.org releases. Most of the copied videos are also very old (5-6 years). Probing some of the people who made this material showed me they never were contacted nor gave permissions.
A fun side note is that the 3Dmagix contact (who at least replies mails, but never updates his site) claims that IllusionMage "stole" his website. Attempts to contact IllusionMage via their website failed sofar.
Exposing these kind of unethetical practices - which is not a GPL violation - is best way to tackle it. I rather not get into a legal copyright fight... not worth the hassle.
Ton Roosendaal, Blender Foundation
Registrant ID:592189dd165c5d0b
Registrant Name:Arnell johnson
Registrant Organization:arnell
Registrant Street1:1112 loveland lane
Registrant Street2:
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:virginia beach
Registrant State/Province:va
Registrant Postal Code:23454
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.7576132730
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:+1.5555555555
Registrant FAX Ext.:
Registrant Email:arnelljohnson75@gmail.com
This has been gone over repeatedly over at blenderartists.org .... Basically they're selling tutorials (many if not most of which are also freely downloadable) and including Blender, making brief note of the GPL as required. Not quite a scam, not quite legit, but legal ..... but also not really a problem ultimately because, as mentioned, it is NOT the most up-to-date version; nor are the tutorials and plug-ins. Kinda sux, but what can ya do? And who's really going to buy it anyhow? ... meh :D
it's = it is
its = something belonging to it
But we can:
Find reviews for this software, and comment about it. Link back to the Blender Foundation Post [http://www.blender.org/blenderorg/blender-foundation/press/re-branding-blender]
Please refrain from using strong, cursing or bad language if you do. Don't be hostile. Respect FOSS.
If IllusionMage provides something that users will pay for, then users will still buy it, but at least make them aware of this so they have the option.
We can't tell users what they can or cannot buy, that is their choice.
"Learn how to create cutting-edge 3D animations like Pixar and Dreamworks in the next 2 hours or less..."
Well, if that IllusionMage homepage had slashdot's "score" feature, this statement would certainly deserve a "+5: funny". They can't be serious!? I've never seen anyone who has created something more exciting than a couple of textured spheres and cubes in no more than 2 hours after starting to use Blender for the very first time.
Shouldn't that be just "sells" ?
'For we walk by faith, not by sight.' II Corinthians 5:7
If the GPL is involved then you will see an angry mob here demanding lawsuits. If it is a case of music or game piracy you will see endless excuses for pirates and anger at any group that tries to take them to court. Contradictory? Yes of course, but this is Slashdot.
Don't think I'd be suckered into buying it, even if I didn't realise it was Blender.
When they use all those caps, bold bits, underlines, yellow highlights, "now YOU can blah" (signed by the director of course) etc all in one big wall of content, unless you're already a known guru who just overdoes this style (Steve Gibson), I will automatically think it's spammy crapware anyway and steer well clear anyway.
You might not be able to tell users what they "can" buy, but I will.
Hey Folks! If you're looking to buy excellent source materials to generate studio quality 3D animation, you 'can' and 'should' check out:
http://www.blender3d.org/e-shop/product_info_n.php?products_id=120
4 DVDs (count 'em!) of high quality animation, commentary, tutorials, and all sources, released under Creative Commons License!
-- kf (I'm not affiliated with this project in any form)
You mean I paid for something I could have gotten for free???? DOH!!!!!
FragHARD or don't frag at all