OK well the terms of service are in severe violation, so I'm really wondering when that's going to get fixed. Thanks for filling me in, I can assure you I have already provided the prof of ownership... So just waiting for action, I would provide it to you guys too but that would be outing the guy, and I guess that's considered flaming here? Personally I don't have a problem outing him because he is stealing from allot of people.

There is no need for the poll did she really say that! Your a nut lady, and that's why we love you, you crazy silly nut! She kind of looks a little like Sara Palin... That's a good thing right? Regardless the poll is educational, what's wrong with that? Not sure how many of you unknowingly downloaded stolen work, pretty crazy right? You had no clue your were part of the problem, it's not your fault. The guy who did it, and for the life of me I can't see why he did it since he makes no money on this, tricked people into thinking he was the original creator of the work. Strange stuff, really weird... I'm very puzzled as to why he would do this, maybe that should be what the poll turns into know, guesses on why he would do this.

I found a half dozen of my stolen clips here as well in the same account.  I have sent the info to WC.  Every other legitimate agency I have contacted about stolen works has removed them within 24 hours, so we'll see what happens.  How quickly they act will determine my next step.  I am a motion graphics artist for a living.  It pays my bills.  It puts food in the mouths of my children.  So this isn't just a matter of pride for me (or many others like me), it's a matter of being able to take care of my family.

Well then if you know the original artists of this work, have them privately contact an admin to have it removed.

Again WC does not condone ripped/stolen work and it will be removed if proven to be so. A poll will not do anything to expedite this happening.

99% of the members here know WC's policies so this poll is really kind of redundant.

So you know, Jafo lives in Australia so there is a bit of a time difference, and anyone Stardock (the company that owns WC) would most likely be sleeping right now. (Central time zone USA)

Unfortunately, I had to go through the trouble of getting my material removed from YouTube earlier this year and they took almost a full 24 hours... so that's pretty reasonable.  Although it's very frustrating to know they are still there being downloaded.  In the meantime, I know the authors of a few dozen other clips in the offenders portfolio and I have contacted them about it.  For good measure, I screen-shot his entire portfolio in case it's needed for any legal stuff.

Eternal, I sent an email to all of the agencies where I sell my work.  Since they have the deep pockets and vigorously defend the copyrights of their contributors (since it affects their bottom line as much as ours), I would suggest you do the same.

In the meantime, I think it's only fair to be a little patient and see what WC and Stardock does over the next 24 hours before escalating this.

Right on Dave, sup you get some sleep finally? Was that one yours? I'm not trying to escalate it, just chatting and defending my point of view till I'm blue in the face. For some reason that seems like escalating it, or flaming to these people, we know each other Dave this isn't flaming...You make a good point with the family stuff, I'm right there with you. I shot P5 a quick message about it, I'm trying to be nice and not take it there yet. Really I just want it removed, it's not like anyone here plans to kick me or any of these others that got ripped off some compensation. Honestly the most we can hope for in situations like this is the removal, and we eat the damages yet again...   Thanks Wincustomize!

At least it was caught on this site.  Who knows how many other sites are out there we don't know about yet... It's a little depressing to think about. Thank goodness creating new works is therapeutic.

ES, do NOT contact me again in any way, shape or form, your foul-mouthed abusive remarks in your PM to me are not needed nor will they be tolerated. As I said in my reply to you, the Mods here take IP rights very seriously and I can assure you things will be dealt with appropriately.

Why are you attacking me and calling me names?(very immature,I might add) I did no such thing to you, nor have I uploaded any of your works. Go cry to and curse at someone else.

Edit. If you are going to quote me be accurate . I said....."The (your) work was incorporated into a .dream file.  A dream is a looping video clip which by your own definition is allowed."

Your definition being:The way it works is that if you incorporate the work into your own work, I.E. Your a video editor and you use my work in a clip, then you can redistribute it that way

I did not say it was "new" work.

 That is my final say on the matter as there are very qualified people here at WC to handle these situations, so please let them handle it.

Thank You.

I've been here a long time and there's no where else on the internet takes copyright more seriously. The admins here put in a tireless effort in protecting everyone's rights. This what they will be doing right now: a complete investigation of the origins of any upload involved. Including ascertaining who the original copyright holder is, whether this site's rules have been broken (there are some specific to dreams), and the terms and conditions of the site from which they originate.

Making inflamatory posts and making an ass of yourself on the forum doesn't help. Let the admins do their job, in private; they are very good at what they do.

I'm sorry, but simply taking a video file and placing it into another container is still a copyright violation.  Not to mention that the sites on which I sell my animations specifically prohibit selling (or otherwise distributing) derivative works in the license agreed to by the buyer.  They can only be used as part of a much larger project such as a television commercial, television show, movie, webmercial, etc...  The person who is currently distributing my works as his/her own is in clear violation of my copyright.

Anyone who believes that it is okay to buy an animation from another web site, simply repackage it and resell it (or even give it away) is severely mistaken and uninformed.

I believe that WC will do what's right and remove them. However, if they don't, I have no problem taking the legal route to defend my copyright. I don't think it will come to that.

i find my work stolen here to

this is user that take my work:

Ausvet

can someone tell me if the users who submit here media to download earn eny money for submiting things here?

Radek, the files are distributed for free.  However, according to information on the Piracy Resource Center web site, the offender and the distributor (this web site) are still liable for damages.  I've screen capped all of my stolen items along with the download counts in case I need to make a claim for damages.  I suggest you do the same with your items.  If WC is quick and removes my items and the offending user's account, then I'm willing to let it go.  We'll see what they do.

i know that they are distributed for free

but when i register here i saw an option to sign up to better account with price about 19$ i think that give user unlimited acces to files that are here on the site

so the owners of this site earn money when people with this better accounts download this clips

Hmm... I didn't realize that...  That changes things quite a bit since WC is profiting from stolen materials.  We'll have to see what they end up doing with the account and how quickly they act.

Hey Dave you know allot about this stuff they are saying they are a "Stardock.corp] is a Gold Partner to Microsoft" so do you still, or currently have any contacts at Microsoft? They basically are giving me run around in PM, I'm done with dealing with this. So do we pass these guys off to sites that legally host our work or contact microsoft, or both? Hit me up via email.

I should make it clear that I am not posting this as a representative of Stardock.

EternalSpline : It has been less than 24 hours since you reported this (this thread was made after COB on Thursday).  Once people are in the office today I am sure action will be taken (I do not have sufficient access to do so).  The office opens at 9am EST - so 3 hours or so away.

Brian, having gone through this before with other sites, I am waiting a full business day before I escalate this.  I have reported the incident to all of the sites where I sell my work.  I have reported it to the Business Software Alliance (BSA) through their "report piracy" online form.  I have also reported copyright violations to Blizzard, Paramount Pictures and other agencies whose copyrights are being sold here.  It's already been posted on the web forums of many artist organizations to have artists come here and search for their works.

It's important to note that if they do not remove your items in a timely fashion, they can be liable for up to 10 times the value of EACH copyright violation times the number of downloads.  I added up the downloads for all of my items and it's nearly 15,000 downloads.  That's over $3.5 million if a jury/judge ruled in my favor.

And yes, their Microsoft preferred status can be revoked if they are willingly violating copyrights and promoting piracy. Microsoft will kick them to the curb real fast rather than be associated with that.

However, I'm gonna be patient and see what happens in the next 16 hours.  If the items haven't all been removed then I'll escalate the issue through other means.  Let's give them a chance to resolve this themselves.