As many of you may or may not know WorldWorks has recently fallen victim to a rash of unauthorized CDrom sales via a Brazilian affiliate of EBay. All products are represented at the aforementioned site and the perpetrator(s) have been earning funds from WorldWorks illegally. We are attempting to have the products removed but I would like to take things one-step further if possible.

If any of you out there have some legal knowledge in terms of what recourse I might have please let me know. This isn’t simply peer-to-peer file sharing this is someone compiling illegal copies of our product on CDRom and making a profit. If at all possible I would like to take this to a higher level and ask for punitive settlements from the offending party but I don't know how to proceed.

I don’t mind telling you that this really angers me and with all the other illegal file sharing going on it’s just pushing me over the edge. I want action to replace words here and I want people to know that if they screw around with WorldWorks, our livelihood and the stability of our family’s lives they’ll wind up in court.

Any advice would be appreciated.

I don't think this is "minor". What we have here are multiple sellers (or just one seller with multiple accounts?) which have sold pirated WWG CDs since early 2005. And over that I just stumbled with a quick search, the true deepth of this could run much deeper.

Since most of these CDs contain several WWG Sets and they propably also do "business" outside the visible channels the damage value could easily range in the thousands of US$.

I really hope Denny finds a way for legal actions against these/this scumbag.

I would also try writting to all the buyers, explaining that they have accquired pirated material and ask them to destroy the CDs/files and support legal actions against the sellers.

Thanks for the swift support everyone. While I may not have wanted the attention of EnWorld it’s my fault for airing this issue so publicly. I have always been of the opinion that ones customers are to be respected and well informed if you want them to truly respect you in return and what you do.

The amount of money this person (or these people) made is really secondary to how I decide to proceed. If I do nothing and simply let them fall through the cracks then I’m sending the wrong message. I’m still not sure what can be done but I will give it some time and some more thought. This will take time plain and simple.

The unfortunate thing about all of this is that it really gives me great concern about the future of the PDF format in general. As has become painfully clear in the last 3 years the format lends itself perfectly to piracy. DRM (Digital Rights Management) can be problematic but more than that the outcry and peoples hatred of that system make it an unviable option for WorldWorks. The truth is that the only way to effectively stop this kind of theft would be to switch to a “print only” business model. The problem with that move is that our core audience would likely give up on WorldWorks and the financial fallout would cripple us without the proper support.

The more popular WorldWorks becomes the more frequent these issues are going to become. I hate to say it but I have a lot of serious thinking to do regarding format if WorldWorks is to survive and outgrow this problem.

Sorry about EnWorld. I wrote them back not to post it. There was no posting. It was an email.

I am curious why DRM is hated so much. Could WWG turn the tide? Looks a trip through the internet.

Denny,

I know it hurts, but hang in there. You got a lot of support. Hopefully, this will turn into a challenge. It was something that eventually had to be dealt with. View it as a test case. I can support DRM if it helps protect your business.

Recently, Wizards posted two sourcebooks, Deities and Demigods and Complete Warrior, for pdf purchase. I believe they are testing the market.

They state: These ebooks are secure (or DRM) PDFs. To purchase them, you'll have to register your copy of Adobe Reader 6.0. (Go to Tools---eBook Web Services---Adobe DRM Activator in Adobe Reader.) Once you've done that, the ebook is just like any other PDF -- you can open it on other computers you own (as long as the copy of Adobe Reader on that computer is also registered to you), print all or parts of it, make copies of the file, and so on.

http://www.ebook-security.com/

Is this something?

For some reason, if you don't choose to enforce your copyrights now, it could hurt your ability to do so in the future. Kinda strange thing in the legal system. Strange thing is, if you had never found out about this, that wouldn't be true. I chatted with a lawyer friend of mine (an american that does low-income family law, for the most part) and he asked a few questions in his circles. He agrees that the international aspect of this is going to make things more complicated.... How complicated, he didn't know, but he strongly stated that to not take a legal stand would probably cause more damage inthe long run.

Unfortunately, I think that this could affect the pdf industry. A switch to print would increase the costs for the customers while decreasing the profit for the company (according to a thread elsewhere on the board), and that means that nobody wins. And this is going on with all the pdf makers. WotC is looking into the market, but even without them putting the stuff out there, they have almost their entire product line available on the internet. I think WotC is breaking into the area to try and get some portion of their already booming internet trade to make a buck for them....

Thanks for the pros and cons of DRM.

Regarding WotC: I believe that selected older out of print 1st and 2nd edition stuff is a free download from their site and the pdf files from other sites have their permission to sell.

The new pdfs that I mentioned is a big step for them because it is the first time they are selling two of their titles from the current 3.0/3.5 version of the game. They are using a DRM, I believe.

I think for right now, as an emergency measure, WWG should consider placing on every single page of their sets a statement that says: This product can only be purchased from [insert vendor list]. If you did not purchase this set from the listed vendors you have a pirated copy.

Of course, this becomes a big hassle to do, unless Denny has some sort of batch program, on every single page of all his files and to redo them when a new vendor is available. He could also send the main file for that vendor with only their logo on the all the pages. So you know where the source came from. The guy in Brazil would have to go through every single friggin page and try to alter them or get found out as a fraud.

I sure wish there an easy way around this.

On a positive note, I just broke down and bought the Sea Maiden. I just couldn't wait for WWG store to open up.