idnovate.com Posted September 15, 2016 Share Posted September 15, 2016 (edited) Hi! One of our module (http://addons.prestashop.com/en/6270-credit-card-offline-payment-manual-processing.html) has been plagiarized in Addons by Best-Kit. We came across with this module: http://addons.prestashop.com/en/19409-credit-card-offline-payment-pos-point-of-sales.html. A module with more than 100 fraud sales. We contacted PrestaShop Legal team to know which actions to take and their first answer was to contact developers. We did it and the developers' response was that the module was done from scratch and that they didn't know anything about the other module. So we contacted again PrestaShop with the evidences. Check the similarities in the module configuration: 1. They have even decided to use the same image with our information And, what a coincidence, they use exactly the same strings. I suppose that this is normal when 2 developers develop 2 modules from scratch ---------------------------------------- 2. What's more, both of us use the same JS function to toggle a div (and it was not extracted from StackOverflow) And they think that using the same DIVS name was a good idea. ------------------------------------------- 3. They had also thought about using an object called "card" in every input to store the data, great! ---------------------------------------- 4. And what about the card form? Does it look similar? It has the same buttons and the same message. ---------------------------------------- So after PrestaShop checked it for 3 months, they have decided that there are only similarities in the product page, not in the code, so they have asked them to modify it. Of course that the problem is not that other company has developed a similar module with the same functionalities than our, but they have used our module with slight differences and Addons allowed it. So If they consider that this is not illegal, I suppose you can download any Addons module, rename some variables and sell it again as yours, so take profit from the works of other I leave here my evidences so that each one can draw its own conclusions. PD: Apologies for the possible English mistakes Edited October 30, 2023 by idnovate.com (see edit history) 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denver Prophit Jr. Posted September 15, 2016 Share Posted September 15, 2016 If PS admits the findings they are legally liable. Of course they are not going to admit liability. Seek out an intellectual property lawyer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnovate.com Posted September 15, 2016 Author Share Posted September 15, 2016 If PS admits the findings they are legally liable. Of course they are not going to admit liability. Seek out an intellectual property lawyer? Of course they considered them "different" code . We hope PS or the other company reconsider their decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrestaHeroes USA Posted September 15, 2016 Share Posted September 15, 2016 Same exact pricing on addon's as well...IMHO the 'other' could have put some effort into making it slightly different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnovate.com Posted September 15, 2016 Author Share Posted September 15, 2016 Same exact pricing on addon's as well...IMHO the 'other' could have put some effort into making it slightly different. We had it a bit more expensive but we had to put the same price to compete! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrestaHeroes USA Posted September 15, 2016 Share Posted September 15, 2016 We had it a bit more expensive but we had to put the same price to compete! lol...it's like competing with yourself...good luck! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnovate.com Posted September 15, 2016 Author Share Posted September 15, 2016 Damn! That's sick. Have you sent a DMCA take down request to [email protected]? I recommend you do that ASAP! Sure, but they consider that it's not a copy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simonas Invertus Posted September 16, 2016 Share Posted September 16, 2016 It's really sad to hear this. As developers we should help each other and if we stick together maybe in the long run we could get rid of shady characters. If developers start screwing each other and lowering prices in the end everybody loses including PrestaShop. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vekia Posted September 27, 2016 Share Posted September 27, 2016 my free plugins are also on addons marketplace and prestashop does nothing with this, i reported 2-3 years ago that and since then just nothing...so, at the end, if prestashop addons marketplace team accepts piracy (THIS IS PIRACY!) - i suggest to take actions on your own, some dmca notification etc. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnovate.com Posted September 27, 2016 Author Share Posted September 27, 2016 my free plugins are also on addons marketplace and prestashop does nothing with this, i reported 2-3 years ago that and since then just nothing... so, at the end, if prestashop addons marketplace team accepts piracy (THIS IS PIRACY!) - i suggest to take actions on your own, some dmca notification etc. It's a shame!! I'm not sure if it's worth 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antoine F Posted September 27, 2016 Share Posted September 27, 2016 Hello everyone, @idnovate.com: I've contacted directly the manager of the Addons in order to get more information about this issue (and to know how to fix it). I keep you posted as soon as I have more information. Best, Antoine 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnovate.com Posted September 28, 2016 Author Share Posted September 28, 2016 Hello everyone, @idnovate.com: I've contacted directly the manager of the Addons in order to get more information about this issue (and to know how to fix it). I keep you posted as soon as I have more information. Best, Antoine Hi Antoine, thanks for your help! Alice from Legal team took the issue. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dreamtheme Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 Unfortunately we saw the same things with our themes being copied, including direct copy/paste of our product descriptions, images, features that they even not offer but (copy pasted). We have contacted PrestaShop legal department and they did nothing for months. We have contacted PrestaShop legal staff first at 18.04.2016 about this issue, months later and after several e-mails the last time we did hear from PS legal is at 7.7.2016 with this: Good morning, Thank you for your message. As we where out of the office, we are going to have a look at your problems today and give you an answer. Sorry for the delay and thank you for your patience, Legal Team @ PrestaShop So i guess they were out of the office for 3 months, and after they replayed seems another 3 months out so far, and after this we did not received anything at all. So indeed keep in mind that PrestaShop does not offer any protection for your software. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krystian Podemski Posted September 29, 2016 Share Posted September 29, 2016 I was in the same situation few years or months ago but everything was sorted out by Addons Team, i suggest you to contact someone from the Addons Team on Twitter, maybe Emmanuel or Camille. Ahh... and if you've sent DMCA it cannot be declined by PrestaShop, they obligation is to disable product from the market and inform author of the fraud module that DMCA was sent and he needs to respond to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnovate.com Posted September 29, 2016 Author Share Posted September 29, 2016 Unfortunately we saw the same things with our themes being copied, including direct copy/paste of our product descriptions, images, features that they even not offer but (copy pasted). We have contacted PrestaShop legal department and they did nothing for months. We have contacted PrestaShop legal staff first at 18.04.2016 about this issue, months later and after several e-mails the last time we did hear from PS legal is at 7.7.2016 with this: So i guess they were out of the office for 3 months, and after they replayed seems another 3 months out so far, and after this we did not received anything at all. So indeed keep in mind that PrestaShop does not offer any protection for your software. It must be great to work at Legal team :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnovate.com Posted September 29, 2016 Author Share Posted September 29, 2016 I was in the same situation few years or months ago but everything was sorted out by Addons Team, i suggest you to contact someone from the Addons Team on Twitter, maybe Emmanuel or Camille. Ahh... and if you've sent DMCA it cannot be declined by PrestaShop, they obligation is to disable product from the market and inform author of the fraud module that DMCA was sent and he needs to respond to it. I already talked to our Country manager and Agency manager but I suppose that they can't do anything as the responsability is from Legal team, which decided that the module is not a copy and that it's enough if the other developer removes a screenshot from the module sheet. Thanks for the advice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dreamtheme Posted September 29, 2016 Share Posted September 29, 2016 I was in the same situation few years or months ago but everything was sorted out by Addons Team, i suggest you to contact someone from the Addons Team on Twitter, maybe Emmanuel or Camille. Ahh... and if you've sent DMCA it cannot be declined by PrestaShop, they obligation is to disable product from the market and inform author of the fraud module that DMCA was sent and he needs to respond to it. DMCA only works if they directly stole your entire software and offer it for free or paid with the same name/images and same code exactly. If they modify something DMCA will not work and you need to go in court, and you must go in court in the country where the other developer are. Also CSS for example cannot be copyrighted. There is a difference between "legal" and "moral", even if someone is "legally" stole your work or part of it PS should see the moral behind it and take action. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnovate.com Posted January 13, 2017 Author Share Posted January 13, 2017 What's more, PrestaShop has give them an Award. Thanks to PrestaShop and congratulations to Best-Kit!! :wub: 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnovate.com Posted July 23, 2017 Author Share Posted July 23, 2017 Still no solution... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antoine F Posted July 24, 2017 Share Posted July 24, 2017 Still no solution... Hello, Did the legal team get back to you recently about this issue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnovate.com Posted September 13, 2017 Author Share Posted September 13, 2017 Hello, Did the legal team get back to you recently about this issue? They just considered that there was not any problem with it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
razaro Posted September 20, 2017 Share Posted September 20, 2017 After this post I payed attention to Best-Kit modules, and while searching for modules for clients did notice 3-4 modules that could be copy of existing. Saw few older from BelVg that have same features but with small modification and usually Best-Kit modules are $20 cheaper. That should really be investigated even that I know some modules can be done same way from different developers, still PrestaShop team have chance to check code of modules and compare. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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