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Posted

I have found at the sites http://circuit-zone.com and http://electronics-diy.com, which are both related, content lifted from my personal site and when I looked closer I saw most if not all of the circuits published on those sites are copied from other sites, including this one.

For example look at
http://electronics-diy.com/electronic_schematic.php?id=981 and the 10A 1-30V Variable Power Supply with LM317 Posted by admin on February 10th, 2011 at http://www.electronics-lab.com/blog/?tag=tip41c

I have sent them an email demanding they take down my stuff. You might want to go over and have a look and see if there is anything you want taken down. They give no credit, rather they take credit for the circuits.


Posted

If you look at the circuit you linked to on this site's blog, you'll find it's the other way round here: we copied them, rather than the other way round.

Are you charging for people to visit your site?

Do you have lots of advertising? And if so do you really think you'll loose that much revenue from people looking at your circuit posted on another site, rather than yours?

What if someone in China started manufacturing one of your circuits and selling it? You'd never know?

Why do you really care?

I'm happy for people to copy any of the circuits I post on my site. It would be nice to get credit but I couldn't care less if I don't.

Posted

Well, I was just letting you know in case you cared.

In my case I care because I despise thieves who steal and take credit for other people's work and make money out of it. 

And they have the impudence of claiming copyright on the content they stole.

I might just start watermaking my images to make them less attractive to thieves.

Posted

I think you're looking at this the wrong way.

No one is actually stealing from you. If someone steals your car you can no longer use it. If another person copies stuff from your website you still have it, you've not physically lost anything. Someone else maybe making money from your work but it's highly questionable whether you're actually loosing any revenue. If you were charging a fee to access your site, you could perhaps say that, otherwise it's doubtful, even if you do advertise.

As far as copyright is concerned, you're probably right but I doubt it's worth perusing legal action as I doubt you'll get anything but I advise you be to seek help from a professional, if you're that bothered.

I doubt watermarking would do much to deter people as it's easy to remove in image editing software. I've done it myself, but help someone with a circuit by annotating and improving it, rather than using it on my site.


Lots of sites copy circuits from other sites.
But it doesn't matter because most of the circuits do not work.

Yes, some of the circuits are of questionable quality. For example the 10A 1-30V Variable Power Supply with LM317 PSU is just an LM317 circuit copied straight from the datasheet but with an emitter follower stage on the output. The regulation will be horrible as VBE of the TIP41C can vary from 500mV to 2V over the temperature range and at different collector currents.

http://www.utc-ic.com/spec/TIP41C.pdf
Posted

Hello "testa"

We often feature interesting projects found online on our blog. We always add a link to the source page and the page via which we found the project. In some cases the source website is proven not to be the original source of the project, but that isn't in our control.

You should notify the page which has copied the project and didn't provided credits.

What we can do on this case? I can add the original source page on the blog post. Just drop me a line.

If you think i can do something more about this, just inform me.

Mike

Posted

I think you're looking at this the wrong way.

No one is actually stealing from you.
Yeah, I've heard that argument many times but the laws of the USA and of the whole civilized world say otherwise and reputable sites like wikipedia respect those laws and do not allow posting of content withjout the authorization of the copyright owner.

The fact that it's not worth pursuing the guy who stole or swindled $5 does not make it right, it only makes it... not worth pursuing.

A decent guy does not steal you money and if he takes it by mistake he returns it when you ask.  A scoundrel finds reasons why he is entitled to keep your money. 

The law and the morality of taking other people's content is well settled among people who have respect for morals and for lawsand I see no point discussing it here. If you disagree with the present state of things you can write your congressman and ask that the laws be changed.

I was just asking that we all respect the laws and the morals of our times but I guess that is too much to ask of some people.
Posted
Yeah, I've heard that argument many times but the laws of the USA and of the whole civilized world say otherwise and reputable sites like wikipedia respect those laws and do not allow posting of content withjout the authorization of the copyright owner.

The fact that it's not worth pursuing the guy who stole or swindled $5 does not make it right, it only makes it... not worth pursuing.

A decent guy does not steal you money and if he takes it by mistake he returns it when you ask.  A scoundrel finds reasons why he is entitled to keep your money. 

And how much money do you think you've really lost? 1$, 5$? The only way to tell is look at your advertising revenue, which may have even gone up.

The law and the morality of taking other people's content is well settled among people who have respect for morals and for lawsand I see no point discussing it here. If you disagree with the present state of things you can write your congressman and ask that the laws be changed.

I was just asking that we all respect the laws and the morals of our times but I guess that is too much to ask of some people.

Well, part of that statement doesn't apply to me as I don't live in the US.

Whilst I agree with copyright to some degree, I think things have got out of hand. This isn't why copyright law was initially created. It's original purpose was to enable authors to gain revenue from their books being reproduced and has since been extended to include everything from music to computer software and rightly so. I don't have a problem with copyright but per-say but the way it's implemented these days is infringing on our freedoms e.g. you may be violating copyright law simply by playing a CD too loud in your car if you don't pay any royalties to the record company  as its classed as a public performance. I've probably flouted the law hundreds of times by posting modified schematics in order to help people. So if that makes me a bad person, so be it.

I suppose all I'm saying is relax, if you've got nothing better to worry about than people copying (not stealing) what you've decided to make public in the first place then I envy you.

Besides, how are you going to prove you're the original creator? What's to stop them from claiming you copied them?

If you don't want others copying your designs then maybe you shouldn't put them on the Internet in the first place?

You haven't even posted a link to your website.
Posted

Hello "testa"

We often feature interesting projects found online on our blog. We always add a link to the source page and the page via which we found the project. In some cases the source website is proven not to be the original source of the project, but that isn't in our control.

You should notify the page which has copied the project and didn't provided credits.

What we can do on this case? I can add the original source page on the blog post. Just drop me a line.

If you think i can do something more about this, just inform me.

Mike

As anyone who visits your site can see you do not provide a link to the source page at all and you are not authorized to copy the pages even if you did. I have emailed the email addresses listed on your site and have received no response. I know of at least one other website owner who has emailed you asking that his stuff be removed and he has received no response either.

Your business and your servers are located in the USA and you know full well you are breaking the law by copying unauthorized content. (It would be just as illegal in any other country unless you were in Somalia or some other shit hole.)

If you had any decency you would just take it down.
Posted

testa

I am here to help clarify this issue. Please tell me which project do you think is copied without permission. Who is the other person that emailed me asking to remove stuff and i didn't reply to him... (you can send it to pm if you like)

I would be happy to check these projects.

Yours
Mike

Posted

Eventually, he makes it clear that his site is electronics-diy.com. Before that post we didn't even know which site is supposed to be the original.


testa

I am here to help clarify this issue. Please tell me which project do you think is copied without permission. Who is the other person that emailed me asking to remove stuff and i didn't reply to him... (you can send it to pm if you like)

I would be happy to check these projects.

Yours
Mike

Don't worry, ignore him until he he can prove he's the original creator, otherwise he doesn't have a leg to stand on.

Either way, I think the content should be removed, not because of copyright violation but because it's a very poor technical solution to boosting the current capacity of an LM317 regulator. A far superior method can be found on the on the top of page 17 of the LM317 datasheet. This can be improved further to boost the current more and include current limiting.

People like this annoy me. If it were a computer program he'd written or a article containing original and informative content then I've be 100% behind him but it isn't. It's an LM317 regulator with an emitter follower connected to it; something which anyone with a basic level of electronic knowledge could've thought of.
Posted

Hero999, you might want to re-read the thread because I believe you are somewhat konfuciused.  Or you might want to stay out of it.  We already know you have no respect for the rights or property of others. No need to belabor the point. I am just hoping others are not like you and have a bit more decency.

Posted

Dear testa

Electronics-Lab.com has nothing in common with electronics-diy.com or circuit-zone.com. We are not associated in any way. So, why are you complaining to us for something that is out of our responsibility ?



The addresses I found listed are [email protected] , [email protected] and that is where I have emailed but have received no reply. If I should use another address please give me an address in that domain.

Posted

Hero999, you might want to re-read the thread because I believe you are somewhat konfuciused.  Or you might want to stay out of it.  We already know you have no respect for the rights or property of others. No need to belabor the point. I am just hoping others are not like you and have a bit more decency.

What does konfuciused mean?

I've re-read the whole thread and have no where have you made it clear what your site is. All you've done is posted links allegedly containing illegal copies of your content. Please either post a link to your site and some evidence that it is your work which has been copied without your consent or back down.
Posted
Electronics-Lab.com has nothing in common with electronics-diy.com or circuit-zone.com. We are not associated in any way. So, why are you complaining to us for something that is out of our responsibility ?
I am not complaining to anybody. My first post informs that circuit-zone.com and electronics-diy.com post in their websites material that is lifted from other sites. I do not know where you get the impression that I want Electronics-lab to do anything about it.  I don't.  I believe there is a misunderstanding. You thought my complaint was with electronicslab (it isn't) and you offered to help and, because of your offer, I thought you may be somehow related to those websites. I think that is what happened.

Again, I was just informing people that I found content from several websites, including this one, copied at those websites I mentioned. That's all.
Posted

I though that because you included a link to a project on our blog.

Thanks for clarifying this... Topic is resolved.

Please Hero999 and audioguru be more polite on other members.



I am not complaining to anybody. My first post informs that circuit-zone.com and electronics-diy.com post in their websites material that is lifted from other sites. I do not know where you get the impression that I want Electronics-lab to do anything about it.  I don't.  I believe there is a misunderstanding. You thought my complaint was with electronicslab (it isn't) and you offered to help and, because of your offer, I thought you may be somehow related to those websites. I think that is what happened.

Again, I was just informing people that I found content from several websites, including this one, copied at those websites I mentioned. That's all.
Posted

I am not complaining to anybody. My first post informs that circuit-zone.com and electronics-diy.com post in their websites material that is lifted from other sites. I do not know where you get the impression that I want Electronics-lab to do anything about it.  I don't.  I believe there is a misunderstanding. You thought my complaint was with electronicslab (it isn't) and you offered to help and, because of your offer, I thought you may be somehow related to those websites. I think that is what happened.

Again, I was just informing people that I found content from several websites, including this one, copied at those websites I mentioned. That's all.


I read that post. What I don't understand is, how you expect us to help you when you don't say what your site is and that's before we discuss copyright or the technicalities of the circuit.
Posted

I read that post. What I don't understand is, how you expect us to help you when you don't say what your site is and that's before we discuss copyright or the technicalities of the circuit. 
 

Look, for the nth time, you are mistaken if you got the impression I was asking for help. I have not now and not ever asked for help from this board or anyone of this board. I hope you understand that because I do not know how to say it any clearer in English.  It seems mixos understands this so if you still do not understand it please consult with him.

I came here to notify this board that those websites I mentioned were stealing content from many sites, including my site and including electronics-lab.  I came here thinking I was doing electronics-lab a favor by pointing out your material was being copied but instead I get a nasty confrontational attitude and argument that pirating is A OK.

You do not have to worry that I might spend any amount of time here so you might as well relax.

On the other hand I am pleased to report that after emailing some complaints I have obtained even better response and results than I anticipated.

Discussing the matter with a friend who also has a lot of material lifted from his web site we decided to take action and we simultaneously fired off a bunch of emails to the owners of infringing websites and to their hosting services.

In just a matter of a few days all the pages we complained about have been removed. In some cases the web site owner removed them voluntarily and in others, like the ones mentioned in my OP, they were removed by the hosting company.  If the servers are located in the USA, as they were in these cases, they are subject to the DMCA. 

So, if you find some content you own has been pirated you should know that you have recourse and it is fairly easy to get the material removed. If the hosting server is located in the USA the owner will require you to submit some standard information to comply with the DMCA.  I learnt this because all of them asked me to resubmit my complaint in the same standard format so you can save yourself the trouble and get it right the first time.  They require the following data to be contained all in the same single email of complaint (not over several emails).  With that it has been my experience that they all act quite promtly. The list of items ofrequired information which must be included in the complaint can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OCILLA#Notice_from_Copyright_Owner .

In the future I intend to watermark my images to make them less desirable and take other measures to discourage copying. (Good luck taking the watermark off photos.) Of course, a determined thief can always succeed if they give it enough effort but thieves are thieves because they don't want to put in the effort and would rather benefit from the efforts of others. They will probably go to some other site with easier pickings.

Anyway, sorry to have bothered you when I thought I was doing you a favor.
Posted
I came here to notify this board that those websites I mentioned were stealing content from many sites, including my site and including electronics-lab.  I came here thinking I was doing electronics-lab a favor by pointing out your material was being copied but instead I get a nasty confrontational attitude and argument that pirating is A OK.

Thanks for clarifying that.

I came here to notify this board that those websites I mentioned were stealing content from many sites, including my site and including electronics-lab.  I came here thinking I was doing electronics-lab a favor by pointing out your material was being copied but instead I get a nasty confrontational attitude and argument that pirating is A OK.
No hard feelings intended. I just disagree with you. You're the one who's being nasty. And  for the record, you're mistaken, I don't think  piracy is fine. I just think you're wasting your time.

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