Somebody mirroring my software

[Bluepixel]

I wrote a perl search engine some time ago and made it available for download on my site, but removed the download now (I have 100% copyright) since I'm probably going to sell the copyright to another company.
When I search in google, I see that one site is mirroring it. Contacting the site owners doesn't help, but they have adsense running on it. :) (So they are making money by mirroring my software).

First, I mean they aren't allowed to mirror my software, do they? I didn't write anywhere in the terms and conditions that you aren't allowed to mirror it, but even if I did, and ask them to remove it, they should obey, shouldn't they?

Can I contact adsense support and ask them to disable the ads on that site? Do I have to make a dmca complaint for this? (I don't want to end up on the chilling effects site ;)).

[krod]

you provided the source, and DID not state what you can do with it, did you even include a end-user-licence (EUL)? The person mirroring is in perfect legal respects if you did not have a licence stating what they can and can't do with it. Adsence won't do anything about it, nor could they. Send the publisher a email, phone call, etc. But there isn't much you can do if they refuse.
Your best bet is to 'update' your program, and rename it so you have a better chance of selling it.

[Roadkill]

Dont bother contacting adsense. Doubt youd get a response. Try sending the site owner a letter with a CC: to their ISP for infringement and you might get lucky.

Good luck

[py9jmas]

The person mirroring is in perfect legal respects if you did not have a licence stating what they can and can't do with it.

If you didn't give them a license, then we fall back to copyright law - therefore they shouldn't be distributing it.

[Jeremy_H]

I agree with py9jmas.

I'm taking a Communications Law this semester, and we went over copyrights yesterday.

Assuming you're an American citizen (I don't know the situation for other countries), every original body of work you create is automatically copyrighted, regardless if it has been official registered or not. It is also regardless of using the circle C bug. However, if the work is officially copyrighted, and you use the circle C bug, you are allowed additional protections, including lawyers' fees and minimum damage earnings.

Point is, your software is a copyrighted work, and they might be invading your copyright.

If you would like them to stop, contact them directly. Check out www.#*$!/their-domain.com to get their information. If you still have no luck contacting them, talk to their hosting provider, who should also be listed at the whois site.

Beyond that, you can also contact Google directly, and have their website removed from their search engine database.

If you haven't registered the work, you can still register it. You'll still receive all benefits in this case if you created the work less than three months ago.

I'm definitely not saying you should take legal action, I think that’s over kill, but you should definitely seek protection over your intellectual property.

[jomaxx]

If they're mirroring the download in its entirety and you included documentation and copyright notice in it, then I agree they shouldn't be doing so without permission, BUT there doesn't seem to be any real intent to infringe on anyone's copyright. This is a very common practice and it has benefits for publishers (reduces bandwidth requirements) and the public (more reliable access to the software).

You should take it up with the site owner, and keep in mind that they may not be reading or even receiving your emails for various reasons. Phone or send a letter if you can figure out who they are.

IMO it would be real sour grapes to try to cause trouble for them with Google over this. At least wait until you get a negative response before taking any action.

[krod]

Assuming you're an American citizen (I don't know the situation for other countries)

Most have the same laws as America, except some developing countries, then there is Finland and Sweden(aka illegal download world)

[Bluepixel]

Thanks for the inputs.

They are mirroring it with everything (the entire tar.gz file). I don't plan on sueing them. I wrote two polite emails, but they never answered. But hell, it's not that important anyway. Just the company that contacted me, wanted me to take it off my website, and did a google search for the file name, and found out that this directory was mirroring. Maybe they didn't even understand my english emails, because the entire site is in spanish.

The site is based in spain and I'm from the EU.
And thanks for the input on copyright, I wasn't sure about this. And registring the copyright doesn't make sense for me, since I certainly could prove it that it's my work. (I have so many versions of that software..)

[Mentat]

I own such a site, but it's in english. (Hosted in Romania)
I mirror many programs/scripts for those reasons:

- faster download speed
- relialable hosting
- referer protection

Personally I get hundreds of spammy e-mail/day (!) and It's really hard to keep-up.

This site it's selling your script?
Are they assuming the ownership of your script?

I have over 100 000 programs listed on my site and links to buy from the producer site, I see this as advertising for the product.

I ocasionally get mad e-mails: "Delete my program from your site! Copyright Infrigement etc!"

There are many nuts on the web (mac developers are the worst), becouse I list the producer and I give the link to the buy link and producer's home page.
It's free advertisement, but for some this is "copyright infrigement".

Ofcouse I delete all those programs...

Contact me on PM - I hope it's not my site :D