Bonobo wrote:KOCMOHABT wrote:But, i must agree with @Go_Japan, there is nothing bad if they will use my app.
I tend to disagree about this.
The way they put it, it looks as if GoUniverse is a brainchild of ASR, or at least as if it were a commissioned work, as if they were the principal and you were just a mere contractor.
And about possible monetizing … ASR’s way of claiming the credits for GoUniverse while not even mentioning the developer’s name, well, you just connect the dots … just watch what’s going on, be careful whom you trust or whom you allow to use your credentials, your work, and in which way.
I’m done here, I think … all I wanted was to direct your attention to these things which seem VERY odd to me (to say the least), and because I have seen similar things before, and they culminated in a very ugly way.
The issues here are a bit complicated. There is no way that they can claim owndership over the software. It is clear under US copyright law (that is extended many places around the world) based on the DMCA, that the ownership of the software is the developer, even if it is open source.
They are a bit misleading in their statements on the webpage announcement
Luckily now we can announce a java free, purely web browser based solution we like to introduce to our > 345 league members.
The way they describe it here is as if it is their software, but it is only implicit. They are announcing it, but they don't say that it is theirs specifically. There is not much you can really argue with here I think. If they added a line, "developed by xxx" there is nothing wrong with the above passage. The omission of that statement is not ideal, but also doesn't specifically claim ownership or development by ASR.
The first alpha test by the ASR team is promising (see screenshots). We are in an intensive dialogue with the programmer to develope the application further on to cover your needs.
This is strange considering that the developer said they haven't been contacted by ASR. I am not sure why ASR would say it because this implies much a tighter connection between ASR and the software. However, this negates any and all ownership rights because they specifically say that they are not in fact doing the work themselves.
Overall, I think it is annoying and perhaps a bit of plagiarism, but nothing legally wrong here.
The guy/girl who is actually hosting the software and allowing people to play it without the extension I think is potentially a bigger problem. If the developer decides to monetize the software through ads or something, they would have to get this person to remove it from their server because they could run it without ads or with their own monetization.
That's my opinion anyway. I think probably this is more about ASR and the rift they created with some members of this community rather than between ASR and the developer of GoUniverse.
I would recommend that GoUniverse make it explicit that the software cannot be hosted on a website without permission. They may also wish to add some other legalese to a copyright notice to be sure everyone is clear about the developers position.
