Saw my Design in a Commercial Product

[Art]

Hi Guys..
Well I don't quite know how to feel.
I am pretty sure I've seen a commercial product made out of a design I gave up for free,
and currently selling on eBay.
I could never be sure, but It's not just the product, but the status LEDs, and what they indicate.
The way I found it was Googling to see if anyone was still making it after so many years!
Don't know whether to be flattered, or pissed that someone is trying to cash in.

It was a project I'd rather not mention now, which was rather simple,
and before I really knew/cared about the details of licensing.

So if you give up a project to the public (goodwill) in this case both hardware and software,
I'd suggest something in docs requiring separate commercial licensing terms!
Cheers, Art.

[Ioannis]

OK, You gave it to the people in knowingly that this would be a possibility.

But, what if you had a commercial product and someone in China copy it as is, even the flaws in the silkscreen??

Running a company in a crisis hit country, is not even an option to deal with, especially with copiers from other countries, like China.

Unfortunately, this things happen.

On the attached pictures, the one with the red transformer is the copied one.

Ioannis

[Art]

I went back and looked at the documentation I provided with
the project, and indeed, it is only 365 byte text file with no terms at all!!
So there is no actual breach of anything.

If there was, I'd at least have some fun with them on eBay.

[Normnet]

I went back and looked at the documentation I provided with
the project, and indeed, it is only 365 byte text file with no terms at all!!
So there is no actual breach of anything.

If there was, I'd at least have some fun with them on eBay.
I'm a little curious. Would a link be objectionable?


Norm

[Art]

I'm a little curious. Would a link be objectionable?

Norm

I'd rather not.
It would be a different story if the project had any licencing terms.

It's probably a good thing to put in my resume when I think about it.
I've never had a design for commercial production before... but now I have :D

[Demon]

What about the silkscreen? I always put my name/date/etc.

If you did, order one and use paypal. Then take pics of everything and send to ebay and paypal. You get reimbursed and he gets delisted.

Ebay might even help you know how many he sold. If he used paypal, they might transfer all those funds to you.

Good luck.

Robert

[Normnet]

A while back someone else had their posted code turned into a commercial product.
I think it was a UV strength meter by Melanie however I can't seem to find it right now.


Norm

[Ioannis]

What about the silkscreen? I always put my name/date/etc.

If you did, order one and use paypal. Then take pics of everything and send to ebay and paypal. You get reimbursed and he gets delisted.

Ebay might even help you know how many he sold. If he used paypal, they might transfer all those funds to you.

Good luck.

Robert

Hi Robert.

No, they took out the name and it is direct sell from their company. Not on Ebay. Legally I could do something but the time and money it will take, does not worth it.

It is funny, that they copied even the software as is, and never cared to change the keys of the Keeloq from the remotes and receiver! It works just fine with my keys!!!

Ioannis

[kellyseye]

Count yourself lucky - I designed/built a 'walkman' type cassette player TWO YEARS before they became mainstream........

[Art]

Count yourself lucky - I designed/built a 'walkman' type cassette player TWO YEARS before they became mainstream........
Two years before it went into production,
to produce a portable one.. that does sound very impressive,
but that was bound to happen.
They were going to be produced whether you existed on this Earth or not.
Even at that stage, solid state music players were going to exist,
no matter how they came about.