Cigarhandbook.com ripped off

[hex1848]

Some guy ripped my site, www.cigarhandbook.com and made an app for that. He's selling it in the iPhone app store for .99. Cute.

http://appbeacon.com/apps/032005/cigar-handbook-for-cigar-lovers
http://www.dashtechonline.com/dashapps.html

I sent him a nice cease and desist email, I really don't like blatant thieves.

[bigwhiteash]

Got an address for this douchbag? We can pay him a visit!

[TravPSU]

Wow, they even copied your text word for word. Let us know how this pans out.

[hex1848]

He actually replied right away this morning and claimed he got the text from Wikipedia.

I did a couple of quick google searches:

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Ma...US309&filter=0

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Th...US309&filter=0

I did find a couple of other copy cat sites, some of them do mention cigarhandbook.com, others dont. Nothing in Wikipedia. What I don't like is that someone is actually charging for my content with out permission.

Thankfully the internet archive shows the site was first published in April of 2004: http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://cigarhandbook.com

[ggiese]

There's some money to be made with those apps. Doesn't sound like much - but if the app sells even reasonably well, there could be thousands of dollars at stake. No sense in someone else profiting from your work...

You should talk with Moki (Andrew Welch). I believe he is the best person to talk to about
retaining rights around intellectual property, and possible follow up recourse. You can find him on CigarPass, CigarFamily and CigarSnobs. I'm nore sure about timeframes, but I believe you should act quickly - because if it's unchecked it could become public domain or someone else could lay claim to it.

[hex1848]

I spoke with the author of the application and he has assured me the content will be changed in the next couple of days. Sounds like I need to learn more about the iphone sdk

[Corvin]

I spoke with the author of the application and he has assured me the content will be changed in the next couple of days. Sounds like I need to learn more about the iphone sdk

You could also contact Apple themselves, they're pretty good about revoking apps that violate copyright, etc, from what I've heard.

[ggiese]

You could also contact Apple themselves, they're pretty good about revoking apps that violate copyright, etc, from what I've heard.

Yep I've heard the same thing - they're quick to pull in apps, but just as quick to shut them down if there's any legal issue with 'em.

Miguel - if you can come up with any kind of app that does anything - it's WELL worth it to develop. $99 to buy the development kit. It's so simple a kid can do it. And I believe the developer is paid 40% of the total take... at .99, that's .40 per app sold. Can build up very quickly, if it's something that is desirable and goes viral...

[Rugbysh9]

And I believe the developer is paid 40% of the total take... at .99, that's .40 per app sold. Can build up very quickly, if it's something that is desirable and goes viral...

I've also heard a lot of people give their apps away in the begining trying to build up a name for themselvs. Apple has been known to pick up developers that way.

[hex1848]

I think the main obstacle right now would be my lack of a mac. I was looking into some vmware virtualization that would let me run OS X on my laptop, but it seems a little complicated. I write software for a living, I doubt its much different then the stuff I do on a daily basis.

[Eville]

If they keep this up, show up at his door wearing a skin hat. Nobody messes with a man wearing a skin hat.