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Any of you who are modders out there are probably aware of the plague which has had a firm grip on Planet Minecraft for quite some time now. I am of course referring to Pirate Sites - websites which download your mod and pass it off as their own.
If you run a google search on pretty much any mod, you're bound to get quite a number of results. Chances are, most of those sites are not "legitimate" websites for the mod.
This blog is being made to share ideas of how we can stop this plague, and get the credit we deserve for our hard work.
The Preventive Route
This seems quite effective, but only works if your mod has not yet been released. It consists of a couple of very simple stages.
Firstly, on every one of your screenshots, add something called a "watermark". This is a faint image of your logo or some text with your name placed onto the screenshot, in such a way that it proves the image is "yours". You could even put your Planet Minecraft or an AdFly link on there, so people who see it can tell straight away it's not where it should be, and easily find the correct source.
On top of that, you can add some licensing text to your page. Make it clear that other sites aren't allowed to use your mod! One of the main plauges however are Russian sites. From experience, adding this one line has a huge impact on how many sites then pirate your mod:
"Ð Ñ Ñ Ñ ÐºÐ¸Ñ Ñ Ð°Ð¹Ñ Ð¾Ð² не Ð¼Ð¾Ð¶ÐµÑ Ðµ Ñ Ð°Ñ Ð¿Ñ Ð¾Ñ Ñ Ñ Ð°Ð½Ñ Ñ Ñ Ñ Ñ Ð¾Ñ Ð¼Ð¾Ð´!"
It simply means, "Russian sites are not allowed to redistribute this mod!" Simple, yet effective. With my first mod, there was a huge number of Russian hits on a Google search. I added this one line to my other two mods after, and there are very few results for those on Russian pages. It doesn't eliminate the problem, but certainly helps.
Finally, you can add a readme.txt inside your download file, stating the mod is yours and where people can contact you if they download it from an illegitimate source. Most sites don't even play your mod, so they certainly wont go routing around inside to find things like that.
The Legal Route
This is a more challenging approach, but despite what people say you can take legal action against pirates. On a legal front, the second you publish your mod it is automatically copyrighted as your software, however that can be a challenge to argue. What is certainly yours though, is imagery. Logos, screenshots and the likes- They are 100% your creation, and as such are 100% your copyright.
Now, what can you do when a site posts up your mod? Well, that depends on A) What kind of site, and B) Where the site is located geographically.
Facebook pages are the easiest to take down. If you see a page sharing your mod illegally on Facebook, you can submit a Copyright Infringement form, and from experience it's only a matter of hours until the content is removed. YouTube has a similar system, but I've had less success with them.
The next thing to look out for is advertising. Many advertising companies obviously dont want their content associated with Piracy, so if you report the website to the advertisers, they may well pull out the advertising. This might not remove your mod from the site directly, but it does cut the sites funding, which obviously puts pressure on the webhosts.Â
From an experience today though, I reported a site to Google's AdSense and the site quickly removed my mod to comply with the AdSense policy. I'm encouraging other modders I know to do the same to mount up the pressure.
Unfortunately, that's about as far as you can get without taking real legal action, in a real court of law. Because the internet is a world-wide service, this can prove expensive and 99% of the time, it's not worth the hassle. I've lost about $5 in AdFly revenue to a Russian site, but for me to even fly to Russia for a legal case would obviously cost more than $5, so I wont bother.
The Polite Route
Although listed last, this is the thing you should actually try first. It's by far the least effective, but its' the best approach and gives you the moral high ground.
Simply send the site owners a request to remove the mod, or reach a compromise. I found a site who had redistributed one of my mods, sent them a message and now that site is using my AdFly links, and I send them an update whenever I release one so it's always up to date. They keep their content, I keep it controlled. If I ever do decide to remove from their site, I can simply deactivate the link.
Summing Up
So, thats about it. I'm interested to know of your experiences; Have you had success in battling a pirate, or has your mod been destroyed by Piracy? Maybe you have more tips to add to the list! Discuss in the comments!
This blog post is simply meant to be a helpful reference. Please don't take anything I say as entirely accurate, I'm speaking 100% from experience here. The whole mod copyright issue is a HUGE grey area and I'm sure there will be much debate about it, but to clarify it is technically your software, and Mojang only say you cannot sell mods; Modding minecraft is completely legal.
If you run a google search on pretty much any mod, you're bound to get quite a number of results. Chances are, most of those sites are not "legitimate" websites for the mod.
This blog is being made to share ideas of how we can stop this plague, and get the credit we deserve for our hard work.
The Preventive Route
This seems quite effective, but only works if your mod has not yet been released. It consists of a couple of very simple stages.
Firstly, on every one of your screenshots, add something called a "watermark". This is a faint image of your logo or some text with your name placed onto the screenshot, in such a way that it proves the image is "yours". You could even put your Planet Minecraft or an AdFly link on there, so people who see it can tell straight away it's not where it should be, and easily find the correct source.
On top of that, you can add some licensing text to your page. Make it clear that other sites aren't allowed to use your mod! One of the main plauges however are Russian sites. From experience, adding this one line has a huge impact on how many sites then pirate your mod:
"Ð Ñ Ñ Ñ ÐºÐ¸Ñ Ñ Ð°Ð¹Ñ Ð¾Ð² не Ð¼Ð¾Ð¶ÐµÑ Ðµ Ñ Ð°Ñ Ð¿Ñ Ð¾Ñ Ñ Ñ Ð°Ð½Ñ Ñ Ñ Ñ Ñ Ð¾Ñ Ð¼Ð¾Ð´!"
It simply means, "Russian sites are not allowed to redistribute this mod!" Simple, yet effective. With my first mod, there was a huge number of Russian hits on a Google search. I added this one line to my other two mods after, and there are very few results for those on Russian pages. It doesn't eliminate the problem, but certainly helps.
Finally, you can add a readme.txt inside your download file, stating the mod is yours and where people can contact you if they download it from an illegitimate source. Most sites don't even play your mod, so they certainly wont go routing around inside to find things like that.
The Legal Route
This is a more challenging approach, but despite what people say you can take legal action against pirates. On a legal front, the second you publish your mod it is automatically copyrighted as your software, however that can be a challenge to argue. What is certainly yours though, is imagery. Logos, screenshots and the likes- They are 100% your creation, and as such are 100% your copyright.
Now, what can you do when a site posts up your mod? Well, that depends on A) What kind of site, and B) Where the site is located geographically.
Facebook pages are the easiest to take down. If you see a page sharing your mod illegally on Facebook, you can submit a Copyright Infringement form, and from experience it's only a matter of hours until the content is removed. YouTube has a similar system, but I've had less success with them.
The next thing to look out for is advertising. Many advertising companies obviously dont want their content associated with Piracy, so if you report the website to the advertisers, they may well pull out the advertising. This might not remove your mod from the site directly, but it does cut the sites funding, which obviously puts pressure on the webhosts.Â
From an experience today though, I reported a site to Google's AdSense and the site quickly removed my mod to comply with the AdSense policy. I'm encouraging other modders I know to do the same to mount up the pressure.
Unfortunately, that's about as far as you can get without taking real legal action, in a real court of law. Because the internet is a world-wide service, this can prove expensive and 99% of the time, it's not worth the hassle. I've lost about $5 in AdFly revenue to a Russian site, but for me to even fly to Russia for a legal case would obviously cost more than $5, so I wont bother.
The Polite Route
Although listed last, this is the thing you should actually try first. It's by far the least effective, but its' the best approach and gives you the moral high ground.
Simply send the site owners a request to remove the mod, or reach a compromise. I found a site who had redistributed one of my mods, sent them a message and now that site is using my AdFly links, and I send them an update whenever I release one so it's always up to date. They keep their content, I keep it controlled. If I ever do decide to remove from their site, I can simply deactivate the link.
Summing Up
So, thats about it. I'm interested to know of your experiences; Have you had success in battling a pirate, or has your mod been destroyed by Piracy? Maybe you have more tips to add to the list! Discuss in the comments!
This blog post is simply meant to be a helpful reference. Please don't take anything I say as entirely accurate, I'm speaking 100% from experience here. The whole mod copyright issue is a HUGE grey area and I'm sure there will be much debate about it, but to clarify it is technically your software, and Mojang only say you cannot sell mods; Modding minecraft is completely legal.
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