Unauthorised Conversions to Trainz Android - Steps Available?

There's a couple of users who continue to port my Trainz models to Android and release them, without my consent. This is a violation of the Trainz terms & conditions, as well as copyright. I've heard that other content creators are having the same problem.

Given that this is against the Trainz T&C, are there any steps available to stop this happening? I've filed DMCA requests, but they just keep popping back up.
 
How are they releasing the models - via the DLS or a third party web site?

Have you contacted these users directly?

Under the DMCA laws the complainant (you) has 14 days to either stop pursuing the DMCA request or file a lawsuit - an expensive option. Perhaps they/he/she could be simply "calling your bluff"?

My thoughts.
 
Well judging by the fact that you are from down under assuming your info is correct here. DMCA won't help you because it is a US law. Instead you'd have to do whatever Australian copyright laws say/provide for. Also could you link me the Trainz T&C because I can't seem to find it online except for the forum CoC. It depends also if the site that is hosting the content is US based as for DMCA. Because some hosts who are based outside the US (Russia comes to mind) have a duty to ignore DMCA/takedown requests.
 
Well judging by the fact that you are from down under assuming your info is correct here. DMCA won't help you because it is a US law.

Not entirely correct. From the DMCA Web site.

Even though DMCA is copyright law in the USA our service is NOT exclusive to the US only. DMCA.com has worked with webhosting or internet copyright or Intellectual Property Copyright processes within most countries throughout the world. Our takedown contacts are in all the major hosting countries.
 
Just to be aware upon further examination of that site. They are not affiliated with the government. They seem to be a man-in-the middle sort of company (US based too) that simply just dish out DMCAs on your behalf rather than you filing them yourself.
 
That is pretty much true of all copyright claims today. Lots of companies and many law firms send emails claiming to represent copyright owners. I assume they get some fee for doing this work. We got them at the ISP I worked for all the time. My ISP was under NO legal obligation to act on these complaints since they have no legal weight. We would just pass them on to the customer and let them decide what to do as long as the material was not illegal under US law. Most customers simply deleted the files and replied that they had complied. If one customer became an issue too often, we would quote our terms of service to them to show that we had the right to terminate their services without refund for abuse. Now if the copyright holder followed through with a lawsuit and got a judge to issue a warrant, we would of course comply. That happened just twice in 18 years.
 
How are they releasing the models - via the DLS or a third party web site?

Have you contacted these users directly?

Under the DMCA laws the complainant (you) has 14 days to either stop pursuing the DMCA request or file a lawsuit - an expensive option. Perhaps they/he/she could be simply "calling your bluff"?

My thoughts.

The downloads are hosted on Google Drive and they advertise them via a Youtube channel with links in the description. I've used the DMCA takedown processes on both (which do work for me as an Australian), but the user keeps putting them back up. I've also put several comments on the videos asking them to stop. They just ignore it.
 
All you can do is use the DMCA takedown as eventually Google will delete his accounts after several complaints against the user but it won't prevent him from creating a new account unless they ban his IP (dont know how this will go since IP addresses can change). Commenting on the videos are basically not worth it as they'll be ignored like how you experienced.


Cheers
 
The downloads are hosted on Google Drive and they advertise them via a Youtube channel with links in the description. I've used the DMCA takedown processes on both (which do work for me as an Australian), but the user keeps putting them back up. I've also put several comments on the videos asking them to stop. They just ignore it.

Have you tried actually DMCAing the youtube channel itself? Since after three DMCAs the channel WILL be terminated for accumulating three copyright strikes. You can keep DMCAing the drives but the YT channel will just be able to change the links. But if you can take out the channel itself then that may hinder whoever is behind it a little more.
 
These converters must be smart in some way, even though they are breaking laws. I don't know how they manage to import the .cdp's into Trainz Android, or why Trainz Android is the most popular version for this. I don't like them and I never will. They shouldn't be doing this for any reason, and sharing them is just going to get them copyrighted.

Wildnorwester, mind PMing the link of the channel(s)?
Thanks!

P.S. I believe N3V should should spend more time locking down the files for Trainz Android and subsequent versions. This will most likely keep these people at bay for a while.
 
Surely it should be possible for N3V to work with Android (Google?) so a cross check of installed content on a device will pick up anything that has been flagged as in breach of copyright and delete it and/or put some sort of block on it.

Unfortunately the tablet game scene is rife with cheaters and plagiarists as anyone who has played some of the more popular titles can relate. Really don't know why N3V bothered with it rather than focus on their core PC audience.
 
Surely it should be possible for N3V to work with Android (Google?) so a cross check of installed content on a device will pick up anything that has been flagged as in breach of copyright and delete it and/or put some sort of block on it.

Unfortunately the tablet game scene is rife with cheaters and plagiarists as anyone who has played some of the more popular titles can relate. Really don't know why N3V bothered with it rather than focus on their core PC audience.

I see your idea with that but that may interfere with the (probably very few) creators who might actually put out Android versions of THEIR OWN content. Since looking at this now. I'm thinking if it might be worth looking into converting my own stuff (Like my recently released EPS Mk3 Generator van) for Android use and offering it as a seperate download.
 
There's a couple of users who continue to port my Trainz models to Android and release them, without my consent. This is a violation of the Trainz terms & conditions, as well as copyright. I've heard that other content creators are having the same problem.

Given that this is against the Trainz T&C, are there any steps available to stop this happening? I've filed DMCA requests, but they just keep popping back up.
Just attempt at making a script that breaks the model
 
Have you tried actually DMCAing the youtube channel itself? Since after three DMCAs the channel WILL be terminated for accumulating three copyright strikes. You can keep DMCAing the drives but the YT channel will just be able to change the links. But if you can take out the channel itself then that may hinder whoever is behind it a little more.
I hate that when I save bookmarks to videos that are TV shows or music or other copyrighted stuff and later they are gone and the account was terminated for violating terms and service. I guess the copyright owners have teams of people on computers who regularly search for the company's content then the company complains to youtube and youtube has to delete the video and ban the user after three times.
 
Just attempt at making a script that breaks the model
I think animations can't be ported in, .kin files I think? So if you gave all of your models an animation (even if it's just static) that should be able to break the model and make conversion impossible. And also use tga images for textures in order to make it even more difficult. I don't think this will ever stop but it can certainly be made a lot more difficult

EDIT: I have to give credit to AlexMaria and this thread I posted in a bit back: https://forums.auran.com/threads/countermesaures-against-unauthorized-android-conversions.165375/

That's where I learned .kin files can't be supported. So I don't want to pretend I found this out because I learned from someone else
 
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I think animations can't be ported in, .kin files I think? So if you gave all of your models an animation (even if it's just static) that should be able to break the model and make conversion impossible. And also use tga images for textures in order to make it even more difficult. I don't think this will ever stop but it can certainly be made a lot more difficult
Now that's needed
 
I think animations can't be ported in, .kin files I think? So if you gave all of your models an animation (even if it's just static) that should be able to break the model and make conversion impossible. And also use tga images for textures in order to make it even more difficult. I don't think this will ever stop but it can certainly be made a lot more difficult
That’s a good idea. Another one is using a Trainz build for your content that is unknown for Trainz Android.
However as with all copyright issues you have to keep reporting it. Piracy is always an issue. Trainz Android is popular because you can easily get full access to the file system to include new content.
 
Pretty sure Trainz Android is build 3.7 (what is that, TS12 SP1? Trainz Mac 1?), so if we shift content creation to TANE+ for the most part then we can make conversion impossible. I get that it may be a bit difficult for some creators who are used to TS12 and earlier to shift over, and I understand, but that's really the main way to make it impossible
 
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