woodsmic

Just sorting out the folders after the crash, will be back shortly..

Who sell fruit machine disks (other than the people we know here who do it)

So i'm on ebay and i see this guy flogging these disks with the machines on, i ask him a question:

Why do you sell something that is already free at www.fruit-emu.co.uk ? Also i thought it was illegal to sell these emulators? does your fee go towards the licensing for the likes of Barcrest, JPM ? after all they released the code for free ???

A few mins later i get a reply, ok so the guy isnt really sure whats going on at the moment.

hi,

I do not sell the emulators, meerly the installing menu and guides I have written, The rest is to cover my costs and all the other software is free so people can enjoy these machines in the comfort of their own home.

thankyou for your question.

regards
*****

Ok so he says he doesnt sell them yet his entire sales pitch is buy this cd for 400 roms plus emulators. So i decided to try ye old scare tactic.

If that is the case then you need to change your product description.

It should read you are buying cheat guides etc but I will throw in 400 machines and a disc. At the moment your item is announced as selling 400 machines on a disk. This is a breech of copyright with the manufacturers and is taken quite seriously.

I'd suggest (but you don't have to take my word for it) you change it, the gambling companies are starting to look very hard into eBay and will surely prosecute people who are selling their material.

Just a heads up !

Paul Gamblin
Legal Marketing Services
JPM Leisure INC

So i waited and waited and got no reply, then i thought its time to really put the cat amongst the pigeons. I sent an email to Ebay's legal services with the following

Message: I have noticed a large amount of people selling what seems to be free programs for the pc.

Item number ********** is a good example.

The product description is that you are buying 400 fruit machines for your pc on a dvd. I happen to know that the product itself is free to download from the website www.fruit-emu.co.uk. Also the programs that are on this disc are licensed to the gaming companies such as JPM Lesuire, Barcrest, BFM and many more. These companies released their source code to create these emulators but on public free release, this means that they are not for resale and having been in contact with some of these companies they have confirmed that this seller is indeed in breach of that copyright.

I did approach the seller and asked why he was selling what was already free to which he replied "i am not selling the machines, just the disc and a fee for putting them together" If this is the case then the product description should of read Cheat guides plus free fruit machines.

I hope i can rely on your legal services to ensure that this particular type of product is not marketed like this as it will be the gaming companies who will take action and have already requested samples and previous sales with regards to the same matter.

We at www.fruit-emu.co.uk spend our time and money putting these games together available for public download but not for re-sale (as it states with every file), this user is in breach of this copyright and i would apreciate it if you could look into this and any further people looking to sell fruit machines on cd's.

Lastly we do not make money on the people who sell our hardwork and we have simply had enough of it. We dont own the emulators or the software roms but what we produce on our site we could quite happily charge people for but we release it on public license - not for resale, however these people are re-selling this work which is a breach of copyright from the manufacturers such as JPM, Bell Fruit and others.

I would apreciate some form of reply and advise on what you intend to do with regards to this matter.

Many Thanks

********

Ok so the last couple of paragraphs were mainly scare tactics but low and behold 10 mins later all the sellers auctions for fruit machine emulation disks had vanished. This Probably wont stop others doing it but the speed in which it was handled was superb.

I sniggered to myself for a few mins and then went back to looking for an arcade machine

Maybe we can make a difference after all ??

I was banned from PayPal (ebay company) for selling my fruit machine games through my website - they do not allow you to sell any type of gambling related games. Even if they are for fun and not for real money. This totally screwed by business up a year ago.

Ive noticed 99% of the emulations on ebay offer paypal payment, this in itself is probably enough to have all of the auctions removed.

On the other hand, Since they are making cash twice (once on the ebay fee's and once on the paypal fee's) they probably couldnt give a damn. Would be interesting to see what happens though.

Feel free to quote this situation if you decide to have another go!

Youve got mail.

Mike.