Hello everybody. This message is addressed to every person have downloaded the Pc and/or Mac version of the copyright infringment product Barbara ditribuited by the member/merchant mgarramore through the Renderosity Free Stuff arera in link form and hosted to the mgarramone site. The Barbara product contains the body texture and body bump .bum plus the iris textures of our product Asia Package (with minor and unnoticable modifications, mainly the hue), as well as contains some commercial poses from Jen and from other artists/merchants in the MarketPlace. The Barbara/(Asia) license file says: "Barbara is a copyright of Futurartstudio.com. Use it for your personal use but alert me if you'll use this character for selling or for other commercial things. Barbara is totally free...i ask you only to send me an e-mail at ............................ to tell me what do you think about my character :) OK???" In this license Mgarramone have not only falsely claimed the ownership of our Asia product copyrights but also allowed everybody to re-distribuite re-sell our product pirated by him letting them commit other copyright infringments. So after the damage we've suffered due to the absolutely dishonest behavior of mgarramone (about 7000 pirated Barbara product downloaded for the 2 versions Pc and mac) and to protect our copyright, we want to be sure that everybody downloaded it knows that it is a pirated product and that it is obiouvsly not possible to re-distribuite it or re-sell it in whole or in part. The copyright infringment files were removed from the mngarramone site after we've contacted and sent the proofs to both the renderosity admins and our lawyer studios (where we've deposited the image proofs) and the abuse section of the hosting company where the files were hosted (the mgarramone site). Attached to this message there are only very few sample image proofs (we couldn't post our entire Asia texture for obiouvs reasons) that shows perfectly that everything was identical but the hue ( and but 2 little areas on the breats and on the back, the Asia body was present on the 95 % with 100% identical rough borderline of the texture and the 100% of the iris). We want to add also a section of the e-mail we've received from mgarramone (translated from italian): "I remember to Miss Zampini (StefyZZ) that the renderosity license of the products sold through renderosity says in the firsts 2 lines that the artist copyright is valid only for the products sold in the Market Place and not for the products FREELY distribuited through the Free Stuff area." So it seems that according to the mgarramone opinion everyone have purchased a product through the Market Place can re-distribuite it in the free stuff area without making any copyright infringment. The strangest thing is that mgarramone is a merchant too, so we can't believe he've written this kind of things, but he've written them to us. We're also unfortunately receiving from yesterday (the pirated files was discovered and pulled before yesterday) several e-mails with viruses attached and from misterious italian addresses in our e-mail box we use only for our customers and renderosity members, and that we've never, never received before. So we want to ask also, if possible , what is the admins point of view, about this. We should like to finish this message quoting the words of the President of Daz , Dan Farrel, that we feel so close to our thoughts: "we put considerable resources into creating our products. The value of these products lies in the fact that they are time consuming, expensive and difficult to create. Our goal is to sell this work to others, allowing them to start their projects from where we left off, and allowing us to earn money to live on and to invest in future projects. The problem arises when someone starts from our work, bypassing the investment necessary to get to that point, and then distributes "their" work in ways that may compete with our own product. And that's as complicated as our motivation gets. We simply need to ensure that no one can use our work as an unfair advantage to compete with us. And without having to go into the infinite number ways someone can create and distribute derivative work, this explanation should also help to clarify which specific methods of producing and/or distributing your work are permitted. The fact that this community is made up mostly of people who look for ways to support each other and our market, rather than parasites who continuously look for loopholes that damage others, is what makes this such a strong and growing community. (Speaking generally and not referring to anyone specifically.) Thank you very much for your kind attention. Sincerely, StefyZZ

Hey, I'm against copyright infringement, of course. There is absolutely no such item in Free Stuff. So I have no idea what you're talking about.

As I've written in the message above the items (PC and Mac version) were already been removed from the free stuff and from the mgarramone site as well. This message was only to let know the persons who have downloaded it that being a pirated product the license included in it (that allow to re-distribuite it in whole or in part both in free or commercial products)it's obiouvsly not valid. The reason of this message is only to avoid other possible infringments due to the not aknowledgment of the persons who have downloaded it , it was a copyright infringment item. Thank you again very much for your kind attention. Sincerely, StefyZZ

Geez, that really sucks :( I know we haven't always exactly agreed on everything in the past, but this is something I just HATE to see happening to a fellow merchant :( I didn't see the Free Stuff items in question though, fortunately.

Like I said, I'm against copyright infringement, of course. You could have written this message differently. I had to re-read the whole thing to find a statement that the file had already been deleted. I don't need to read all the legaleze about copyrights... that's a given....

Hi Ron, maybe you could design a form where we cut and paste text in default textfields that you are enabled to understand a message from the start without having it to read over and over again. Funny that Eowyn and I understood the message the first time we read it... SCNR

Hey hey - Puntomaus - Ron - would you please take away your personal dislikes (or whatever) and keep to the topic ... this thing here is bad enough - and should be handled very soon ... Copyright infrindgement is not a joke or a gentlemans mistake !

OK, let me rephrase this. Copyright infringement is illegal and bad. Yes, we need to squash such infringements. I would prefer seeing the relevant information "up front." The offending item has been deleted.. that is all I need to know. Good.

Hi Stefy I'm really sad for what happened to you.
7000 downloads of your stolen product mean a huge damage!
What is Renderosity going to do to mgarramone? It looks he damaged other merchants too.

What disgusts me even more is that this guy posted a message in the Product Showcase forum to present a "new" texture he was working on (and it looked like an other obvious Asia rip off...) telling how hard it was to accomplish such a work.

Yeah too bad all the work, time and money invested were Stefy's.

It is not the first time that this kind of stuff happens to you so I can only imagine how you feel.

I fear this is only the tip of the iceberg eh?

Good luck Stefy!

Hi Stefy: Nice that you nailed him though. Thanks for the information (all of it)

I'm 1 of the 7000 who d/l the file, I hadn't actually got round to even opening it, I'm glad I'm a little lazy at times, it's going straight to my recycle bin, I don't want stolen software, lifetime ban for mgarramone I hope. Rob

I'm another one of the 7000 that downloaded it. It's now deleted from my machine. Keep up your wonderful work, Stefy, you're a great asset to the poser community. Hope the thiefs leave your stuff alone in the future!

Thanks for the heads up Stefy, I too deleted it from my library. I'm sorry people have to be so dishonest. And I'm sorry some people are so full of themselves that they can't even understand your post. Talk about adding insult to injury. geeez!

Thanz for the info. Barbara has been deleted from my poser library.

I've deleted it from my library. Thanks for the info.

Hadn't even opened it yet, consider it deleted. Thanks for the heads-up! Shame it wasn't discovered sooner. :(

Thank you very, very much evryone for your so kind support and great honesty! :) Sincerely, Stefy

Funny... I never downloaded it... But I think anyone stupid enough to do something like this not only deserves a lifetime ban, he deserves prosecution.

Hi Stefy, You know I just bought 2 of your pkgs, Asia and Yuma. I love both. I had Barbra on my pc, but had deleted even before this notice. It must of not been as good with out all your extras??? Glad now I deleted it no matter what my reason was then. You work too hard for this kind of crap! And I as a buyer or your products am glad you are heads up. We customers don't like to get ripped off either. And when I pay my hard earned money for a class 1 product, I do not like to see rip offs on freestuff. Looking forward to your new product. Turtle

I downloaded it too of course - hadn't opened it yet though. But I already own Asia, one of my favorites. :o] :] FishNose

I'm glad you posted this notice Stefy, not only to protect yourself from such an obvious copyright infringement, but it also protects members here from creating accidental infringements as well. It's very likely that in the future, someone else would have used parts of Barbara in their own texture and given it away, not knowing that they used parts of a commercial texture illegally. That same thing happened to me; that's why Odyssey is no longer available for download. Anyway, I'm glad everything is working out, and it's nice to see so many people here being honest. :) Take good care, talk to you again soon. SnowS Hoping his pictures are worth 1001 words.

I started to download it, but it was an exe. file. I NEVER open or even download exe. files from people I dont know.

I have my Barbara download deleted. Thanks for the info. Take care.

Hmmm, I think I downloaded it, but I own Asia already too. At 27Mb my largest store download so far. I rarely use it because it always comes out looking green when I render for some reason. But thanks for the heads up. later jb

I downloaded too, will be deleted promptly as soon as I get home!

Thank you for this information, Stefy. I have already your outstanding Asia texture; I don't need a clone texture. This saves me some hard disk space! Mazak

My total support goes to Stefy, and also as an Asia purchaser, I too feel damaged in my investment by this illegal distribution. Another general thought. If the few (thankfully) merchants without scruples will not stop this behaviour, they will damage the whole system, because the trust in the merchant is what makes people buy. If people will see and learn more of merchants stealing each other's works, they will buy less or even stop buying here at all, because nobody wants to be frauded on his/her own money especially when it's not abundant (which is true of most artists). - Orio

Like Roy, I never download .exe files from unfamiliar sources. However, I'm glad that you posted your entire message so that several thousand good people could find and delete the package from their machines. Being a thief is bad enough, but who'd want to be a thief's unsuspecting dupe? Carolly

Sad to hear this happend to you. I'm also one of the 7000. Unfortunatelly i have installed it, so i have had to jump to all the directorys to delete them. Now everything is Barbara-Clear. But before i deleted it, i compared them. And in fact it's your Asia per more then 90%. Just scaled down from 4000pixels to 2000pixels and then some color-adjustment by filters. Hope he will be kicked in the ass and banned. SHARKEY

I did get the file when it appeared but never opened it...I don't do any self-executing files other than known programs I purchase, I like to know what is in there and where it is going. Barbara has been deleted from my system.

I am glad you posted this Stefy. File has been deleted.

I downloaded it also I believe. >:o| I am going to hunt it down and delete it. I already have Asia, I don't need another. ;o)

My copy is deleted. Admins at 3D Commune have removed it from their download section too.

Wow. I'm glad to find your posting. I just deleted that file to. The fact it was a .exe is suspicious also. Considering your getting hit by virus laden e-mails for catching this a--hole makes me think maybe the .exe has a payload in it. I'd suggest everyone who downloaded it update there virus scans and do a full system scan just to be sure.

Ack I am one of the 7000 also, I haven't unzip the file yet, but it is going straight to the thrash can. I love Stefy's product. JV

The Klez-laden emails is probably coincidence. I just got one, and nobody in Italy has a reason (good, bad, or indifferent) to poison my computer. "H"-flavored Klez... I wonder if it will go to the end of the alphabet and then stop mutating? Carolly

Where's Conan the Librarian when you really need him? I hate it when people steal work and sell it. As to viruses - they can be traced to the originator by using government resources. It is only a matter of will and reporting. no peace no rest

Thank you again for your honesty and really kind collaboration. I've forgotten to add that both in our Asia purchasers list and in Jen purchase list there is not the username mgarramone, so he probably should have stolen our products that he've then pirated. And it was also brought to our attention that also in some mgarramone MarketPlace items there are/were some copyright infringment poses from MarketPlace Packages. Then it was also brought to our attention that the Barbara pirated item was also distribuited through 3DCommune (now removed as well) , not sure how many downloads there, but added to the R'osity 7000 is a huge distribution and huge damage. I want to say now to the Copyrigth Agent JenyK and/or one of the admins that , since mgarramone have violated the TOS with his dishonest actions against me, Jen and other Artists/merchants, as against the honest customers who have spent their precious money for the products, and he should be able to commit the same damage against other artists/merchants, we think he should not be allowed to commit again other infringments or piracy actions like the ones he've did against all us. Please admins reply, and think seriously to take some provide to avoid other merchants will be damaged again. Thank you very much for your kind attention, Sincerely, Stefy.

My Sweet friend Stefy. I've seen similar things happen to you before here, and it hurts my heart to see it happening to you again. I'm so very sorry that someone is so dishonest to do this to you. Not only does he have the balls to redistribute your texture, but he sounds like he really thinks it's ok according to the license. You already know I've downloaded Barbara, but it was only to compare her because I knew she looked too familiar. And it may not be a copyright infringement to use others poses in your packages, but it's lowdown and unethical in my opinion. Pose packages take a long time to create too, and Jen takes tender time in creating her packages. I have no idea what the admin is doing about this merchant, but THIS sort of crap sure makes me think how the rest of the community is looking at us vendors. 7000 + downloads, what a crying shame. I just sit here and keep shaking my head in sorrow Stefy. Some people say that copying is flattering, well in some cases that may be true, but in this case, it's taken HUGE bucks out of your pocketbook, and THAT I do NOT find flattering. I certainly hope that some sort of action is taken soon so that this vendor will not be allowed to continue to do this sort of thing. {{HUGE HUGS}} just try to remember my friend that "every dog has their day" and I'm GLAD you brought this to everyones attention! Deb

Yes, please...when?? I'm saving my money!

All of this just makes me sick that ano vendor can so blatantly steal other people work and give it away or sell it. I am so sorry this happened to you Stefy. I definitely think something should be done about this and done soon. {{hugs}}

Attached Link: http://akin.free.fr/poser.htm

We are truly sad for you SteF! Marc & I Love your textures! We use them very often in our pics! As you can clearly see here! There are more "Good" souls in this world then "bad" ones! Don't give up on the "Good" ones! BTW, any new textures in the works?? Just curious! Yours Truly! Anik & Marco

I just want to thank you all very, very and very much again, for your great support, and honesty!! :) I'm really glad to let you know that I've received the Store Manager ClintH confirmation, the member mgarramone was banned permanently for his extremely dishonest behaviour. A special big "thank you" to Debbie M. and Jen that discovered the mgarramone piracy action, and promptly brought to my attention (..many hugs back at you..) Thank you again everyone! :) All the Best, Sincerely, Stefy.

Cool to hear this Steffy. This was the one and only info/action which i wanted to see. SHARKEY

I'm so sorry about what has happen to you. My heart is with you my firend! I hope all the best, sincerely Stefano

we're all with you, steffy. I'm italian and I'm sorry for this bad example. "The member mgarramore was banned..." O.K. this the right choice. No virus here, informatic or human they are. Long life and prosper. Maxime

my goodness! im terrible at creating skins........ i have a figure in the market place, and i only used skins 2 create the ad. i say so in the ad, and also state that no skins are included w/ the figure. i also stated who and where i got the skin from. how does this sit w/ yall? i have my own "code" i follow, but sometimes you end up offending people. is what i did ok in yalls eyes???

seems to me that a lot of people do the same as you so it's ok with me. Rob

whew........ feel much better now....... lol, come 2 think of it, wasnt this this the guy that would email every1 all the time and tell them 2 post comments on his site? and hed use the chat post to "yell" 2 every1 2 look at his new stuff. lol, is he gone now?