Claudio's and Ron Caudillo's models on ebay

[Ron Caudillo]

Hi All,

paper craft model models kit disk full of all kinds - eBay (item 260214454441 end time Mar-01-08 06:47:17 PST)

My Enterprise Bridge is featured as one of the models he shows- and I was the one who took the picture when I released the model!

I also saw Claudio's Batmobile featured in another photo; I'll try to contact him.

I contacted e-bay to turn this guy in and also downloaded a form to fax them officially.

I also set a message to the seller and told him I didn't appreciate him making money off of my (and others) hard work, especially since the models were released for FREE download, and also that he never asked for my permission. I demanded that he remove the listing.

Best Regards,

[cgutzmer]

Good luck and keep us in the loop on the results!
Chris

[Ron Caudillo]

Thanks for the support!

I emailed Claudio and let him know the details.

I also sent e-mails to everyone in my address book asking them to leave a message with this clown on exactly what they think about it. So far I've gotten 5 responses in 30 minutes telling me they did just that!

Maybe some of you guys would like to join in the fun. If we do this to the pirates we see, just maybe they'd think twice!

Also, I think that I'm going to edit all of my models and have them reposted with this on each and every sheet, "This model is provided FREE of charge. If you purchased it, YOU GOT RIPPED OFF. Please contact the thief who sold you this model and let them know you were ripped off."

Maybe the rest of you designers may consider that too!

Best Regards,

[Stev0]

What about selling them on ebay for free? Is it possible? You just email the bidder the URL and he goes and downloads it.

edit: I like how you can contact other buyers. You can tell them that they bought models that were free and that by doing so have violated copyright rules on Ebay's site.

[Ron Caudillo]

Thanks Stevo for you suggestion.

I faxed a formal complaint to ebay as I am one of the designers of one of the models this guy uses to hawk his listing.

I checked back at ebay and guess what? The listing is still there but the picture of my Enterprise was removed.

I checked back later and I received a message from the seller:
Your model is not on the disk I did not realize I had used that pic.

So I replied back to him:
ALL of the other pictures you show as examples are available for FREE DOWNLOAD. I personally know some of the designers and have reported you to them. It is UNETHICAL to sell models you DO NOT HAVE PERMISSION. What you are doing is despicable! You used the picture that I TOOK when the model was being designed, but even if you were just using it to MISLEAD others to think that it is on your CD to buy your STOLEN patterns infuriates and disgusts me. You are a deceiver and a thief. There are MANY of us designers and builders that constantly check sites such as ebay to insure unscrupulous people such as you are identified and reported by the creators to ebay. We look out for each other. Simply removing one picture from your listing does not justify your attempt to conduct an illegal sale.

I checked back a bit later and saw that the listing is gone. So I clicked on the link I posted in a previous message and I see that ebay shows that it has ended as some poor sucker has used the "buy it now" transaction. But, as Stevo said earlier, I can see who bought it and will certainly contact him and let him know he was ripped off and should leave negative feed back.

Working together, we can help get rid of these pirates! Thanks for everything and your support. You certainly have mine!

Best Regards,

[Cláudio Dias]

Originally Posted by Ron Caudillo

I emailed Claudio and let him know the details.

Thanks Ron for letting me know!

I've also contacted the seller and eBay.

All the best!

[Ron Caudillo]

Hi Claudio!

I've always admired your work and I'd recognize it anywhere!

Apparently there are 2 Claudio's (maybe more!) in this forum and had contacted the other guy mistakenly. Thanks for getting back to me- you beat me to it!

I did get another reply from the seller though:
Funny to think they are stolen when they are there for FREE download, which I did ages ago. My children love to see the paper come to life as do many other people. Have you really though about what it is you're saying to me? Free download available to anyone. Well because I enjoy papercraftingthere are many other people who enjoy it too but are unable to download them. Because I enjoy them I thought it would be great to put MY time and MY effort in compiling these paper crafts together and have them available to others who are unable to download them. Do you really think I'm making money off of these? I'm not the only one out there selling compilations. Regardless - there is no more auction, so you can cool your pants.

The nerve of this guy! Going for the sympathy vote by using his kids! I also don't understand how someone who has access to ebay online would not be able to download the models? I checked the seller (ben19692001) and buyer's (gitabyte) profile and they are virtually identical. Neither give their exact location (just have United States), and both have the same exact ebay join date (January 24, 2000)! This guy bought it himself! I for one, will not "cool my pants" because there will be others we have to stop. (Funny how quickly the seller removed the listing after being contacted. He still had 3 days left!)

My reply to him:
Regardless of your intentions, it is illegal to sell what is not yours to sell. You did not have permission.

Many thanks to William Perry at GoogleGroups PaperModels II for bringing this to my attention.

Best Regards,

[Cláudio Dias]

Ron,

Thank you for your feedback!

'Buying his own item': well, I think this guy will have some problems with eBay soon!

All the best

[paulhbell]

What these guys are doing is wrong and well done for getting him to buy his own item.

This is where ebay will fall flat on it's face, letting people like him sell 'freebies' and people selling copyrighted materials is ebays own fault. They should regulate their sellers better or the goverments will eventually listen to the 'good' people and step in.

[CJTK1701]

I'll make sure to send a letter as well, this is nonsense. I hope he gets shut down and gets tired of being called on his actions. I didn't get a letter from you Ron, but I'm going to be sure and let the guy know how I feel and contact ebay as well.

[Gixergs]

Well done in making the stand against this theft. I have suffered at the hands of Ebay but as a buyer. Their feed back system is not the defence they seem to think it is as if you leave negative feedback the seller can do the same and ruin your rating. I hope your stand will teach a lesson to those sellers that sell without
Conscience and maybe make Ebay realise that they must take a more active role in the auction arena. I hope that people like this does not deter the generous people like yourself and other designers from still making free models avaliable to all. Goodluck with the crusade and thank you

[Ron Caudillo]

Sorry about that Joe! In my zealousness, I missed a few good friends (I got to hear it from them too!) Thanks for the support. I bet this guy gets quite a few mails from this! One of my friends replied to me and said the seller left him a reply! He said:
I am not selling Ron's model. and he has contacted me..by the way did you read the description ?

Lame, lame, lame.

Let's keep up the pressure. When we hear about sellers such as this, it would be cool to FLOOD them with messages letting them know exactly how we feel!

Best Regards,

[skupilkinson]

I'm in. Since I'm more of a designer than a builder these days I'm more than happy to show a solid front against these guys.

I know how I'd feel if I were to learn that some punk was making a nice little earner off of my work!

I'll get in touch with this seller too Ron.

[skupilkinson]

Message sent!

[CJTK1701]

Originally Posted by Ron Caudillo

Sorry about that Joe! In my zealousness, I missed a few good friends (I got to hear it from them too!) Thanks for the support. I bet this guy gets quite a few mails from this! One of my friends replied to me and said the seller left him a reply! He said:
I am not selling Ron's model. and he has contacted me..by the way did you read the description ?

Not a problem Ron. Everyone knows I'm not a big proponent of copyrighting free stuff, or even my art work, but it's guys like this that incense me. To take someones hard work and sell it for personal profit is just wrong and nothing short of out right thievery.

To that battlefront Spartans, let's destroy this enemy of creativity!