Problem with WERSI - solved.

[ZioKiller]

EDIT: whoever happens to read this thread after more than one year should know that Wersi, now property of Musicstore Cologne, has finally repaired to their mistake.




ORIGINAL POST:

Everybody knows what piracy is, the damage it does to software manufacturers and to the whole system, and everybody knows that downloading and using a pirated software, even for "private use", is a crime anyway.

Well, I would never had imagined that an act of piracy could ever been done by a well known manufacturer of home organs and digital keyboards, I'm talking about WERSI, have you ever heard about this brand?

Here's the (short) story: a while back I was contacted by a certain Ulrich Wildhack, who was in charge for Wersi as a chairman and salesman, over a possible collaboration for including my VB3 into their own software as an addition to or replacement of NI B4. For this purpose, they asked me a NFR (Not For Resale) license of VB3 in order to test the software on their keyboards.

After a few months of silence from both parties, I was contacted by a friend of mine who invited me to visit WERSI's website, onto which there was a news headline reporting that the new software upgrade had been released and it also included VB3! I was not aware of this and I wasn't even asked permission for proceeding. They practically "embedded" the NFR license I gave them into their software package.

In the meanwhile, WERSI went out of business towards the beginning of 2010. Someone told me that they already started selling those "packages" with the same NFR license for 100 euros each. And I wasn't informed, wasn't asked permission, and I didn't get a single dime either!

Tomorning the confirmation arrives: a belgian guy sends me an email telling that he bought VB3 from Wersi last years, and he wanted to know if he could update it to the latest version. He said he paid 100 euros for it.

Now the "WERSI" brand name belongs to Musik Store - Cologne, and the gentlemen who scammed me and their customers has nothing to do with WERSI any more.

But, well, you know the story now.[/u]

[TristezaOrange]

f**king ASSHOLES!

[mauseoleum]

Hmmm ... you trusted a guy with a name Ulrich Wild Hack?

[Meffy]

Great. Is there any legal action you can bring? I'd check whether the company can be held responsible for the actions of ex-employees.

[koolkeys]

I would expect that at the very least, you could order a cease and desist order, no? Any company that is sold or taken over, would have all contracts passed along to the new owners. So if no contract exists, they are still liable.

Brent

[MolotovSound]

I would expect that at the very least, you could order a cease and desist order, no? Any company that is sold or taken over, would have all contracts passed along to the new owners. So if no contract exists, they are still liable.

Brent

Agreed. You could even sue because a NFR licence does not mean you are free redistribute, let alone resell. Since you had email contact, you could use the emails at proof. I don't think you'd gain much though. You could contact Music Store Cologne and explain the situation to them, underlining that you are not okay with your software being integrated into a product of theirs, unless you can strike a (new) deal. I'd think they are far more afraid of a lay suit than what they gain for re-releasing the product as-is.

[OBSOLETE165973]

[DELETED]

[pj geerlings]

I was contacted by WERSI a while back - at least I think it was WERSI. The subsequent documentation and contract had the name "WildNoise" on it. In any case, I sold them the distribution rights to the entire line of NuBi/Spinner products. I got paid a reasonable sum for it so I haven't given it much thought since then.

I will have to take a look at the initial emails from them again - I do seem to remember they mentioned contacting several other Hammond Clone VSTI developers before they contacted me. I don't recall the specifics at the moment.

As far as I know their development of a Hammond Clone will be based on the NuBiPlus/VFX/Spinner combination and be presented as a single unified package. This is something I wanted to do but never quite had time to produce. When the offer came it seemed like a potentially nice epilog to my I-really-suck-as-a-marketer VST experience.

As it happens, I just heard from one of their developers two days ago so it appears they are still going ahead with the project at this time ...

[Fortune]

Sorry to hear about that Guido. That is simply outrageous.

Anyway you'd try to get some compensation from the new owner.
Probably the best is to contact the owner of Music Store Professional himself and not the lower charges in rank

wish you luck

HG

[ukm]

This are really bad news. I'm not in a position to give you an advice here but I hope you can sort it out.
I own both VB3 and Nubi and I have great respect for the work you did in this field.
Recently I heard the new Numa organ. Are you involved in this project too?

ukm

[Sampleconstruct]

Wow, that sux bad time!

[trimph1]

That is nuts!!

[james0tucson]

Everybody knows what piracy is, the damage it does to software manufacturers and to the whole system, and everybody knows that downloading and using a pirated software, even for "private use", is a crime anyway.

In what country? In the US, and under the Berne Convention, the recipient isn't the one who is abridging the distribution rights of the copyright holder, and except in rare situations it is a matter for civil litigation, not "a crime".

Since you opened with this much misrepresentation, I didn't read the rest of your message.

[kbaccki]

http://www.xing.com/profile/Ulrich_Wildhack

http://pipl.com/directory/people/Ulrich/Wildhack

At least it appears to be a real name. If the company is currently being dissolved you could maybe at least get a lawyer and join in the fun...

[Ingonator]

Yeah, this really sucks. I also got VB3 since quite a long time.

BTW this seems to be the current WERSI website:

http://www.wersi.net/index.html

The button for english language doesn't seem to work so it german only.