[Subzero Diesel949]

Another web developer I used to work with in the past has been posting numerous guestbook entries on my site bashing it (like a troll) under a pseudonym until recently, accusing me of plagiarizing a flash animation he did for me way back some time ago.

The link to my site is here...with the animation in question:

http://alphasubzero949.cjb.net

The original file is here (the site was at v.1.0 at the time):

http://www.angelfire.com/clone/10154...eyondintro.htm
(When I used this animation it was modified to use the Eurostile font and the spelling corrected)

He wrote the following:
"The only real effects were cut-and-pasted from a intro that, you said in Beyond 2.0, someone else produced for you. In the professional field that is called intellectual property theft, to claim anothers work for your own...it's exactly like pluagurism."

Keep in mind I'm at 3.0 now. He's referring to the current animation.


Am I plagiarizing "his" animation and does have a base for his accusation?

[Simon Mundy]

Originally posted by Subzero Diesel949:
Another web developer I used to work with in the past has been posting numerous guestbook entries on my site bashing it (like a troll) under a pseudonym until recently, accusing me of plagiarizing a flash animation he did for me way back some time ago.

The link to my site is here...with the animation in question:

http://alphasubzero949.cjb.net

The original file is here (the site was at v.1.0 at the time):

http://www.angelfire.com/clone/10154...eyondintro.htm
(When I used this animation it was modified to use the Eurostile font and the spelling corrected)

He wrote the following:
"The only real effects were cut-and-pasted from a intro that, you said in Beyond 2.0, someone else produced for you. In the professional field that is called intellectual property theft, to claim anothers work for your own...it's exactly like pluagurism."

Keep in mind I'm at 3.0 now. He's referring to the current animation.


Am I plagiarizing "his" animation and does have a base for his accusation?

Couple of quick questions:

- Did you commission him to produce this animation or was it a 'friendly' job
- If you commissioned him, did you agree that you would own both the source code and final product of the animation

If the answers are 'yes' and 'yes' then you can tell him to 'step off'. Or something similar.

However, if you have just used this without his expressed permission, then - yes - it is plagiarism and you are in the wrong. He would own the intellectual property to that animation, especially if he also has to source code to prove it.

I'd either redo a completely new animation (using the same theme, but creating new sequences) or apologise and try and patch things up.

[Subzero Diesel949]

Originally posted by Simon Mundy:
[B]Couple of quick questions:

- Did you commission him to produce this animation or was it a 'friendly' job
- If you commissioned him, did you agree that you would own both the source code and final product of the animation

On the modified version from v. 1.0, the copyright was listed as �2002 Disc Imaging and Alpha Subzero Webmixing. A collaboration. He agreed to that "as long as he got credit." The v. 1.0 animation was a favor I asked from him. After going on to develop v.2.0, I deleted the source code and made a new flash file from scratch that was completely unrelated to the first.

The accusation stems from the current v.3.0 animation where I believe he is accusing me of plagiarizing the "scrolling code" effect. He does not make it specific what I am plagiarizing.

[Subzero Diesel949]

Here is what he signed in the guestbook:

Here's some sites that have a good balence of graphics and design. If you look at the underlying code most people with a grasp of HTML and tables could reproduce a comparable layout.
http://www.counter-strike.net/
http://www.boutell.com/faq/

Or if your a little more daring...
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/
http://www.buyshocktech.com/

The only real effects were cut-and-pasted from a intro that, you said in Beyond 2.0, someone else produced for you. In the professional field that is called intellectual property theft, to claim anothers work for your own...it's exactly like pluagurism.

Nowhere in v. 2.0 did I say such things.

[Simon Mundy]

Okay... looks like sour grapes then.

In that case, let him know you IMPROVED his code by more than 10%, so it's not intellectual property theft.

And then ban his I.P. address through your webserver's firewall.