TourGuide has been back online for 4 days which was about the same time we released our new addon, and yet after all the controversy we didn’t hear any official announcement from Zygor or Tekkub, it is as if the issue is being “swept under the rug” so we can all forget it ever happened.
After 3 weeks of on going lawyer discussions I now feel comfortable to disclose the information below.
UltimateWoWGuide.com wish to take a stand that we were within our rights to distribute TourGuide until 18th Feb 2010, any other public statements stating otherwise is false and defamatory against our business for the following reasons.
1. On 7th January 2009 Tekkub gave me permission in writing to specifically sell TourGuide with my guides commercially (I chose those words for a purpose) with the only condition to not sell TourGuide ‘alone’. refer to this screenshot of Tekkub’s permission in writing,
This proves that we are within our rights to distribute TourGuide for commercial use and this also proves that Tekkub’s statements on his website and statement made by Zygor that I never had Tekkub permission to sell, or distribute the TourGuide addon is clearly false and there is an alterior motive as to why they would say that.
2. We also note that Tekkub had published the source code of TourGuide on http://www.github.com. One of the terms and conditions of opening an account with GitHub.com is that by setting the user’s repositories to be viewed publicly, the user agrees to allow others to use that user’s repositories to take a copy of source codes from software programs and develop it independently of that software (‘forking’). A copy of the terms and conditions for GitHub.com can be found at http://help.github.com/terms/.
Tekkub claimed that by “setting a repo to be viewed publicly is like packaging an addon in plaintext files… anyone can view it because there is no mechanism available to prevent them from doing so.”
However this statement is incorrect GitHub.com does have an option to set your repositories as private which is recommended by GitHub if you software proprietary. It is also clearly stated on GitHub and if you chose your repositories to be viewed by anyone (refer to screenshot below), you also declare that is an open source project (see section 1.) And the term forking is commonly known to the programming community here.
I forked Tekkub’s TourGuide repo from github to my own github account in January 2009. If “forking” wasn’t allowed and if TourGuide is not “open source”, the wrong message is clearly sent to the public by hosting it on as a public repositories without any form of license. There are options in GitHub to protect your software to which Tekkub chose not to use.
3. On 3 April 2009 Tekkub was upset regarding the “forking” of TourGuide, I took action with removal of the public link and clearly stated I was still distributing it in my members area. I offered a solution such as licensing, and modification of TourGuide, these options were a possibility and I was under the understanding that these options were being considered.
We complied by removing the link and suggesting a solution and we were still within our rights to continue distributing as we still have permission, if our final email was unacceptable to Tekkub, then he should clearly state it. Which he didn’t and he admitted “chose not to pursue it“.
4. On 12 December 2009 Tekkub continued to take our donations, and also help us further in modifying by providing a code for TourGuide for our distribution in Dec 09.
This proves that there was no problem with us modifying and distributing the guide.
5. Tekkub also encouraged the renaming of TourGuide “In short, you f*ck with it, find a new name for it.” which was the issue that he had with us.
This further proves that Tekkub is not opposed to people modifying and distributing TourGuide.
6. Even after Zygor’s acquisition of TourGuide, Tekkub is not opposed to wow-pro distributing TourGuide but completely against to what we have done when it is the same thing. Arguments that this is because wow-pro is not a commercial or non profit website is invalid, the large amount of free traffic that wow-pro received is helped by distributing tourguide which adds to their profit of banner advertising.
Again this further proves Tekkub is not opposed to people modifying and distributing TourGuide for commercial use.
Final comment on Tekkub
Our donation to Tekkub was only $500 and I admit it was far from enough, but the fact remains that it was a donation, something we didn’t have to give and our donation made up almost 50% of money that Tekkub received for the development of TourGuide as a public addon. We were ready to take it to the next level with licensing long before Zygor however Tekkub showed no interest.
On January 2010 I even contacted Tekkub to offer him a monthly sponsorship program to continue his development for TourGuide as a free addon for everyone to use. Tekkub never responded because obviously it was too late as he already sold it to Zygor.
As far as I know we were Tekkub’s #1 supporter, over the year we have also contributed to TourGuide by suggesting features and submitting bugs. I don’t think it was fair for me and others who have donated and contributed in anyway for the public project of TourGuide only to be shut out completely and then accused of copyright infringement in public.
I don’t know why Tekkub would state incorrect statements against us, I did contact Tekkub to try to get more closure, however he simply states he does not have the liberty to comment. I have also forwarded him this statement for him to correct or comment before posting publicly on this blog, he didn’t reply.
Zygor Intention To File a $150,000 Lawsuit Against UltimateWoWGuide
1. On 18th Feb 2010, after Tekkub’s confirmation of Zygor’s acquisition of TourGuide on his website tekkub.net, we promptly stopped selling our leveling guide and complied with Zygor’s demands, as this was the only proof that we found that Zygor have acquired the rights to TourGuide.
2. On 22nd Feb 2010, I received a follow up letter from a Lawyer representing Zygor Guides LLC of their intention to file a lawsuit for $150,000 per infringed work and attorney’s fees.
To summarize, they state that.
- I have infringed their copyright of TourGuide for the period of 12 Dec 2009 to 2 Feb 2010 (Period of just over 2 months)
- I must pay $75,000 by 31 March 2010, and Zygor guides will agree not to bring the lawsuit against me.
- I must agree to forever cease the use of TourGuide in anyway.
3. On 24th Feb 2010, Zygor filed DMCA claim against all of our YouTube videos. Videos that we created ourselves 100%, even the free how to do dailies videos that we put out, refer to picture below. The alleged infringing material consist of an Blizzard’s icon image and quest name to which probably made up less than 1% of the total image.
4. On 5th Mar 2010 I responded with a letter from my lawyer stating that
- We received the infringement notice prematurely and have already ceased distribution despite having permission from the original author.
- We notified them that we will not pay $75,000 as it was unjustified and without merit.
- We requested them to drop the matter because no copyright infringement was made against Zygor Guides LLC and we had already complied by removing traces of TourGuide from our server.
5. On 12th Mar 2010 Zygor’s Lawyer replied with additional demands instead.
- Zygor’s lawyer finally provided proof of contract agreement between Zygor and Tekkub.
- Zygor demanded that I agree to permanently cease and desist from reproducing, distributing, displaying and selling the TourGuide software or anything substantially similar to it. (meaning I must agree to never make / sell / give away any in-game leveling guide in any form ever again)
- Zygor would reconsider the payment of $75,000 if we provided them with our full sales stats.
- Zygor is open to alternative settlement if I contact him directly via email, if we don’t contact them to settle then they expect a check of $75,000 by 31 March 2010.
6. We sent the follow up letter on 25th Mar 2010, stating further evidence that we were within our rights to distribute TourGuide prior 18th Feb 2010.
Final Comments on Zygor
From the information I have, Zygor obtain the rights to tourguide in 18th December (incorrectly stated as November in the screen shot below) and intentionally not notify dugiguides.com or anybody else. So they can wait for 2 months to gain some sort of legal grounds for suing dugiguides.com and maybe others for 2 months worth of loss of income (refer to screenshot below)
Our current views remains that Zygor purpose of acquiring TourGuide is an intentional attempt to harm our Business and our affiliates incomes to force them to switch. Also an attempt to obtain $75,000 from dugiguides.com
I would like to comment futher however I prefer to stick to facts that I can back up with evidence. The purpose of this post for you to know the facts and hopefully regain your confidence with dugiguides.com
I look forward to continue developing our own guides and addon and simply minding our own business.
– Dugi
58 replies to "Zygor Guides Review Scam Dugi $150,000 Lawsuit"
Dugi,
Thank you for this update. It is my sincere hope that you haven’t put your case at risk for providing it though. As always, I wish you all the very best in this.
It seems to me that the assumption that Zygor was intentionally waiting is based on good logic. From the looks of that last letter from Zygor, it seems to me he is trying very hard to hurt your business. Were I you I’d file a counter-suit on the grounds of erroneous libel. The fact that they are wanting to settle out of court shows just how weak their case really is.
Very interesting how he mentions that irregardless of the fact that his guides are selling more than yours are, you owe him.
Hey Dugi, keep your head up. Those idiots at zygor are just jealous of our success. Your customer support is second to none. I have been using your guide for about 2 years now and I couldn’t be happier especially now with the new patch that you guys released, totally awesome. Keep up the good work and in the end you’ll come out laughing. Good guys don’t always finish last.
i totally agree with you here, zygor’s guide doesn’t have the right to sew you for anything.
Dugi,
I don’t think they have any grounds to sue you, to put it in the Language of my youth, tell John Cook to “f**k off.”
I think Zygor guides have cut their own throat. They have misjudged how people will react to their tactics. Most people will not go along with a company who uses such underhand methods. If they are willing to do that to you, then what chance do we, as customers, have of getting any kind of fair play from them. The answer is nil.
I would say everyone, don’t deal with them, let them go bust and good riddance.
Tony
Dugi,
I support you in this, not because I like your guide, I have issues with it, but because I dislike competition via law suits. It seems obvious that Zygor wants to sell his system over yours, natural and nothing wrong with that. However, instead of making his better than yours, he seems to resort to threats and scare tactics like the old gangs that would gain by getting rid of the competition. Hardly fair.
BTW, one of the issues I had when I tried the trial version of your guide is that it did not seem to take the character’s actual level in consideration. I remember a number of times going to the NPC I was directed too and seeing a white Exclamation point rather than yellow. Or, in some cases, no exclamation point at all. Not knowing why frustrated me.
Less QQ more PEW PEW! You were the first guide ever I bought back in ’07 when there was no ingame leveling just pages upon pages of looking between web browser and wow which got me to 70 fast, therefore I didn’t need to look anywhere else for leveling guides. Keep your **** straight and keep updating the guide man; you’re doing a lot of people a favor by saving time, money, and the hassles of this game. If you get sued and your site closes down…I’ll have to quit wow because I’m not looking for any other guides to waste my time on or more of my life, wow takes that up as it is. In the word’s of Rob Schneider, “You can do it!”
I am a Ultimate Wow Guide owner and a Zygor guides owner as well. The simple fact that Dugi’s guide is so much more helpful than Zygor’s is not why I am writing this. I am outraged that Zygor can make such threats and demands when this whole issue could’ve been avoided, had they just provided information in a timely fashion. This is in no way Dugi’s fault nor should he be penalized for selling Tourguide up to the point that Zygor gave him written documentation proving their exclusive rights to Tourguide. I will continue to be an Ultimate Wow Guide supporter and I hope for the best.
***** tactics from Zygor, they obviously have been planning this and caught you off guard. I have no idea how international law works in this matter, I do know the US system is all about counter sues. They try to sue you for every hole in the wall, you counter sue and that’s where there is negotiating… and the ball starts rolling.
That’s not how it works here in Europe, though it is starting to look like it… if you ignore this and don’t let your lawyer or other legal representative take action in your behalf, in this country they could press it to a claim (court) where you’d loose because not responding means agreeing with the charge!
I think it’s utterly ridiculous they are trying to get money from you, they are trying to get you out of business… it’s obvious in their actions that they could not live up to your quality therefore they had to stoop low and buy it away from you. When it came apparent this wouldn’t stop you they are trying to grasp at all other means possible.
Until this thing is over be sure to have everything proof read by your lawyer before posting it and possibly counter sueing, because you should’ve been given notice in writing by Tekkub prior to him selling it to Zygor and not way after (absolutely sounds like they planned this just so they could claim), and does this mean anyone using the free source code can be sued too? or anyone who has used it after the purchase by Zygor?
It’s sad to see Zygor trying to weasel their way into making a better guide then they had before over the back of the one already being the better one…. and who is still standing after this backhanded action and has now improved himself, being Dugi!! So to me it’s obvious who to vote for!
It’s also very sad that someone like Tekkub would turn out to be such a backstabber, he could’ve written a new code for Zygor and left the source code as is, since it was also freely available… but it’s apparent Zygor can’t live up to any competition so in return they just try to take the competition down with nasty tactics instead of improving themselves.
Besides all that monopolizing a market is against the law too!
Dear Dugi. Please do not let this misguided jerk (Zygor) deprive me of your wonderful guide. Zygor is not only attacking you, but he is attacking me and all those who have a right to choose freely. I have Zygor’s guide and it sucks. I would have replaced it with yours long ago but I have no credit cards and therefore no means of paying for it. I obtained Zygor’s guide from ebay using Paypal. I have seen your guide in action on other computers, and as soon as I can negotiate the use of somebody’s card I will purchase it. I just cant understand why this immature dope doesn.t spend his time and money on improving his own guide. I guess its because he doesn.t have the talent.
hi Dugi i love ur guids they help me out a lot they save me alot of time 🙂 ur guides are kick ***. i tell all my friends to get ur guide`s. good luck on the fight hope the best
I believe that if, at any time, Tekkub intimated in any way that you could use his code, whether it was thru formal contract or an informal ‘hey if you want’ email, … from that point on, unless he formally requires you to stop using it, that you are free to continue to do so. At such time as Zygor gained ownership of said code, it would be his responsibility to use a discover process, similar to when you search for liens on a home prior to buying it, to make sure no one had been given prior permission to use it. Tekkor should have made Zygor aware of anyone commercially using his code, and Zygor should have made a formal request of you Dugi, to stop using the code, long before he took legal action against you. Lawyers put their pants on one leg at a time like anyone, and there is a reason everyone tells lawyer jokes. So just because he is using an attorney doesn’t mean he is within his rights. That IS a joke! And, he can’t specify an amount to pay, or ‘he’ll take you to court’. He probably screwed himself right there. And he certainly can’t prevent you from creating addons for a game he doesn’t own. Take a deep breath and relax. Just tell him you’ll ‘see him in court’. It will go your way. I guarantee it.
Blizzard’s add-on policy supercedes any other licensing in this situation. You cannot make money off an Add-On, period.
With that in mind, Zygor doesn’t have a leg to stand on.
The only thing I can see happening if this goes to court is Zygor being ordered to stop selling his addon in violation of Blizzard’s TOS. His demands are laughable, especially the lost sales. I don’t think he has a legal leg to stand on, since you had Tekkub’s permission. And I believe the only part of the addon that you actually sold, and wasn’t in the freely available trial version, was your own guide files.
I’ll never buy anything from Zygor or anyone that I know does business with him. This is exactly the type of underhanded business tactics that has driven the US and other free countries to their knees in the worst economic mess since the Great Depression of the 1930’s. In a word, greed. Well, I’ll personally tell anyone I know on WoW about this. Word of mouth is a powerful advertisement.
By the way – V4 is a WoW! Great going there! I liked the other version a lot – but this is even better!
Ignore Zygor! He is a spineless twit that wants to drive all competition into the ground, and he sees your guide as a direct threat! From my point of view, it makes your product much more appealing then his. If his was the superior guide, why all the drama and legal BS?
His motives are very clear; Get you out the picture to increase the sales of his own guide. Too bad that he can’t stand on his own merit, lol.
Anyway, let your lawyer do what they do best. That’s what you pay them for. Keep up the good work.
Really it is sad that a person such as Dugi who offers a good product at a fair price, and as far as i can see always acted in good faith, gets threatened while real internet scumbags hide behind eastern European or Chinese firewalls and say FU to anyone who has a problem with it.
I guess that is what the world is coming to. The folks trying to do the right thing get slammed by people like Zygor who obviously focus more on lawyers than good products. I always heard in grade school that it is better to build yourself up than tear the other guy down but i guess Zygor didn’t get that lesson. I mean he already had an add-on…clearly he bought this one solely to attack his competition.
The real clown in this deal is tekkub. He goes from buddy-buddy-i’m just writing free software for the fans to amateur lawyer pretty quick. Writes an e-mail to Dugi saying do what you want with my open source code and now says well that’s not what i meant. Total sellout.
It’s a sad that things have come down to this. I personally thought there were things to recommend about both your and Zygor’s guids. I myself used both for different reasons. I will no longer be using Zygor for anything anymore though. I understand competition, but fight it honestly. not using underhanded tactics. That is the problem with the world today though, too few know what honor is anymore.
Jewls
Well…..
Lawyers can claim the moon…
My advise from having gone through one of these lawsuits is
to turtle up. No See…No Speak…No Write…No Response..
No Answers….in other words your a brick wall. The only action you should take is IF you are served then take it to
a lawyer who is versed in this kind of law. (By served I mean
when a prosess server hands you an envelope.) Refuse to accept any other form of communication…
Do NOT try and handle it yourself. Your Lawyer will know how to respond to the forms the process server hands you.
From what you have released it does look like your in the clear up till you were notified of infringement but that gets wrangled by the lawyers through depositions.
The main thing is IF YOU ARE SERVED DON’T TRY TO HANDLE
IT YOURSELF. And for god sake don’t respond to ANYTHING.
The ONLY communication should be through your attorney PERIOD!!!!!!!!!!
Good Luck…..and Shut up…Your a brick in the wall 🙂
Support all the way from me, your guide is the best guide for the price and your customer support has been great. I agree with many that this sounds like extortion to me and be sure to bring legal representatives if this does go to court. My father works in international patent law and after reading both sides, I do not believe their case will hold any weight in court. Either way be prepared for the worst and hope for the best. Zygor is what me and my friends in the workforce call a scumbag and it sure as **** sounds like scumbag scare tactics to me. I am going to do some research on my end and if I or my father can find anything I will be sure to let you know via email. If as I believe it is true and you are truly in the right, then Zygor is bitter that his business is poorly outfitted and run and simply wants to bring you down to their level. Do not send them your business stats without first consulting well respected legal representation as that is them simply trying to find obscure stats to twist and take out of context. Like I said scumbags. You have my full support and I can give my word in court if your lawyers could use a written testimony. They can contact me via email.
With love from the USA
Eric
I would appreciate that.