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Re: Attempted Theft of the OpenCart Project!

Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2016 7:12 pm
by villagedefrance
The sad thing is, people doing this type of things firmly believe that they are not doing anything wrong!

In this case it is not even a genuine mistake where the person registering the company name simply didn't know that the name was already taken and protected somewhere else in the world. In my view this was clearly intentional since he was an active member of this forum and knew perfectly well that Opencart was a limited company already.

The fact that he obviously didn't ask Daniel before going forward with his registration, can only make me assume that his future intentions where not going to be of the honest type.

These people are a real nuisance and cause a lot of problems to many with their idiotic behaviour. I'm glad his actions where spotted early and that he is banned for good. I certainly don't want to have anything to do with crooks.

Has anybody got his IP address so I can ban him from my sites too ?

Re: Attempted theft of OpenCart!

Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2016 7:29 pm
by Burt65
botonakis wrote:As you already sent your opinion here to all users, about our company we would like to add the following just for second thought.

The company is registered since 2013 and used without any invoice as OpenCart even if the domain is opencartgreece.gr.
The company OpenCart LTD is already registered 100% legally in UK and in Greece is registered as Botonakis Web Development and invoicing as this name. Your company in UK is registered as OpenCart Cloud Limited.
The only issue we had and been already advised was the logo and the similarities of it and removed by a temporary version. The usage of the logo was after you made our company official Greek Partner (now you removed it).

Files, invoices, hosting, services and all the information shared are our creation and never invoiced as OpenCart as you said or used this name. Also, we have proof of the opposite. Do you have proof of what your are claiming?

As for addition we had proof for no paid extensions sales, banned accounts with no reason by yourself and threatening emails by you.

This is the 100% truth and the rest will be in the courts.

Some links:
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/sear ... q=opencart
https://www.ipo.gov.uk/tmtext.htm
Why did you feel the need to register a new company name in England and why couldn't you use your original name?

One thing History has told us, is never to trust a Greek, especially if they give you a gift in the shape of a horse... ;D

Re: Attempted Theft of the OpenCart Project!

Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2016 4:24 am
by ksharlandjiev
same bloke was emailing all the partners in UK to "notify" us that he is coming in UK and is seeking for "partnership"
This was just after the Greek Crisis.
Unfortunately this will not be the first or the last "hero" that is trying to make business on the back of others...
But shame..... real shame....

Re: Attempted Theft of the OpenCart Project!

Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2016 5:09 pm
by i2Paq
ksharlandjiev wrote:same bloke was emailing all the partners in UK to "notify" us that he is coming in UK and is seeking for "partnership"
This was just after the Greek Crisis.
Unfortunately this will not be the first or the last "hero" that is trying to make business on the back of others...
But shame..... real shame....
LOL, comming to the UK and then performing an act like this.

They have a name in the UK for such persons: Highwayman ;D

They usually ended up being hanged in Tyburn, also know as Tyburn Tree ::)

Re: Attempted Theft of the OpenCart Project!

Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 12:21 pm
by IP_CAM
> .... where the person registering the company name simply didn't know that the name was already taken and protected somewhere else in the world..... <

may be so, but it still does not make any difference, legally, a Company Name is like a 'Good Idea', as long as something like this is not either patented, registered, and/or internationally copyrighted as BRAND, od LOGO, or Company Name, there is no Way to automatically and legally prohibit anyone else, especially in another Country, to use such, especially a NOT UNCOMMON NAME.

And when it comes to Opencart, I've been visiting uncounted Sites, using this name, in some relation, as part of the URL, or so. Therefore, anyone could argue in Court, to have simply been choosen as sole target only, for some very personal reason, possibly, but Masses of others would still exist, unharmed, for possibly some personal reasons as well. Unfair Competition, case dismissed... 8)

The Logo/Name Matter got out of hands, a long time ago, I assume. Like anything popular, and growing fast, no wonder, a lot of 'followers' tried to jump onto the OC Bandwaggon and get their part and share of it! I bet, in the Beginnning, it was probably not even a bad feeling, to get 'ranked' as hell, all over the Place, in Contrary, it sure helped, to make OC as popular, as it turned out to be. ;)

OC would not have 'such' a Problem, if OC would not be popular. So, I would rather concentrate on constantly 'gaining technical respect', instead of wasting costly time with/on Imitators. It's just not worth the task.

One of my favoured Cookies to such:
http://ipc.li/os/Nixon.mpg

my two cents only ...
Ernie

Re: Attempted Theft of the OpenCart Project!

Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 8:37 pm
by Travelfrog
Last year, all websites with the name FTSE in the domain name were given cease and desist notices as the word FTSE was a trademarked name.

Quote:
The use of a domain name that incorporates the famous "FTSE" mark in its entirity constitutes trademark infringement, dilution and cyber-squatting.

Just wondered if the name opencart was trademarked and the same applies?

Re: Attempted Theft of the OpenCart Project!

Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 9:39 pm
by Daniel
the trademark was issued last week. I had to go for it to protect the brand. also doing a EU wide one.

Re: Attempted theft of OpenCart!

Posted: Fri Jan 29, 2016 3:29 pm
by d-w.gr
Burt65 wrote:Why did you feel the need to register a new company name in England and why couldn't you use your original name?

One thing History has told us, is never to trust a Greek, especially if they give you a gift in the shape of a horse... ;D
Hello from Greece.

Ι do not want to get involved in this issue.
Everyone is responsible for his actions.

But, it's not polite to characterize a nation of one person's acts.

/Sakis

PS Sorry for my bad English

Re: Attempted theft of OpenCart!

Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2016 8:25 pm
by Daniel
d-w.gr wrote:
Burt65 wrote:Why did you feel the need to register a new company name in England and why couldn't you use your original name?

One thing History has told us, is never to trust a Greek, especially if they give you a gift in the shape of a horse... ;D
Hello from Greece.

Ι do not want to get involved in this issue.
Everyone is responsible for his actions.

But, it's not polite to characterize a nation of one person's acts.

/Sakis

PS Sorry for my bad English
I agree 100% you should not hold group of people responsible for the action of one person.

Anyway It looks like Mr Konstantinos has decided to change his company name. I can no longer find any other company apart from one of my own registered in the UK with the name OpenCart in it.

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/sear ... q=opencart

All that's happened since the beginning of the month is that my time and money were wasted. Its unfortunate that I have lost Mr Konstantinos as a seller but what did he expect was going to happen after it was discovered what he'd done?

Re: Attempted Theft of the OpenCart Project!

Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2016 9:44 pm
by mrbill
You have not wasted any money - you have protected your brand going forward.

Re: Attempted Theft of the OpenCart Project!

Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2016 12:29 am
by Daniel
True! OpenCart is now trademarked both UK and EU wide.

Re: Attempted Theft of the OpenCart Project!

Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2016 2:33 am
by OSWorX
Daniel wrote:True! OpenCart is now trademarked both UK and EU wide.
And what does that mean now?

Is it allowed for websites to use the name opencart in any way, e.g. as opencart**** or opencart-****
Or if not, what happens now with all those unlimited sites using the name in it registered the website before your registration?

And is there a policy or agreement to use the name?

Re: Attempted Theft of the OpenCart Project!

Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2016 4:22 pm
by Daniel
Yes, we are going to post an acceptable use policy of the OpenCart trademark.

personally i dont mind people registering domain names with the words opencart in but not registering companies with the same name.

Re: Attempted theft of OpenCart!

Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2016 6:10 am
by Burt65
d-w.gr wrote:
Burt65 wrote:Why did you feel the need to register a new company name in England and why couldn't you use your original name?

One thing History has told us, is never to trust a Greek, especially if they give you a gift in the shape of a horse... ;D
Hello from Greece.

Ι do not want to get involved in this issue.
Everyone is responsible for his actions.

But, it's not polite to characterize a nation of one person's acts.

/Sakis

PS Sorry for my bad English
Your English is fine, and I'm sorry you didn't get the joke. But I didn't write history. Try tell that to the Turks. ;D

Re: Attempted Theft of the OpenCart Project!

Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2016 5:28 am
by Chris_UK
Sadly this is actually completely legal.

Your company (and trademarks ??) got registered in another country, you do not have global domain. In order to protect your trademark you should register it in all countries and have legal counsel on hand.

As your company is not registered in the UK any person or entity can legally register and trade under the opencart name. Of course you do have the right to file a dispute with companies house in the uk if you have a registered trademark that is also appliable in the UK. You should seek legal counsel to find out your position on it and how best to proceed.

I missed the post of your new trademark. Yes the best policy is an acceptable use of your trademarks and where possible you should contact the domains that are using it to let them know.

Good to know that OpenCart™ is now protected.

Re: Attempted Theft of the OpenCart Project!

Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2016 2:21 am
by exit15
First let me say that what Konstaninos has done is not cool! Beyond that it is a matter of law and jurisdiction. You may or may not be able to stop him from using the name depending on the law of the country where the alleged offense occurred, in this case the UK. Having a trademark registered in the UK is the first line of defense, but registering the trademark only recently is not good business. What if chronology matters in the UK? Also, trademarks can be limited to industries. One can easily start manufacturing supermarket carts under this name. Does your trademark cover design, or consulting services? It is a complicated issue, one that large companies spend millions to delineate and defend.

My impression is that OpenCart is a large project, but a comment you made in this thread (and other threads) makes me think otherwise. If this problems takes away from your ability to keep the development going, that's not good business. You should have someone on staff taking care of issues like this, taking the steps necessary to stop them, by sending the Cease and Desist Letter, making sure the registrations are in place, deciding if this public forum is the right place to litigate this matter, etc. I guess my point is that you must delegate - or die! On another post I lamented about the inupgradeability of the last 8 released versions of OpenCart, now I know why.

If I may make a suggestion, it would be to leverage the community for more than just moral support. You have tons of individual developers, and companies benefiting from your platform, why don't they actively take things off your hands. Isn't that what open source is all about? For haven's sake, you have developers selling scripts to fix bugs in the software instead of committing it to the general repository. Does this make sense? It's clear that a project like this cannot be a one man show. You need all the help you can get, its time to ask for it, if not demand it. Or - did someone mention osCommerce?

Re: Attempted Theft of the OpenCart Project!

Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2016 3:25 pm
by i2Paq
exit15 wrote:Or - did someone mention osCommerce?
What is your exact point?

Re: Attempted Theft of the OpenCart Project!

Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2016 11:39 pm
by exit15
The point is that osCommerce is going nowhere, it is stuck on v2.x for 10 years and the only users it has are those who are stuck with it or don't know how to dump it. Why? probably because Ponce de Leon likes to keep things close to his chest, so close that no one ever sees them.
To keep the project alive, one must innovate and improve. I think Daniel has done a nice job at that, but reading what he said this thread sounded like he is running a one man show and I don't think its a good idea to follow in the foot steps of de Leon.

Re: Attempted Theft of the OpenCart Project!

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2016 3:26 pm
by i2Paq
exit15 wrote:The point is that osCommerce is going nowhere, it is stuck on v2.x for 10 years and the only users it has are those who are stuck with it or don't know how to dump it. Why? probably because Ponce de Leon likes to keep things close to his chest, so close that no one ever sees them.
To keep the project alive, one must innovate and improve. I think Daniel has done a nice job at that, but reading what he said this thread sounded like he is running a one man show and I don't think its a good idea to follow in the foot steps of de Leon.
Comparing osCommerce en OpenCart on the fact that both are run by one person is not fair.

It is true that HPDL leading osCommerce had done no good to that project, I used to use osC before switching to OC. I also have been a long time Moderator on the osC Dutch forums. Because of HPDL running osC as he did I left it.

Even tough Daniel runs OC on his own he is open for suggestions and although this sometime means there are fierce discussions I have more faith in OC then I ever had in osC after finding out how osC was run.

And hey, would life not be boring if everything was exactly how you wanted it ;D

Re: Attempted Theft of the OpenCart Project!

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2016 11:37 pm
by exit15
i2Paq --- it seems we have a similar history with oSC. The only reason I made a comment here is because i really like OC, albeit frustrated with the inability to get the latest and greatest.

On a lighter note, Compare and Fair never go together because no two things are ever the same. A much nicer Greek person than Konstantinos (and I am not compering!) already proclaimed that one cannot step into the same river twice, some say not even once...