"Master Level Chess" for the iPhone

[Gian-Carlo Pascutto]

Anyone can report a violation, but only the author/copyright holder can enforce it. From your own link:

Since the GPL is a copyright license, if the violator fails to comply on their own, only the copyright holder (typically) has the power to enforce the license0.

[Gian-Carlo Pascutto]

No, they aren't: The point is that the source code doesn't appear to have been changed at all. Every single byte of the source code is identical to Glaurung.

LOL

They have replaced the .PNG bitmap files for the chess pieces and the application icon, that's all. It is true that if they made any changes to the source code, they would have to make the changes available. So far, there is absolutely nothing that indicates that they have changed anything.

I guess they at least replaced the Glaurung name in the dialogs

[CRoberson]

If I were to buy something and find out it is available else where for free, I'd be unhappy.
If the thing is stolen software and the original is free, I'd be pissed.
If I found out that the original vendor knew about it after they perpetrated the fraud and condoned the behavior of the company in question, I'd be pissed at both his company too!

The question comes down to "Does Tord condone software theft"?

[Harvey Williamson]

No, they aren't: The point is that the source code doesn't appear to have been changed at all. Every single byte of the source code is identical to Glaurung.

LOL

They have replaced the .PNG bitmap files for the chess pieces and the application icon, that's all. It is true that if they made any changes to the source code, they would have to make the changes available. So far, there is absolutely nothing that indicates that they have changed anything.

I guess they at least replaced the Glaurung name in the dialogs

LOL - some here will still claim that it is not a clone as there has not been a judgement in the Russian Supreme Court.

[mcostalba]

Anyone can report a violation, but only the author/copyright holder can enforce it. From your own link:

Since the GPL is a copyright license, if the violator fails to comply on their own, only the copyright holder (typically) has the power to enforce the license0.

yes, as a foot note is written "In some situations, there are a few possibilities for users that exist if the copyright holder is unable or unwilling to enforce the GPL. We've actually recently seen an interesting successful enforcement by a user." but of course author enforcement is a good thing to have.

Regarding the actual enforcement action an author is not left alone in the cold, but there are free software organizations that _professionally_ handle the enforcement for the author, included legal support.

These are for instance:

http://www.softwarefreedom.org/
http://www.fsf.org/
http://gpl-violations.org/index.html

If I were a commercial chess engine producer I would evaluate reporting the violation to one of this organizations (with the acknowledge of the original author) in case they feel adversely impacted by this producer.

[Gian-Carlo Pascutto]

Anyone can report a violation, but only the author/copyright holder can enforce it. From your own link:

Since the GPL is a copyright license, if the violator fails to comply on their own, only the copyright holder (typically) has the power to enforce the license0.

yes, as a foot note is written "In some situations, there are a few possibilities for users that exist if the copyright holder is unable or unwilling to enforce the GPL. We've actually recently seen an interesting successful enforcement by a user." but of course author enforcement is a good thing to have.

Interesting point. I guess the argument is that the user is cheated out of receiving the source for twiddling with a product he bought, which he would normally be entitled to with a GPL application.

[CRoberson]

t looked at their web page (their company page: http://innerfour.com/ ). They claim to be a company that can code most anything. They claim to make apps for themselves and third parties.
They go on to list all their apps to show (in part) that they can code anything. Thus, they are using your work to show as part of their skill set. That sounds fraudulent to me.

[Tord Romstad]

I just downloaded the application myself to have a look. Zach is right, all the provided piece sets do suck.

They have replaced the .PNG bitmap files for the chess pieces and the application icon, that's all. It is true that if they made any changes to the source code, they would have to make the changes available. So far, there is absolutely nothing that indicates that they have changed anything.

I guess they at least replaced the Glaurung name in the dialogs

You are right, sort of. The name "Glaurung" doesn't appear anywhere in the dialogs, apart from the "About/Help" dialog box, which they have left unchanged apart from three lines at the top about there web site, where you supposedly can find "more wonderful apps like this" (I'll take that as a compliment. Thank you, "Inner Four, Inc"!). However, in the original version, "Glaurung" does appear as the default name of the computer player when saving or e-mailing PGN games. This has been changed to "Master Level Chess" in the copy, so clearly they have made at least some trivial changes.

I've also discovered two bugs -- one of them rather ugly -- that do not exist in the original version. The less serious one is that one of the six available piece sets ("Wood") doesn't work. The pieces become invisible, and you're playing blindfold chess. Some people might claim that support for blindfold chess is a feature, but I doubt it was an intended feature. The more serious bug is that the "Game" menu is broken: In Glaurung, this menu contains the items "New game", "Save game", "Load game", "E-mail game", "Edit position", "Level/Game mode" and "Cancel". In Master Level Chess, the "Edit position" item is missing, and the "Cancel" menu item doesn't cancel, but instead performs the effect of the missing "Edit position item" (except that the edit position dialog starts up with an empty board rather than with the empty board position).

In other words, at least technically, the program does seem to break the GPL. Nevertheless, I doubt that complaining about their GPL infringement is worth the effort. Even if they were found guilty, they could simply make their modified, broken source code available for download, and leave everything else unchanged. Because their changes to the source code are clearly less than worthless, this wouldn't improve life for anyone.

In any case, after having a look at the program myself and discovering the bugs, I'm beginning to feel that I perhaps should take some sort of action after all. In particular, the fact that they has left my e-mail address there as the contact e-mail means that all users annoyed by the bugs will write e-mails to me, who can do nothing about them (apart from suggesting that they download Glaurung instead).

My initial impression -- before I took a look at the program myself -- was that this was a version of Glaurung with more beautiful and professional graphics. Charging a small amount (the ordinary price of the app is something like $1, although it's available for free right now, as a campaign) for this doesn't seem out of line to me, but upon observing that the graphics is worse than before, that they have introduced at least two new bugs, and that customers do not get informed that this is nothing more than a slightly modified Glaurung before after they have bought the app, I do feel that customers are getting ripped off.

[M ANSARI]

I find it incredible that some engine authors disregard iphone or mobile devices. To be honest, they probably have a dramatically higher user base. I would even guess that if sales of engines would be compared, the mobile or iphone port would outsell the normal Windows port. Porting of the engine is really quite trivial when you consider the work required for making an engine from scratch. The only downside that I see so far is that a chess application on a mobile device just simply kills the battery life. But if you have a setup where power is available, it is actually a lot of fun and not unless you are a total masochist or have sadist tendencies ... playing against an engine which is not 3200 ELO does give you a chance for a good game.

[Zach Wegner]

One more thing I noticed. In the product information, there's a disclaimer:

DISCLAIMER:
Any reference to any third-party products, services, names, or other information, by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, developer, supplier or otherwise, is for convenience or comparison only, and does not constitute nor imply endorsement, affiliation, or sponsorship thereof. All characters, names, titles, likeness, and other content used or depicted in this product (even those based on real products or real people, either living or dead) are entirely fictional. Any similarity to actual products, or persons either living or dead, is purely coincidental. Any coincidental likeness and or voices are not real. This product is for entertainment purposes only and is not authorized or endorsed. All trademarks, service marks, product, service, or other names mentioned herein, are the property of their respective owners, and no claim is made to any such mark, product, service or other name. Copyright 2009 Inner Four, Inc. and its licensors.

Priceless.