Zenithink: When OEMs turn to piracy
Posted on 2013-02-06, 45 comments, 222 +1's, imported from Google+/Chainfire

NOTICE: This content was originally posted to Google+, then imported here. Some formatting may be lost, links may be dead, and images may be missing.

Piracy isn't limited to end-users, OEMs can do it too. Here's a lit story about one such OEM - in China.

chainfire[dev~blog] - Zenithink: When OEMs turn to piracy

+1222
Nathaniel Hull commented on 2013-02-06 at 19:41:

Hearing of a Chinese company stealing IP of any sort is as surprising as Apple turning a profit.

Tiago Soares commented on 2013-02-06 at 19:47:

Sad.

Anil Can commented on 2013-02-06 at 19:50:

Sad story. I wish you the best. They can't just get away with this.

Andraž commented on 2013-02-06 at 19:55:

Why dont you just use the official firmware you have which still has chainfire on and use it as evidence and sue them anyway?

Chainfire commented on 2013-02-06 at 20:05:

+Andraž Žižek who says I'm not ? I thought it'd be a story some might be interesting in reading so far :)

Mauro Solcia commented on 2013-02-06 at 20:07:

Actually got a ZT180 from HK some years ago.

Aside from being utterly crap even for 100€ that I've paid it, I'm even more sad that your work that I've apreciated these years was stolen and very little can be done against China infringments

Andraž commented on 2013-02-06 at 20:11:

Well you didnt mention it. :) good luck

Alex Hwang commented on 2013-02-06 at 20:13:

Sucks but then again, this is the country that cloned the entire freaking Apple store. Who would've thought?!?!?

Good luck and hope it all works out in your favor.

Andraž commented on 2013-02-06 at 20:15:

Oh yeah and keep us posted!

Anders Tyft commented on 2013-02-06 at 20:24:

Good luck! Keep us updated

David Warkentin commented on 2013-02-06 at 20:33:

Being a long-time supporter of your work, I am appalled by these piracy developments. I have the utmost respect for you as a developer (your work has graced each one of my devices) and I wish you the best in your legal proceedings.

Wilco Wings commented on 2013-02-06 at 21:35:

GL!!!

Rice Ryder commented on 2013-02-06 at 22:08:

Good Luck Bro!!

Jerrod Frost commented on 2013-02-06 at 22:18:

Good luck man, i had one of those crappy little devices for 2 days and sent it back due to false advertisement. CPU is 800mhz NOT 1Ghz! their excuse was "well the DSP is 200mhz so 800mhz + 200mhz is 1Ghz" WRONG!!! They play dirty, so watch out and don't take their crap!

Jz L commented on 2013-02-06 at 22:19:

I once bought a laptop in China and tried to haggle the price down further because the OS was in Chinese. So they installed a pirated version of English Windows.

Chelvis Chika Obioha commented on 2013-02-06 at 22:31:

hi

Bernadine Kumi commented on 2013-02-06 at 22:54:

awsome radical great

Nura commented on 2013-02-06 at 22:58:

HI

Caleb Xu commented on 2013-02-06 at 23:12:

Being Chinese myself, I can say that people in China will do anything for money. Its like their lifeblood. Be careful when eating in Chinese restaurants (in China, I mean). All the horror stories I've heard...

dianne ‘ commented on 2013-02-07 at 00:05:

OEM on ebay.

Tory Wright commented on 2013-02-07 at 00:35:

Surprised?

Glenn Donaldson commented on 2013-02-07 at 02:01:

Long time supporter Chain...Hope this all goes in your favor in a good way!

Shaun Santos commented on 2013-02-07 at 02:08:

Whats new? They copy everything anyways!

anthony mendivil commented on 2013-02-07 at 02:25:

L

E M commented on 2013-02-07 at 03:00:

Bastards!

Larry Wisda commented on 2013-02-07 at 03:05:

@Caleb Xu, Is that really where all the unwanted girl babies go??? Just a thought.

Karun Sethi commented on 2013-02-07 at 03:28:

Xd

Mitul Sarkar commented on 2013-02-07 at 04:11:

I found this snippet of the article quite informative:

"Yes, China has IP laws, but you shouldn't expect too much of them.

For relatively minor cases, depending on what you can prove and to what extent, a maximum on the damages you can be rewarded exists, which will usually not be more than a few times the cost of the case (for a western company) - should you win.

You will also have to deposit a percentage of the claim you are seeking as court fees. If you're likely to be awarded X, it would be very unproductive if you claim losses of 10*X. Much to the amusement of the Chinese, western companies regularly walk into this trap."

Alessio Sangalli commented on 2013-02-07 at 07:05:

I love buying Chinese. So much stuff for extremely low prices, passed directly to the end user, and most of the time no tax!

David Gerber commented on 2013-02-07 at 08:27:

+Chainfire maybe you should try to market your product in China since it seems they have interest for it (for example paid apps on the play store are unavailable to Chinese people)

Raja Swaminathan commented on 2013-02-07 at 09:15:

To people who buy unbelievably cheap Chinese goods on ebay, you get what you pay for, in this case, a tablet that's made cheap by not having to pay licensing fees to +Chainfire if they had followed the legal route!

If someone can sell you an item for $10 of which normally a well-known brand version sells for $50, think of the profit margin on that $10 - it probably cost him no more than $2 to make, and that would tell you loads about the quality of the item.

vente le commented on 2013-02-07 at 09:37:

It's a sad but unfortunately not special story. As long as big things doesn't change in China You have no chance against such things and we have to see that the whole world is likely to be weak to reach any really big thing against them...

Big changes are rare...

Ever Vincent Soriquez commented on 2013-02-07 at 10:00:

I never patronize Chinese branded tech products. The made in China stuffs are unavoidable, but Chinese brands? Hell no. Quality is not in their business requirements. Just plain Profit.

HON FUNG commented on 2013-02-07 at 10:25:

Shit....as usual....fucking money stacked up...most prc firms just doing copy and paste...

Hitesh Nirmal commented on 2013-02-07 at 14:40:

Hi

Olav Alexander Mjelde commented on 2013-02-07 at 15:29:

Put them in chains and set them on fire

JT Hundley commented on 2013-02-07 at 19:50:

Sorry to hear about this chainfire.

Olav Alexander Mjelde commented on 2013-02-07 at 21:41:

Now now, let's try to keep this on topic.

Akram LASSOUED commented on 2013-02-10 at 14:55:

Hi, please i need your help to root my Galaxy S2 with the new Jelly Bean ROM I9100XWLSD ! thanks :)

Raja Swaminathan commented on 2013-02-11 at 07:24:

+Akram Lassoued

You call yourself a geek and you don't even know where to go to ask about rooting Android?

Brian Fairlamb commented on 2013-02-11 at 09:45:

Installing a rom wont root your phone,if you just want xwlsd just go to xda download it and flash it through odin

Vladimir Poteryaev commented on 2013-02-13 at 03:24:

Piracy, not China, about Russia, and about all - forgive and forget. I TRIED to have a legal copy w8. OEM (multi-lang x64) is not distributed, only with new comuters. What may i do? All about piracy - copyrighters policy and "stupiditility"

Israel Lai commented on 2013-02-13 at 15:06:

"Yes, China has IP laws, but you shouldn't expect too much of them." sure.

Chris Kubilus commented on 2013-02-14 at 05:00:

Dang man. Good luck.

Max commented on 2013-02-18 at 14:50:

In China if you want favourable results you must pay under the table. Be careful the system is very very dodgy.

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