Copyright issue

[Fatty Noparents]

Hi everyone, 

My extension Backup WhatsApp Chats has been copied and placed to the Chrome store under the same name.

Here's a link to my extension and to the one that copies mine.

I have checked the code, it's also the same, all the files are even named the same way as in my extension. There are just small differences in the UI. The owner basically stole my extension, and keeps steeling every update.

I have tried to file a claim using this form twice, to no avail. I have never received a reply from Google.

If someone could please help me with this case, I would appreciate your help.

Thanks in advance.

[Jackie Han]

I haven't dealt with this situation, but you can try https://support.google.com/chrome_webstore/contact/one_stop_support and select "An item that should not be on the store".

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[Fatty Noparents]

Thank you! I will try to report the extension using your link.

[Fatty Noparents]

Unfortunately, reporting the extension this way resulted in that the support team advised me to use the Report alleged copyright infringement link, which I have already used twice, and never received a reply.

Seems that anyone can copy your work without being punished.

[Peter Shin]

That's unfortunate to hear. I've run into this a number of times already with my extension with the latest copies showing up here and here. 

I've also gone down the route of submitting through the copyright flows but unclear if that was what has taken down past extensions or something else. I've also tried to comment on their extension leaving a review for future users to know about it being a copy.

I think this is something that is prevalent throughout the chrome store and something I wish the Chrome extension team could help give more directed advice and feedback for developers on how to protect themselves against blatant copies (e.g. What license should we use to protect ourselves?)  I don't see how Chrome, developers, users or anyone else (other than the offenders) can benefit from having copies (with likely injected spam).

The sentiment that "anyone can copy your work without being punished" is absolutely soul crushing and demotivating to continue investing in this ecosystem.

[Roberto Oneto]

I can only give you my opinion.

If someone copies an idea of yours and builds something similar I don't think it's a big sin.

In human history there are countless more or less fraudulent episodes of plagiarism.

If you register the rights of a song\software to the relevant authorities, you can be pretty sure that whoever copies your work

it can then be prosecuted. I say "pretty sure" because governments have sometimes just got hold of private patents

making the previously registered patent "disappear" by replacing it with theirs.

In your \ our specific case, since you do not have the possibility to register a patent, you are not protected by anything \ anyone.

Indeed I will tell you more, the provider that hosts your intellectual property (practically free of charge) could without giving you any reason

take over your work.

But I don't think that big G uses these means, given the stable of programmers at their disposal :-)

If anything, I'd rather believe that Google contacts for a job interview than a genius programmer discovers in his Store.

We're always talking about extensions and not the Star Trek warp engine.

I don't want to sound numb, but as great as your extensions are, I don't think they can ever change the world.

But if you think you had the billion dollar idea, then use other channels to monetize it and look for a good lawyer to protect your interest.

But perhaps there would be a way to protect our labors.

We know that Google doesn't want us to obscure our code (because it wants to protect its users and itself),

However, Big G could make our already approved source code unreadable with JS obfuscation techniques

or by transforming the JS itself into a pseudo-machine language interpreted only by the browser.

In this way the danger of copy \ paste plagiarism would be averted.

On the user's side, however, the ability to debug the extension would be lost in case of problems.

[Peter Shin]

I disagree with "If someone copies an idea of yours and builds something similar..".  These cases as described isn't something "similar" - these are carbon copies with a name change. Something similar is solving the same problem but adding something new, something unique, something that is differentiating features that create a better (or perhaps) worse experience. There is nothing meaningfully different with these copycats. Sure there are greater sins in the world and sure our extensions might not be cancer curing but that doesn't make this any less wrong.

If someone copied an extension but then made it 10x better I can't really fault that new creator even if they sourced the idea from others - as most ideas are built from some foundation. But when every experience I've had has been purely a copy that injects ads or something otherwise that degrades the user experience and trust I don't see this as a win for the web store ecosystem. With the new manifest version and requirements for listing privacy practices I see changes that show Google is caring more about this area but only time will tell. This is something incredibly hard to do well at scale but something I hope Big G does invest in.

[Roberto Oneto]

I've taken a look at your extension and the others you reported.

In fact they are very similar and one even has the same description.

It must be frustrating because I guess you've spent several months doing this job.

I am convinced that following your report you will soon see a resolution.

[Fatty Noparents]

I agree with you. I'm sorry to see that your extensions were copied to be used as ads injectors, that is really sad. 

With me the situation is different, but I can't say it's better. The extension is copied not by a stand-alone developer, but by a whole company with assets, and with their presence in Hong Kong. And they are making money on it. My extension is also paid and I'm making small money on it, but I'm sure they earn much more.

And it's still driving me mad that I can't do anything about it because Google doesn't protect chrome store developers. I mean when the extension even has the same name and (when you look inside) absolutely same code, should be pretty clear what to do about this. But Google just prefers to do nothing.