Installation Services? WP-Members

We have had issues with other companies using the name of our plugin and we do have a department that takes care of making sure that these “companies” cease and desist in using our plugin’s name.

We have released and have been developing our plugin for almost 3 years now, as with other software and services that we offer. Wwe’ve had numerous satisfied and happy customers and what we want to do right now is to find a solution and offer a compromise so that we can make it work for everyone.

The crux of the issue here is how btphelps have found it difficult to install the system, since his host does not have IonCube as a standard. We have given instructions on how to achieve this however we also inform them that we can do a free install to assist them if they weren’t quite sure on how to do it. We also offered free hosting as a solution if the host (such as free domains on GoDaddy) would not allow IonCube installs.

We were offering solutions, we were giving options and we were trying to work and cooperate with you. It is rather unfortunate that this had to be brought to public.

Take it back to us. Raise a ticket and I assure you that I will handle it personally and will involve our senior manager to take care of this.

@ian.smartmediapro: I think you meant to post this in a different thread.

But since you posted here, I will tell you that my issue with your company’s plugin is two-fold:

1. You mentioned that wp-Member has been in development for three years. At that time, WP-Members was already included in the www.ads-software.com plugin repository, so some simple research prior to naming your product would have saved us all a lot of hassle and confusion. (I am giving you the benefit of the doubt here as I am sure that you would not have intentionally named your commercial plugin the same as one in the repository, would you?)

2. The fact that your plugin requires ionCube shows that your plugin is not open source and therefore not compliant with the GPL license of WordPress.

@cbutlerjr – When we started Smartmediapro and WP-member, we had our research team look for similar named products and we found WP-members. Our company founder contacted the company owner and founder and we have come to the compromise and he has stated that it was perfectly alright for us to use the name.

The GPL license has always been open for debate. I believe that there are a lot of opinions about this and suffice to say, a resolution would take a long time coming.

That’s interesting since I am the developer of WP-Members and I have never been contacted by anyone from smartmediapro.

As far as GPL license, you are incorrect. It is pretty clear that a derivative work must also be GPL licensed. If your plugin is not able to stand on its own without WordPress, it’s a derivative work.

I can ask our company owner and founder to forward the several email correspondences if you would like.

We would assume that there have been no changes in the ownership of WP-members because we had, in good faith, contacted them previously and we have come to a summation that we had authority and the blessing (written and documented) to use the name WP-member. Had there been changes in the proprietorship of aforementioned name, and there are concerns regarding the usage of the name, one would surmise that the proper road to take is to contact us, SmartMediaPro and come to the table to talk about a resolution on the matter.

If you are indeed the owner and founder that we have contacted previously, you would have a copy of the correspondence. If there is a concern and you feel that there needs to be a change on the previous resolution we have had, please contact us and we shall resolve this within proper and correct processes without being public.

On a note, we have contacted wpmembershipservice.com previously due to the fact that they have lifted our product description verbatim and we have called their attention to it. We have processed this legally and they have been selling a product called Your Member/Your Members that is completely different from the plugin that is mentioned here.

We would assume that there have been no changes in the ownership of WP-members because we had, in good faith, contacted them previously

There have not been any changes of ownership. I developed WP-Members in 2005, publicly released it as a plugin in 2006, and it was approved for inclusion in the www.ads-software.com plugin repository in 2007. This predates your company’s plugin release. It would have been pretty easy for you to find me had you attempted to do so.

I have had no such contact from you, nor would I have made such concessions. Whoever you contacted (if it was anyone at all) was not me.

we shall resolve this… without being public.

Much like your source code?

if anyone wants to protest this issue
[email protected]

If you believe that our product’s name infringes upon the name of the products for which you own a copyright, you should contact us immediately, providing us with the details that we need based on DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act)stipulations. We will investigate on this together with our legal team to the fullest extent, as required by the DMCA law.

We shall wait for your email. You can send it to [email protected].

You are confusing copyright with trademark, but yes, I will contact you directly regarding this issue.

@ian.smartmediapro

Per your request, I sent pertinent information regarding this issue. I received confirmation that it was received. However, I have not received any followup based on the 7 day window in the letter. You did not even ask for more time to review due diligence, which I would have certainly agreed to.

I have released a statement regarding this issue in the hopes of clearing up the confusion created by SmartMediaPro and to let users know that the original WP-Members hosted here in the repository is in no way associated with the commercial product offered by SmartMediaPro.