My friend told me when he was in one cc that got raided few months back, he was asked to sit and wait in the cc for 3 hrs. The police ask him to give IC and full name and contact number. According to him, the police says the cc infringe EA copyright and took away computers. My friend is 26 and the police told him that he may be a witness in court case. We gamers don't like to be involved in other peoples' fight. I am just worried the trouble gamers like us are getting into if we so unlucky inside cc that kena raid. Problem is not underage but the hassle if we are in cc when kena raided. I just want gamer be careful when u see police outside cc or when u see a lot of people outside cc, cabut lah from cc. Maybe temptation1314 want to be in cc when get raided and see what he/she will face. I surely don't want to get into this trouble.

witness??? how about i say this, "i don't know everything in this cafe whether they are using legal software or not. i just pay money and play that's it."

I hope the police buy the argument that we r just there to play games and pay RM2 ph for it. I asked my fren and he said that is what he told the police but the police still make him wait and take down his particulars and said they will call him as witness when time comes. I also heard cc staff also kena the same thing. I dunno when all this going to end lah. I still go cc with all my friends but the cc staff always talk about the trouble they r getting into for their bosses fighting with Counter-Strike people, fighting with EA people and fighting with SMM people. I think it is better for CC boss to settle all these issues with all these people n pay them. I think the problem is with the money amount. The CC boss should pandai-pandai negotiate properly with these people so that they don't increase price on us gamers. Get the right people to negotiate for them.

money amount is 1 of the problem, the other one is the money was not properly channeled to the developers aka collecting illegal fees and another one is local distributor themselves are actually promoting piracy for their personal benefit - legalizing private servers and collecting fees from it. I'm applying to those who paid the sum promptly to SMM while your case is totally another story.

Strace, my personal opinon is that if these distributor do that, they must have some right if not they would not do it. I don't think they dare to do it like not paying the orang putih or dare to do the server unless the orang putih allow it. If they do illegal, the orang putih would come after them. So far they still got right every year, I think. So, I think all the problem come about because of the money amount and not whether they should or should not pay. How I wish if we can buy a BMW at Proton price. The original box set game is so expensive above $100 and the pirate is only $5-$10. If I do business, I would not buy the cheap pirate lah after kena raided. I think if cc pay promptly to EA or Counrter-Strike or SMM nothing would happen. I got a fren who settle a case with Microsoft. The Microsoft also do the same thing to private companies about the Open license system or something like that only that Microsoft is for office software and not game software. I think game software different system. Need to check with some fren.

I get your point but in SMM case its an exception because I have black and white proofs to all these claims and now working into deal with Blizzard and Vivendi correspondent. I understand how these distributor licensing works (at least for SMM because I've seen it). The rights granted to the local distributor is actually limited and cc is actually a grey area not covered in the enforcement sector because distributor license and commercial license are 2 totally different things. If follow strictly to the book, there is another company which collects club fees from cc but I'm not going into that lol. The EA/Microsoft/BSA raids are all legal, there is don't need to question their authority. I'll publish the new SMM agreement in a few days for everyone to read.

Oh and btw Hunter is hopeless. We took him for granted that he will bring salvation, now I have to do all the dirty job for myself.

and said "orang putih" are somesort of omnipotent beings that:
1) knows EXACTLY whats going on in other countries?
2) no need to bear the cost for performing international legal action
3) can do whatever they want

??

/endsarcasm

truth is there are illegal private servers thats being done and being promoted as legal/official servers and SMM is pretty much not paying blizzard jack on the "protection fees" they collected. (as far as im concerned there are no confirmations from blizz/vivendi side that they paid anythin or have the rights to go around collect protection fees)

=edit=
added in sarcasm indicator /shrug

This post has been edited by Quazacolt: Jan 8 2008, 09:27 AM

Here is a link to SMM's unlawful business conduct for you to grasp the situation that we're trying to discuss in this topic.
http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/472095

Strace, is good that you show d doc. Do it asap. We need real answer. I n some gamer fren intend to buy over a small CC of 25-30 pc but so far put on hold because of this. Want to have CC where real serious gamer can hang out n talk abt games n not allow some school boys to go in n make noise. I think the distrbutor would have pay the game owner first and for them to collect back their money through license to CC. This is what I heard today from a fren working in co selling game-card. I don't think the orang putih is blind or don't know what is going on. I think money must be paid but just how much. Many game title outside but only WC is most popular. So, that muist be why SMM license it at a BMW price and not a Proton price. I think d orang putih also know this and ask a lot of $$$ from SMM. All this SMM-bashing and discussion is good becoz allow SMM to know what market feels but then cannot break law if not get raided. Cheers to Strace for help!

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Added on January 8, 2008, 1:57 pmStrace, an Update! Just recd call from a Fren working in game-card company. He says he knows SMM staff who showed him a copy of SMM's Blizzard Agrt. He says it shows that SMM's distrbt right include cybercafe licensing. Is it true?

This post has been edited by edinhoven: Jan 8 2008, 01:57 PM

you're still going on with this kinda reply? did you even read up what strace has been trying to say? did you even take a look at his documents?

=edit=
replying to your edited addon:
dude, just read up the other thread and the documents, SMM does NOT have rights to any cyber cafe licensing. zero, nada. they have NO RIGHTS to collect ANY SORT of fee from ANY cyber cafes.

This post has been edited by Quazacolt: Jan 8 2008, 01:59 PM

Eh Brother Quazacolt, please don't be so personal. We all want to be "very sure" when dealing with this nasty fella SMM. I am just very concern. I read the thread but still heard/seen SMM can raid recently. Recent Klang raid proof this. How can they raid if they got no right? One wrong move, finish lah. Pls understand. I can bet SMM people also look at this forum and checking up on us. We can keep on hentam in the forum but cannot do any real things. We got no real information only hear what other people say. Not enough. We all support Strace and what he/she is doing. Keep it up. Try to find the doc in the thread but cannot locate it. Can help? Can pos it again? Would appreciate the help. I can get some fren to help look at it. They work in Cyberjaya agency and meeting some of them later for some snooker. I will post their comments.

Very not true. He doesn't understand the agreement. Read properly and you will see the light

Someone in Cari forum has just posted the REAL VUG cybercafe license agreement which looks like this below:-



Take note that the 5th image is 1 of the pages in the distributor license agreement between SMM and VUG. Tell your friend to read carefully and think out of the box.

Refer link

im not being personal, just being disgusted by your ignorance.

and how could you even say "we got no real information" when strace is already posting so many hard solid black and white papers.

edinhoven doesn't know before that so its reasonable he responded in that manner. Its ok now that he is trying understand the situation. SMM can raid it because it could be true that the cc owner do not have the original copies of the game. Did I mentioned that even though you have the equal amount of original copies to your PC amount, you are still obligated to sign the agreement and pay the amount according to the fake agreement stated or else face the consequences? So what choices do we have? Buy original and pay or pay only? Which is cheaper?

BTW damn that guy who posted those proofs beat me in first, now I am uncertain whether I want to continue my effort but at least there is some development now. Respect!!!

Thank you very much, Strace. Will print it out and let my Cyberjaya fren see. Will post comments once they tell me. You R D Man! Good job, well done. Let us all hope this will settle the issues.

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Added on January 8, 2008, 4:24 pmStrace, by the way, thank you for understanding me. Please don't stop your effort. We all support you n what u r doing. You have been very fair n understanding unlike some. At least, Strace, u r being very objective and not personal in your approach. I respect this kind of people who think fairly and for all the good of gamers and for those who wants to go into CC biz. Will keep u posted on my fren's opinion. SALUTE !!!

This post has been edited by edinhoven: Jan 8 2008, 04:24 PM

no matter who posting these first, at least someone (you) is doing something for the gaming community, respect nonetheless

I still cant believe how a typical ah pek company like SMM can get distribution rights from Blizzard.

Remember what SMM used to do few years ago?
Distributing cheaplak hokkien karoke and CNY vcd, local TV series VCD, badly subtitled 80s anime, power rangers, ultraman VCD.

now that you mentioned that, i can only cry deeply inside upon this great sadness.

I still can't let my guards down until the issue is fully resolved. I've just emailed to other international distributor and waiting for reply. I'll mail the whole shit black and white to Blizzard USA via post soon. The commercial exploitation license agreement should be as simple as the Microsoft commercial agreement, it didn't stated royalty fees must be payed, instead it mentioned about other responsibilities which are not covered in end user agreement to protect themselves from stupid legal charges. I'm afraid SMM might twist certain facts which I'm not ready to disclose the ways in a public forum yet. I have to remind myself the purpose is not just to lose from SMM's bind but also to bring down the whole corporation as well.

Dear Strace, some good news and bad news. Good news, I have passed the print-out to my cyberjaya fren. Bad news is that he says he need to check with his legal dept colleague to help look into it (for free!) and his fren is on holiday and will only be back next week. Hope to received something next week. Since is free service, we have to be patience. Will keep you posted. I am doing all I could to help out. I hope others also help to check with their legal fren or people who know this stuff for some advise. TQ.

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Added on January 9, 2008, 6:55 amStrace, btw, a CC owner fren told me that Hunter asked him to pay RM3k to his personal account to settle the SMM issue. DO u know who is this Huinter fella and why is he asking for RM3k? Is he Sendi's spy or something like that?

This post has been edited by edinhoven: Jan 9 2008, 06:55 AM