
Samsung ripped off my hobby project and published it under a different license - dmitrygr
I wrote a tiny JVM a while ago and it has been licensed by a few companies for their internal use, but then Samsung ripped it off, republished it on github under a different license (against my license&#x27;s terms) and even were nice enough to taunt me with &quot;uJVM extensively uses sample code provided by uJ. Developers of uJVM would like to express their gratitude for invaluable info provided by Dmitry Grinberg.&quot;  Their code is a copy of mine with a few renames (&quot;uJ&quot;-&gt;&quot;uJVM&quot;). Especially the code of the jvm core, the heap code, etc. They added some comments, but in some places those are wrong since they did not understand how the code worked. What do to?<p>https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;Samsung&#x2F;uJVM
http:&#x2F;&#x2F;dmitry.gr&#x2F;?r=05.Projects&amp;proj=12.%20uJ%20-%20a%20micro%20JVM
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sarcasmatwork
Have you contacted Samsung about this issue? Any response?

Do you have a copyright, Trademark, Patent on this code?

Please consult with a Copyright/IP lawyer as soon as you can. A simple letter
from a lawyer may result in action from Samsung.

Copyright lawsuits are not fun and can take years and lots of money. Do what
you can now for as cheap as you can.

~~~
dmitrygr
I have not yet contacted them.

Code includes a license that is incompatible with Apache (the license they are
distributing under)

I just found out today when someone emailed me with a link. I license my tiny
jvm out to companies, and one client who was about to sign a contract for a
license emailed me with a link to this asking why pay me when there is a
similar project out for free, so not only did they deprive me of income, they
are handing my non-free code out for free!

Do you have an IP lawyer to recommend?

~~~
seanwilson
Before discussing lawyers and how much they're going to cost... why don't you
just contact the developers first to get their side of the story and their
suggested resolution?

You're using really emotive language like "ripped off" and "taunt" and
assigning malice to this without knowing the whole picture.

To give them the benefit of the doubt, a developer likely made a mistake in
understanding or checking your license. The mention of you being the author is
probably their (incorrect) attempt to follow your license and not an attempt
to taunt you.

It's unlikely there was some conspiracy at the upper levels of Samsung to
steal your code.

~~~
dmitrygr
wouldn't contacting them give them a chance to destroy evidence that would
have helped a legal case?

~~~
guillerodriguez
You can clone their github repo first.

~~~
sarcasmatwork
^Yes! Gather the evidence, then contact Samsung and advise them you're an
individual with a product that they stole the IP. If you call (1-800-726-7864)
tell them you're recording it too as they probably are. if you email, chat
etc.. Collect the digital trail of evidence.

------
clusmore
They just pushed a commit which attempts to give you some credit[0]

    
    
      > Note that using this **project for commercial purposes
      or change of licensing terms must be agreed upon with**
      [uJ](http://dmitry.gr/?r=05.Projects&proj=12.%20uJ%20-%20a%20micro%20JVM)
      developer **Dmitry Grinberg**.
    

And they've added your licence back into a few header files.

    
    
       * 2. uJ cannot be used in a commercial product/service without first obtaining
       * permission from me (dmitrygr@<redacted>).
    

[0]:
[https://github.com/Samsung/uJVM/commit/6f705aa2b2e46ca5e43b2...](https://github.com/Samsung/uJVM/commit/6f705aa2b2e46ca5e43b2c617b454ade69e73725)

~~~
dkimitsa
yep, I've pinged them in post at habr, you can see their comments there
[https://habr.com/ru/post/459358/](https://habr.com/ru/post/459358/)

------
dusted
Classic Samsung ^_^ We worked at a place where they basically pushed us for
POCs until they had enough to say "No, thanks, we don't need" and a few months
later, tadaaa, Samsung had the feature.

(tbh, our company was partly to blame since they actually sent source code..)

------
laken
It looks like that Samsung have now just removed your code entirely. Now
though you may have lost the leverage you had before, as you still had control
over their code, as they originally kept your license intact...

------
smileypete
IF they don't cooperate ASAP, might as well hit them as hard as poss on social
media; twitter/youtube/blogs, see if you get interest from sites like The
Register.

------
dmitrygr
code has been removed, DMCA takedown notices sent to github for forks with a
note saying that they can change the license to comply with mine, or remove
code as they wish.

thanks all for adice!

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theli0nheart
Find a lawyer, stat.

