WP Ninja PopUp [review]
POS:
NoneNEG:
A rebranded CodeCanyon product being resold without the original authors consent.Well it looks like Vas Blagodarskiy has struck again. He bought another plugin off of CodeCanyon, changed a few of its graphics and its name and is now selling it illegally. This time he stole ‘Ninja Popups’ and is selling it under his own name of WP Ninja Popup. While he was a little more […]
Well it looks like Vas Blagodarskiy has struck again. He bought another plugin off of CodeCanyon, changed a few of its graphics and its name and is now selling it illegally.
This time he stole ‘Ninja Popups’ and is selling it under his own name of WP Ninja Popup. While he was a little more clever about it, having at least changed a few of the graphics and some of the settings, it is very obvious that they are the exact same software. Vas will no longer give me review access to his products since I called him out the last two times he engaged in software piracy so in order to compare his plugin to the one being sold on CodeCanyon I actually bought his. Check out these two screenshots of the plugin settings.
The screenshot above is from the real Ninja Popup being sold on CodeCanyon for $18.
This screenshot is from WP Ninja Vas is selling on JVZoo.
Its very easy to see that while he is trying to hide it with a few minor changes to things like the icons and some small coding changes this is indeed the same software. This is just one page comparison. I actually compared several pages of this plugin and they are the same in dozens of ways, there is no chance this is an accident. This for sure is the same software with a few minor changes. There is no doubt that this new product being released by Vas Blagodarskiy is nothing more than someone elses software that he got from CodeCanyon, changed a little bit, and is now selling without their permission.
How do I know that he is selling it without their permission? Well you see as I said I bought this from Vas to do this testing. Well I also bought the one from CodeCanyon to compare them. I wanted to see if Vas had permission to sell their code so I sent them a support email and asked them. Here is what they said:
The graphic above is a little small so here is the reply I was given from the real creators of this plugin when I asked them if they gave Vas permissions to sell this off of CodeCanyon. “Vas Blagodarskiy is making fraud. His webpage has illegal files and soon will be closed. We not approve this and it is Envato copyrights violation.“
Now perhaps because I’m a little more offended than others about stolen software because I have made my living creating software for such a long time. Also there seems to be a bit of a mixed opinion over if Vas is actually permitted to resell this software as his own. Some people feel that the origional code, even though it is sold on CodeCanyon is under the GPL license. I tend to think that its a SPLIT license with the GPL part only pertaining to the common WP code / functions and not the custom plugin functions and images. But again Im not a lawyer.
One thing I do know for sure though is that the people who sell this software call Vas a ‘fraud’ and that they do not approve this. Also they claim that this is in violation of CodeCanyon’s copyright license. I guess there is a grey area here. However one thing that is for sure. The guy who wrote this does not want Vas to be reselling it. For me thats enough.
So do I recommend this product? Well of course not. In fact the one thing I do recommend is that you stay far away from anything that has Vas’s name or association with and that you stay away from any affiliate that chooses to promote his software after knowing about this copyright infringement.
*UPDATE: I had a personal discussion with E. Brian Rose from JVZoo and he assures me that because the software being sold on CodeCanyon is GPL that Vas is permitted to resell this product even if the product creator does not wish it to be done. Im not so sure about that but again I admit Im not a lawyer. Also this seems to be sold under a split license not 100% GPL.
** It seems that JVZoo was served a DCMA notice and has promptly removed this product listing from their site.
A quick note about the reviews I do on this site. The product vendors give me access to their products for free in order for me to do my review. However I make no promises to them regarding the results of my tests or what I will write in my review. Should you click a link that takes you to a sales page for a paid product for sale this link will be an affiliate link and I will be paid a percentage of the sales price should you decide to invest in it.
About the Author
That is really bad. Reputation is hard to get and even harder if already been destroyed.
Thanks for letting us know. I wouldn’t have found out otherwise. I’ve already asked for a refund.
What are the other products he has stolen? Can anyone tell me?
I recently purchased his “product” WP ViCom with full plr. Will I be selling stolen software?
I did not review that one so I cant say for sure about that one. The other two I reviewed where:
http://brettrutecky.com/Software-detail/wp-aviary-review/
http://brettrutecky.com/Wordpress-detail/keyword-swarm-review/
yep, Vicom is stolen : it’s the excellent Visual Composer, from WP Bakery, on Envato :
I made a message to real author, he said me , ” i already sent out a DMCA notice “… And Vas sell PLR rights for this plugin, with life update… !!!
Don’t sell this plugin, or big problem with justice…
Excuse my bad english, i’m french.
Ha Bruno .. dont say ‘excuse my bad English’ .. my use of the English language is horrid (bad spelling and grammar) .. and Im not French so I have no excuse 🙂 Thanks for reporting about this other plugin I hope it will help people who where considering buying it from him.
Yup, WP ViCom is also ‘stolen’ from CodeCanyon. The actual plugin is Visual Composer, there’s currently a discussion and bashing on Warrior Forum regarding WP ViCom.
Brett, I need to give thanks to people like yourself that have the courage to actually “tell it like it is” and expose this crap. As a part-time affiliate marketer, I find it is getting harder and harder to tell “lies” from “faked”, good from bad and real from faked when I purchase my own items and/or promote things I feel are worthy of promotion.
Thanks for your wisdom and your courage!
Daryl
I’m on this guys list. Thanks for the heads up. Do I hear unsubscribe? I wonder how many more products he has out there, he’s had more than his share lately.
Oh man – I bought WP ViCom. Will be refunding and contacting the real owners @CodeCanyon.
Will be happy to spread the word. #whatadouche
Brett, have you ever been dealt a defamation suit?
Well I did deal with a DMCA complaint from a guy who is not smart enough to create his own IM product once. Guess how that worked out?
Man you’ve got some front, LOL.
What does that mean? (is it good or bad)
Sorry I was talking to Vas the software thief.
Great post and please don’t take it down, people need to know what this clown is doing.
with all the easy and legitimate ways to make money online, why anyone would resort to software piracy is mind boggling. The same effort that it takes to scheme dishonest ways to deceive people, is the same amount of effort it takes to make honest money. Why one would choose for former over the latter defies all logic.. yet it happens every day. A dang shame.. dang shame…
Hi Brett. I just saw the update you posted on your blog. You wrote:
“*UPDATE: I had a personal discussion with E. Brian Rose from JVZoo and he assures me that because the software being sold on CodeCanyon is GPL that Vas is permitted to resell this product even if the product creator does not wish it to be done.”
I just want to clarify, so there is no misunderstanding. I told you that Vas presented me with the licensing document from the plugins he created a derivative from and those licenses were the GPL. I never confirmed that the products being sold on CodeCanyon were GPL or not. All I had to go by was what I was presented with.
Since we last spoke, we have been served a proper DMCA Takedown notice by the author of the original software. That is exactly what was needed for us to take action.
We followed the law to a T in this situation. The funny thing about it is the folks demanding we take it down immediately wanted us to NOT follow the law. It’s kind of ironic and definitely a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation for us.
Thanks for clarifying E. Brain Rose. Sorry if I was not clear when reiterating our conversation.
Also I agree you handled this very well. Being a vendor that uses JVZoo’s services Vas is a JVZoo customer and you have to make sure you dont take any harsh steps that may adversely effect him without cause. I honestly dont think you could have handled this situation any different or better then you did. As you know I myself am a very happy customer of JVZoo and your professionalism in handling what must have been a ‘sticky’ situation only increases my respect for the JVZoo team.
As I said when we spoke my initial desire for people to contact JVZoo was only so that you dont mistakenly make this POTD since by making it POTD you could have been seen as endorsing the sale of this unauthorised product. My intent was only to bring situational awareness to JVZoo. This is why I said ‘tell JVZoo what this guy is doing’ .. not ‘scream for Vas’s head on a spike and demand JVZoo banish him from internet land’.
Also I want to thank you for your personal attention on this. Its pretty cool when the CEO gets personally involved to ensure everything is handled properly.
Such a law obeying citizen you are … sorry mate, but this sounds a bit creepy when there are a lot of people telling you that the product is illegal, moreover this is not first time it seems when Vas is doing something like that.
To me this one looks like you try to get out maximum from situation until receive DMCA and then “obey it in accordance to law” within few days.
Also do not believe that you did not know that items on CodeCanyon where under split license …
The end.
Hey Bret,
Thanks for the info..
I wonder how much money has been made while the “legal” stuff is sorted on these products???
Maybe this is the new business model?
2 strikes and you should be banned – proves a habitual offender…come on JVZOO you need a policy change to stop this sort of thing.
I bought ViCom from him and it does not work on any of my 3 systems (Vista, 7 and 8) nor with any of the 3 browsers (Firefox, Chrome, IE)!
I am getting ready to apply for the Refund. What are the chances that I’ll get one???
Has anyone else found that with the Developer/PLR version of ViCom it will not open a compose box (text box)? (That is, it opens the text box but does not open the compose screen of that box.)
I am still waiting for the delivery of a website I bought on Flippa from Vas…what a waste of time and effort! a big BOO to Vas and his poor attempts to justify his (non) actions.
Hi Brett…
While I have never come across any of this person’s code, I am grateful to have stumbled on this post. Thank you for making us aware of this. To call attention to this kind of fraud is commendable. I have to agree with Pepe’s comment, because the amount of time and effort it takes to defraud, lie, and steal from another, is the same amount of effort it takes to honestly design your own plugin, share it, and gain respect from people who would probably be interested in supporting you. It is utterly sad when we cannot respect one another enough to not steal from each other…I’m glad you took the time, and had the courage to call him out on this. Good for you (and the rest of us)!
Seems like blatant code copying and a willing mis-represntation of the end-user license. How do the original authors combat this?
My understanding is that they issued a DMCA take down request to JVZoo (which JVZoo promptly complied with)
He might be doing it again? {link removed}