Anyway to minimise torrents of your work?

[Jock]

At my workplace, they are banding about the idea of producing some literature for 3DMax/vray, just some fairly small scale stuff though it would be sold as opposed to being free. As well as a physical copy they are also discussing a downloadable version.

What i'm curious about is how people go about protecting themselves from basically having their work plastered all over torrent sites and rapidshare. It seems you can get pretty much anything out there for free if you look in the right place, so is there anything people can do to minimise the risk of it happening or get rid of it altogether?

The document itself would probably be downloaded in pdf format if that makes a difference.

[Aaron2004]

I don't know how many you are planning on selling, but you could include a scrolling text of the person/company who bought it over the video every now and then. That way if you ever find it in a torrent, you know who is responsible.

 

EDIT: Oh, it's a PDF...well, you could still probably do the same thing. Each page has the person's name in it somwhere.

[Jock]

Yeah i dont think implementing something along those lines would be very difficult, and with the numbers involved would be quite do-able.

 

I got quite a good reply in another forum that i thought i would share in case anyone else finds it worthwhile reading:

 

ideally, a digital downloadable version is an obvious choice due to flexibility and instant download/payment between you and your clients. it's a no brainer really, but as you say, how to avoid copying and freebee sharing?

 

you dont. but why not put a positive spin on things?

 

You're at risk to the pirates as much as any of the big (or small) boys, so get used to it. it aint a nice thing, but other than cutting a potentially large or easy market you havent much choice. When you get used to that concept it's easier.

I dont know what specifically you're selling or wanting to market, but be assured, your targeted market group will be payers and legit peeps. like the rest of us. You'll make the money and hit the market just as you expect (hopefully .

As for illegal usage of your product, then give it no mind. The peeps (or pirates) who illegally download every freebee they can wouldn't buy your product even if it was only £1. They dont care. Businesses and legit companies and individuals all always pay even if they're offered the same for free. These are the peeps that matter. Pirates dont. They're not and will never be potential and actual clients.

 

I've had enough of my own stuff appear on download sites for free, but i still make money off the originals though. i'd never consider suing, just too much hasstle, expense and a pain in the ass.

 

it's a hard thing, but even with dodgy copys of your items flying about out there, it's a lot better than not having them there in the first place.

 

thats my advise

[STRAT]

hey, that sounds like good advice

[Jock]

didnt realise you were over here.

[amer abidi]

hey, that sounds like good advice

 

+1

[STRAT]

didnt realise you were over here.

 

 

aye aye, i've been super modding your sorry asses into shape since all these were fields mate

[notamondayfan]

I may be wrong, but I think there is a way to lock pdf's to your hardrive, so that you cant open them on other machines. It still doesnt stop people from copying them (print screen, etc), but would be a good deterrant.

 

The down side is that if a company bought it, they would have trouble sharing it with their coworkers.

 

People who download torrents generally would never pay for item anyway, and only download it because they can. I find the same with music, people download hundreds of albums, listen to them once, and forget about them. Where as people who really like the music and want to listen to it over and over again will generally buy the music.

 

I wouldn't worry about it myself. Maybe you could sell it through some sites like http://envato.com/ which may offer more protection?