MediaPortal steals WebGuide MCE code?

It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if this report that MediaPortal may have stolen code from an MCE plug-in developer’s code were true. The MediaPortal folks ran Google Adwords that contained our trademarks ‘SnapStream’ and ‘Beyond TV’ a year or two ago — which is perfectly fine. But a trademark owner has the right to ask Google to suspend any ads that use their trademarks in the United States — which is what we did in the case of these MediaPortal ads. So what did we see a week or two later, after Google blocked them from running those ads? MediaPortal was running the same ads, but with our trademarks mis-spelled to avoid the block that had put on their account. Sigh. The other thing about the MediaPortal folks that I’ve seen is that they (= their users, their developers) frequently troll blog postings and forums and often post just for the sake of promoting MediaPortal and not because they have anything meaningful to say.

UPDATE: The Mediaportal folks seem to be apologizing for their rip-off. Good for them.

3 thoughts on “MediaPortal steals WebGuide MCE code?”

  1. That sort of nonsense not only gives open source a bad name, it is outright wrong. I’ve always been one to cheer MediaPortal on, but after this it will not be on my list of HTPC choices just on principle. Very dissapointing.

  2. I find it very poor of you Rakesh, for using this opportunity to whine about your own problems with Media Portal. Are they beginning to stop on your precious financial toes too hard?

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