Pirate Software

How many designers would still be listed on Cad Crowd if software checks were made?

A simple question which might throw up some interesting numbers!

Is it professional or legal for the Cad Crowd business to offer services of "designers" who may be operating outside of the law?

If a client of Cad Crowd is audited and work is found to have been done on pirated software, who is liable?

This is a great question. 
Software verification should become part of the sign-up process. Those who have legitimate licences appreciate the investment levels for both software and hardware, as well as the ongoing maintenance costs to keep everything up to date.

In the scenario you mention, I think, as it stands, the supplier of the CAD service (the designer) would be liable. In the same way as any sub-contractor would be.

The trouble is people want the most for their money, so those who are not paying for legal software are more attractive to many vendors, but they also pose the greatest risk Many will not have indemnity insurance, some may produce dangerous designs, but the customer is happy, because they didn't pay much for their work.

All this of course means that the legitimate designers risk being priced out of the market by everyone who does not own legitimate software...

Thanks for the input Tim.

Going by the lack of comments I would suggest that my suspicions might be correct.

Maybe your comment about "legitimate designers risk being priced out" does not apply so much on Cad Crowd as everyone is working to a fixed price (on contests) but might be a problem more if they are privately invited. Having said that, I am sure there are legitimate designers working from lower cost countries who will always be cheaper.

Surprised nobody from the Cad Crowd has added their input?

Asking for legit software license serial number would wipe out about 90% of the CadCrowd "pool" of designers who create things that aren't even manufacturable and dumb buyers fall for it.

so the illegals have two things going for them, free software they hacked of the internet, and designs that are impossible to produce. gotta love it !!!!

the more buyers who can get people with illegal software to work for them in countries where the average monthly wage is $300, the better off they are. I work in a country where the average monthly salary is about 2K a month, pay $1500 a year for updates, and make about $10K a year........ gotta love it !!!!!

IT'S THE BUYERS RESPONSIBILITY, not CadCrowds. The buyer is going to have to live with designs that can't be made and created from pirated software.

what is amazing is that designers win contests from countries where the average monthly income is $300 a month, and they have software that is valued at an entire years salary. ain't that amazing !!!

Why would anyone hack software when you can use Fusion 360 for free?

because Fusion 360 is in development and full of bugs and quite frankly sucks.

most people buy their software from Chinese pirates and then send them love notes thanking them for it.

that's because there is no "moral compass" at anywhere in the globe anymore.

have you seen one Chinese designer on CadCrowd ? No..... that's because they can make more money stealing products from all over the world than they can make in 20 years on CadCrowd.

If I'm Chinese and I can sell software to a guy in Buenos Aires, why would I go on CadCrowd ?

One way to earn points!

"no moral compass".  That's partially because the money used for transacting is laundered money and the intentions for trade are tainted.   Partially, it's about capital fetching the best product for the lowest price regardless of where it came from or how it was obtained.   

We can't check the designers when they join Cad Crowd if they have a license for their software. Just for our private projects we usually check this.

It's the buyers responsibility, if they are interested in that. But there was just 2-3 cases over the last years when a buyer asked for that.

Lucian

Hi Lucian

I understand that it would be difficult to check but maybe you need to make a statement when joining that licences might need verifying. By doing this you will eventually build up a more professional group of designers if that is what you want?

Hi DesignAssist,

Definitely! But I think this needs to be discussed with our lawyer, adding or changing something to the statement is something major that takes weeks or months . When our CEO will have a meeting with our attorney, I will ask him to put this into discussion.

Thanks again,
Lucian

Most of the freelance designers will be having pirated softwares. That doesn't matter because as we move towards production phase, the client will be providing open source formats like stp or iges to the vendors.

KP HARISANKAR wrote:Most of the freelance designers will be having pirated softwares. That doesn't matter because as we move towards production phase, the client will be providing open source formats like stp or iges to the vendors.

It does matter and you should not be implying that most freelancers use pirated software. A buyer might be none the wiser, but as soon as you are using it for commercial gain then it is totally unethical and illegal. I spend £2000 a year on software licences so obviously have a big issue with competing designers not paying a penny.

Hi design assist, I am new to this freelance community and may be my knowledge is limited in the usage of pirated softwares. But there is no way to track the parent file of an iges or stp file, and that's what most buyers ask. 
Anyway I too support your concern and I feel that usage of licensed software will make the platform more professional and appealing.