Are Copy-Paste style fake Add-ons OK on AMO?

Add-ons addons.mozilla.org
#1

A user of one of my extensions pointed me towards this other extension that literally copied all the source code of my 1.1.2 version, changed the icon + name and posted it as theirs: https://addons.mozilla.org/de/firefox/addon/changer-user-agent/

Here is the entire diff between the two versions: https://pastebin.com/srD55GUU (Note that they didn’t even delete the old SVG icons…)

At the very least I would have expected to get some attribution (link back to original add-on + name of its developer); this they didn’t provide, through the retrained my GPL-3+ copyright notices in the source files.

What is AMO’s policy on this kind of Add-on? Is it OK do this (adding 0-value-added, no-user-facing-attribution extensions)?

Sincerely,
Alexander

Edit: Fixed the formatting, now that Firefox Accounts login works again.

#2

I also cannot log in using accounts.firefox.com to update the styling of this post. It always gives me an “Unknown Error” (error code 999) and nothing works.

The link to the diff was supposed to be: https://pastebin.com/srD55GUU

#3

I just found this sentance in the “Content” section of the Add-on Policies (emphasis added):

If the add-on is a fork of another add-on, the name must clearly distinguish it from the original and provide a significant difference in functionality and/or code.

So I guess this is against your ToS then? Should I report it?

#4

Sounds horrible, Alexander. Please do report it, yes.

#5

Thanks! Will do that then! :slightly_smiling_face: