Hello Shawn, and hello to the rest of you.

My name is Boris Beo and I am the developer of the WP Video Coach plugin. Please allow me to shed some light on some of the claims made here.

Shawn, you were very much welcome to contact me in a friendly matter and discuss whatever's on your mind. I'm available: there's a contact form, you can find me on Twitter, whatever.

Instead, yesterday I have received the same allegations you've made here, which you submitted through the contact form on the website. Let me state that there's nothing friendly about your approach: you've made an allegation that the videos are copied "word-by-word" and that you're giving us 24 hours to remove the videos, or else you'll file a DMCA complaint.

Let me give you some background information on the project Shawn. I'm personally responsible for coding the plugin, which IMHO outshines yours in terms of functionality (and I do say this in the most respectful way). Obviously, I saw a need (and market) for a better product, so I've spent the past few months coding away. The plugin is fully customizable and re-brandable, something I've spent hours and hours on developing.

To be labeled as a "shady developer" is something I really don't appreciate. But hey, if it's your way of dealing with the competition, fire away.

On to the videos. The production of the videos has been outsourced to a freelancer. The reason: my English isn't bad at all, but as a European I can never pass for a native American.

Your claim that the videos have been copied "word by word" is just not true. The videos do use the same approach: they are bundled into main WordPress categories (Dashboard, Plugins, Theme's, etc.) and they discuss the same actions. I'm not sure in how many different ways one can describe how to install a plugin.

In fact, I know it for a fact that you HAVEN'T watched the videos which are loaded in our plugin. The reason being that this product has just been launched a few days, and that the handful of users this plugin has, are WordPress developers I know personally (heck, they aren't even paying, it's just friends).

Had I seen your name as a subscriber, I would have given you some credit. Hey, at least you would have done your research then.

Your claim is not only not true, it is based on what you have seen on YouTube, the two videos we have distributed for free ("What is WordPress" and "How to Install WordPress"). In fact, you can't claim copyright on the installation instructions. You just can't. That would be like Internet Explorer suing Mozilla for using an address bar in their browser.

Further more, in terms of the war you've just started, I'm realistic enough to know where I stand. You've been around for four plus years, and you've built up a network of people around you. I've seen some big names (theme company CEO's, just to name a few) who are standing by your side.

This "shady developer" doesn't have an army of online friends with traffic. What bothers me is that you could have gone through a whole different approach in dealing with this. You could have contacted me, Skyped with me, whatever. I'm a reasonable guy and open to discussion. No, you feel the need to defend your business by using your huge network to label me as a "shady developer", without ever speaking to me.

Even worse, it hasn't even been 24 hours since your "copyright infrigment notice", and you've taken this war online. At least give someone a chance to respond before moving on to these kind of tactics.

Had you contacted me and simply told me that you feel the video structure is similar, I would have applauded you. I might have even contacted my video production freelancer and requested a re-do of the structure and video files.

Thank you for giving me exposure though. It may be negative now, but I'll manage to turn it around.

The mere fact is, you haven't watched the videos, so I don't know where this panic strategy came from. Is this your way of protecting your business? Do you feel this is the only way to fight the competition? Could it be the functionalities of this plugin have made you worry?

Rest assured, I haven't made millions Shawn. You aren't losing much here. If this was a black-hat situation where your videos were illegally loaded into people's WordPress, I would have had understanding for your actions. But like you, I've paid good money for video production.

Truth be told, I don't expect this post to change your mind, or the mind of your network. They know you, they will stand by you. You're probably a good guy, and I do have a great respect for your business skills. I have no respect for your conflict-solving ability though.

To prevent further drama and a possible DMCA claim, I have disabled the registration on my website until this is sorted out. Luckily, there are no paying customers at this point.

My next step? A complete re-do of the video course, so there's not even a slight chance my course will look like yours. I'll spend days, weeks or months if I have to, differentiating.

As Ted Clayton has stated: "Unless the creator of a video took pains to make their words especially unique & distinctive, we would actually expect a more or less high degree of overlap in lesson-scripts".

I will go through that "painful process". And this plugin will compete with yours, whether you like it or not. You might have authority in this field, you may be longer in this game than me, you may have influential people on your side, but that doesn't mean you can't have competitors.

I might not have an army of users or supporters, but I do have a plugin which I have worked on for months, something I'm proud of. And looking at its functionalities, I am sure there's at least a small portion of developers who would prefer my solution over yours.

In short, thank you for making my product even better. I've waited months to get it released and haven't even had a chance to see how it will do. I can wait a month or two more. But when I'm done, the amazing plugin functionalities will not be my only Unique Selling Point. A totally unique approach to WordPress learning will be one of them.

You are still welcome to contact me directly.

"To your success",
Boris