Was your datapack stolen?
Well, fear not! This can and will happen at some point in your career. This guide will go over what you should do if you think that your datapack is stolen, whether that's by somebody on Planet Minecraft or another similar site, or by websites such as 9minecraft, which are centred around stealing and uploading datapacks from Planet Minecraft. It's even better if you license your packs.

What's a licence?

A licence is basically a document which tells people what they can and can't do with your datapack. It doesn't necessarily stop people from stealing your pack, but it does give you grounds to tell people who did steal your datapack to take it down. The most commonly used licences are the Creative Commons licenses. You can select a licence to use here. All you gotta do is put a link to the licence in the description of your datapack

This is an example of a licence being used in the description of a project


Here are some licences that we like to use:

• CC BY-SA: This means that people have to give you credit, and if they want to reupload it, they have to also use the same CC BY-SA licence and credit
• CC BY-NC-ND: This means that people have to give you credit when they use your packs, they can't make money from using your pack, and they can't redistribute a modified version of your pack.

Stolen and reuploaded on PMC, Modrinth, or similar

If your pack was stolen by a user on Planet Minecraft or Modrinth, then it's a straightforward process to get it removed.

On PMC, there's a Report button on the project's page. Select "Copyright Issue" as the report type, and leave a link to the original. You don't need to explain any more, but if you want to then go ahead. A moderator will look into the report ASAP.

Similarly, there's also a functionality to report projects on Modrinth. On the project's sidebar, there's a Report button which will let you fill out a form. Select "Copyright" as the report reason, and again leave a link to the original so that the moderators know where the original post was taken from.

Stolen and reuploaded on 9minecraft

9minecraft (dot) net is a common site which steals people's datapacks and uploads them, often putting viruses on their website and in the downloadable file. The only way to get your content removed from their site is to send them an DMCA email.

A DMCA is a legal request to get your content removed from the site. They legally have to comply with it when you send them a request to take your content down, and they always do. 9minecraft's email is: 9minecraft(dot)net@gmail.com. Below is a template for a DMCA letter you could send.

Stolen and reuploaded on other 3rd party sites

9minecraft isnt the only site that you can expect to see your content reuploaded to. However, it's the only one which is cooperative in removing your content. For other sites, it's a similar process, except that often their contact details are not listed. You can send other sites the same DMCA template email. Here's a few ways to try and find their contact emails:

• WHOIS lookup: On some websites, you can get the email of who registered the domain name. If you put their domain name into a WHOIS lookup tool then it might return an email you can use
  
• Check social media: Sometimes these websites will have a social media you can contact them through. If you find one, check if you can send them a message or if they show their email.
• Send the DMCA to their hosting provider instead. There's many ways to find the hosting provider of a website. You can send a DMCA to them and often you will get a better outcome than just sending it to them.
• Send the DMCA to a search engine. If all else fails, you can get the search result removed from sites like Google by sending them a DMCA. Search engines often have their own form to fill in for that.

Thanks for reading!

You made it to the end! Hopefully you now know how to protect your datapacks from datapack stealers. If you want more help, or if you want to improve your skills more, please join our super friendly Discord community: https://discord.datapackhub.net/. We've got teams of people waiting to help you with any questions or projects you may have!

© 2024 Silabear (Datapack Hub). Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0