Blatent Content Stealing

copyright infringement

[trigate]

I recently started a Google Adwords Campaign that has been working very well. Today I noted another competitor whose Ad was very similar. No big deal, so I thought that I would check out there website, and see what I was up against. Well, I was shocked... it was my page, word for word.. in fact the guy didn't even change the email address in the contact us link, it still goes to me (which I have already recieved inquiries).

The only differences are that I introduce myself, with my picture on the page.

Example.. (PICTURE)Hi my name is Wiley Coyote, and i have worked with Acme Inc for 5 years.

The competitor removed the picture altogether, and changed my name to his.

Example.. Hi my name is Bugs Bunny, and I have worked with Acme Inc for 5 years.

He also runs a bunch of affiliate adds on the side to operations I would never endorse.

At the bottom of my page I have a (c)Copyright 2005. All Rights Reserved. I have also contacted Google Adwords, and I did managed to send off an email to a contact listed in the Whois.

Is there anything else that I can do?

[arrowman]

Depending on your country, his country and the server's country, you may be able to take legal action, or threaten to do so in a cease and desist letter / e-mail.

You could also file a DMCA complaint with Google.

And you can e-mail whoever links to his site and ask for the links to be removed.

[trigate]

Thanks for the information. Still just shocked at how someone can so openly steal, with no attempt what so ever to conceal. Biggest problem is that to market, I am selling myself and my background. The way it appears now, it just looks like anyone could fill in their name and make the same claims. Tks.

[eurotrash]

You should certainly report this to all the search engines. Check out all their TOS and you will find where to report it.

It is becoming a huge problem for publishers and should be reported.

For more information go here: [webmasterworld.com...]

[incrediBILL]

Just file a DMCA report with his web hosting company and they'll shut him off ASAP.

I shut down 10 last year, 1 so far this year.... it works.

[crobb305]

You could use a third party watch group to help monitor your content. You can place their logo on your site which may help deter manual copying. Unfortunately, a lot of content stealing is automated. I had to hire someone to help monitor copyright infringement (among other things). I have also noticed a small decline in overall copying since I started using the watch group.

[trigate]

Thanks everyone for the input... issue resolved. I tried calling him, and although he agreed to pull down the content, it never happened. So I took Arrowmans & IncrediBill's advice, and filed an DMCA with the hosting provider, and Google. Problem solved in a little over 24 hours, he lost hosting, and the Adwords campaign.