Forum Moderators: not2easy
This time, my main site's content was completely lifted and then words were altered here and there. I know for a fact it's my content, because there are still some phrases left behind that nobody else on the known Internet has ever used but myself. Being as the site owner is from a country with a small English speaking contingent, I'm not sure if they manually went through and changed words or if they used some software. Either way, they've ripped my time off and edged me out of my SERP positions for many keywords.
And to add insult to injury, they used "site-domains.com" where my site is "sitedomain.com." Still a coincidence?
I'm not a big fish, I don't make heaps of cash, and as such I have absolutely no recourse against this foreigner on a foreign server and with a foreign DN registrar. I've tried to get these kinds of thieves shut down before, and all I get are "no speak english" replies if anything.
While I'm not willing to sell my kidney to afford an IP lawyer and all the hassle that would go along with getting them shut down, I would be willing to pony up several hundred dollars to a government agency if they'd have a copyright expert spend the five minutes it would take to realize I've been duped and ban this site within the USA.
Kidding...?
ICANN needs to get a lot more involved in policing things unless they want people like me petitioning my representatives for some government intervention.
I'd be willing to pay considerably more to ICANN per domain name if they'd step up to the plate and deal with copyright issues.
Just ban their DNS from resolving in the USA and I'd call it good. I'd be willing to put up with the boon of conspiracy theory blogs claiming big brother is censoring other things.
it won't make the content on their site change, but it'll make you feel a lot better.
ICANN needs to get a lot more involved in policing things unless they want people like me petitioning my representatives for some government intervention.
I think that ICANN's response would be "go ahead" because it isn't in their charter.
Your next problem would be that your representatives would have is that what you want would be in violation of, or at least cause complications with, at least half a dozen international treaties that work in our favor.
Then you would have the issue that those laws would create huge expense for the backbone companies, because they would have to block sites, not IP addresses, at the large pipes. Not an easy task.
Then there is the little issue of creating a censorship infrastructure for the use of businesses. It would have to be set up in some way that it passes constitutional muster.
If you are going to have any hope of your representatives doing anything other than sending you a nice form letter, I suggest that you address these issues with a detailed plan when you write them.
If not, then I dunno what to tell you, because as far as having the right to any recourse, you are probably out of luck.
If so, then you'll want to probably find someone familiar with their country's copyright laws. Under the berne convention, a government must give the same protection that they give to their own citizens.
If you're going to write a letter or try to take some action, it would need to be written in accord to the laws of the country the infringer is from. For example, you won't get far by writing a letter citing the DMCA, because the US government has no jurisdiction over the other country, and US copyright laws do not apply.
You probably won't get very far without spending alot of money, and if the country is notorious for infringement or for not even enforcing its own copyright laws, then you probably won't get anywhere.
