Forum Moderators: not2easy
We have a problem. Another website copied completely our design. What can we do to have him down?
What can we do first?
Pierre
As far as I know there is no copyright on web site designs - but I am not 100% sure on this one. There is a site out there that exposes blatent design plagarism and I'll dig that out for you.
Probably the best thing to do first is send the site owner a letter/email asking him to change his design as it is a direct copy of your own. Other than that speaking to your lawyer may be a good idea and please let us know what they say - I'd be very interested in knowing the exact legality of this. Is the offending company based in the same country/legislative are as you?
A warm welcome to WebmasterWorld.
I am sorry to hear you've found that. Some people are happy to steal others' intellectual property.
Take a look over this post [webmasterworld.com] and its links which point to a few ways others have dealt with theft.
Our website is very popular for our destination.
This person also copied our domain name structure.
<snip>
Pierre
[edited by: engine at 12:12 pm (utc) on Dec. 13, 2002]
[edit reason] no specifics, thanks. [/edit]
I've finally managed to find that site. It's a great reference site: [pirated-sites.com...]
Submit your site and the offenders copy there - at least you can get the fact out there that they have stolen your design and not vice-versa!
I filed an abuse complaint with the isp hosting the site. They contacted him and he then emailed me an apology saying he never intended Google to index it, and that it was a "hobby thing" that he had not finished (something to do with a proxy). The upshot is, I disappeared from Google for two months. It cost us a lot in traffic and leads, and there wasn't a damn thing we could do about it legally.
If it's just your design - I wouldn't be too worried. I see lots of designs duplicated throughout the net. I would be interested in any legal roads you find available, tho.
-webwoman
um, of course there is... that is a bit like saying there is no copyright on television programs.
Every piece of art, or copy or code you create is copyrightable.
Sometimes this might be difficult to test in court, but it doesn't mean a design isn't copyright
I found an SEO company that copied a page off my site and tweaked a word here and there. Inserted their name, changed a verb, added punctuation. But 98% of it is still my wording, my headlines, my slogans. If they change
one word does it nullify the copyright?
Basically that whole bit about changing an existing work is usually misunderstood, you still technically need permission to use the original, you are just creating a new work by altering it, but you still need the original.
And just as an FYI in case it helps someone else -
I did a general search on Google using chunks of my text to see if anyone had copied it. Did so because I had just read someone else's horror story and was curious to see if it was happening to me.
Turns out it happened twice. With the first site ( site A), they copied one of my pages word-for-word. The other (site B)is the one that changed a handful of words.
I sent a polite note to site A and asked they remove the copy immediatly. I copied Google's spamreport on the email and sent it off. Site A complied and took the material down within 24 hours. Three days later I heard from Google:
"It is our policy to respond to notices of alleged infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (the text of which can be found
at the U.S. Copyright Office Web Site, [lcWeb.loc.gov...]
and other applicable intellectual property laws, which may include removing or disabling access to material claimed to be the subject of infringing activity....."
The rest of the email was a detailed outline telling me how to proceed. To say they were helpful was an understatement. If nothing else, it made me feel better!
If you find your content used without permission, consider cc'ing Google on the email you send the bozo stealing your copy. spamreport@google.com
It's too bad so much energy is channeled into doing spammy things.
