Forum Moderators: not2easy
I am aware of google.com/dmca.html but they want me to write in by normal post. This surely will only help with google, but what about other domains?
My site is <snip> and the guy who's duplicated it is running it at <snip> - im not parranoid about the impact that this will cause to my traffic am i?
[edited by: engine at 11:17 am (utc) on May 31, 2005]
[edit reason] No urls, thanks. See TOS [webmasterworld.com] [/edit]
apologies for putting in domain names. i didnt realise these were going to be removed. i just wanted you all to see that the site in question is a duplicate, rather than them just using parts of my site. the entire directory structure is the same also, as they have just changed the beginning of the path to be their domain.
I also meant to write what about other "search engines" not "other domains" when refering to google/DMCA. sorry for any wrong doings.
I would really appreciate input and advice about this person who thinks that duplicating people's sites is a good way to conduct oneself. If you would like the domains in question, please ask.
Paul.
I wanted to know do you have copyright for the content or the your domain and your company are registered.
If you have something like this you can have some legal opinon on this ans write to ICANN if there is no whois information provided, giving your all details and explaining your situation.They can cancel the domain if your compliant is found to be correct.
Secondly google cant do anything inthis case,only they can do is drop there website from their index.But your real motive should be different protecting the copyright and image of services you provide under the website name.
Good luck to you
thanks for the reply. i wrote my whole site myself, so would have thought id have copyright on it automatically? - anyway, i've emailed you sticky email with the URL, as id appreciate your comments having seen first hand the situation.
thanks again - Paul.
The best way to deal with a copyright infringer (if you can afford it) is to hire an attorney. However, this is often not cost-effective since copyright violators can pop up like mushrooms and vanish about as quickly. One fairly quick approach is to send your own cease & desist letter to the infringing site, but also immediately send the same information to everyone you can find related to the offending site - the web host, the domain registrar, all domain contacts, any site contacts, site advertisers and sponsors, and the major search engines. This doesn't take long, and if you are lucky it will create a mountain of work for the violator. Be sure you have your documentation in order.
thanks for your input, which was much appreciated. its the writing to the search engines that scare me, as they all talk about ME paying fees like $10,000 if it goes to court, even though they have blatantly ripped of my site. Just to show you how cheeky this guy has been, please can you look at the site in question? i'll email you the url in a sticky. thanks.
Hopefully speak soon.
Much obliged
Paul.
We don't have to look at the site. We believe you.
Is the other site based in the United States or the same country as you?
If they are in the same country, then you would be going through your country's legal system to go after them directly.
If they are not in your country, it could be very expensive to bring them down. The case would almost certainly have to be in their country, not your's.
If they are hosted in the united states, even if you are not, you can send a takedown notice to their hosting service. It is very unlikely that they will fight it.
As for the major search engines, they are almost all based in the US, so they will respond to the DMCA notices. Site copiers are very unlikely to fight back. And if they are outside the US, they ere even less likely to fight back.
Do not expect Google to file suit against you for sending them a DMCA notice, as they really don't care. If they look into it and disagree with you, they might not honor the takedown notice, but it is extremely unlikely that they take you to court.
If you are outside the US, and send a DMCA takedown, and they take you to court, how will they enforce a civil verdict for that $10k against you?
If you are in the right, you should not be scared of filing a DMCA notice with the search engines. Because there are no legal steps that you can take that would not potentially cost you money if you lost. That doesn't mean that you are likely to lose, just that there is the potential, and you need to be aware of it.
Some very sound advice there. thanks. You know what else i've just noticed? - the guy has EVEN kept the same 'reciprocal links' page, and told everyone that he will exchange links (like i do) - but he's changed the link info to be his own site obviously, but left my email address and the email address to contact about the exchange.... sweet lord this guy's got some front!
Thanks again for the advice. much appreciated.
Paul.
A few months ago two of my sites were copied. As I investigated this infringer I uncovered many other sites he had recently copied and added Adsense.
To make a long story short - every site he copied fell out of the SERPs. Some sites made it back and others are dead.
You can take it from there, but I'd want to know that first, at the very least. -Larry
God DOES move in mysterious ways. Out of all the emails i fired off in every direction yesterday... one of them, somehow, made it to the host of the culprit. I dont know how because none of the domains i emailed to was the same as the domain from which i received a reply today.
(bear in mind that the culprit and the host company are both in China, making it even more difficult to get this sorted with ease)
Any way, an email form someone at the host company arrived in my inbox this morning, telling me that they have suspended his domain, AND pulled down the site alltogehter. Halliluya! - This is an incredible turnaround as i only discovered all this yesterday. so to get it all fixed in a day is amazing.
The funny thing is that this guy has REALLY shot himself in the foot, because he was running many 'websites' off a single domain. He had:
Domain1 / site1
Domain1 / site2
and so on.
The level at which he was using duplicate pages from my site was as the very first index page, making it easy for me to demonstrate to people. So basically by operating underhandedly as he did, and having his domain pulled, he lost ALL subsequent sites he was running off of that single domain. Jutice served i think!
I just hope he doesnt argue the case and get put back on. Or he might go to another host and upload all the pages again, so i'll have to keep regular watch.
One final point on justice. On the site that he duplicated from me, he placed many affiliate links form an affiliate middle-man company in the UK. They are based in London, just down the road from me. I called them today to let them know that one of their members was acting in this way, and that it would reflect badly on them... explaining that the host had already pulled his site. They said that they would "most likely" remove him form their network (cancell his account). In which case, even if this guys finds another host, his pages will be useless until he looks for another affiliate based company to get links form, or reapply, changing all his links etc. Justice served again.
A good end to the saga i think. I was right to inform the affiliate people wasn't i?
Paul.
