someone copied my website

dcma issue

[deepone]

My website was copied. 4-5 pages including content pages and forms were copied. I contacted the ISP and the content is now down. Can I proceed with a legal action against the website owner? Is there a civil or criminal case I can file?

What is the extend of what I can file legal actions against the site owner?

[Shak]

Welcome to Webmasterworld [webmasterworld.com]

which country are we referring to?

Shak

[deepone]

USA - DMCA issue.

[jbinbpt]

Here is a site that will be of interest to you Chilling Effects [chillingeffects.org].

Lots of good stuff there

[FredP]

I've got the same problem in the UK.

Some one keeps copying my website, including meta-tags, contents and even the site structure. Any suggestions?

[Jenstar]

For general information, you can send a legal cease and desist (C&D) to the infringer. You can find many sample C&D's online. Send it to all known addresses of the infringer. You can also contact the host to let them know a client of theirs has infringed upon your copyright. It is against nearly all host's TOS to steal content/images from another site. Since the content is now off the site, just keep an eye on it, because the infringer can file a counter-claim, and the ISP may put it back online.

If it is in Google, you can also file a DMCA report with them, and they will remove the infringed pages from the serps. [google.com...]

You can file a copyright infringement lawsuit, but you should contact a lawyer for this. When you choose a lawyer, make sure that he or she has experience with internet law and copyright infringement.

You should be aware that this route can be pretty costly - and even more so if they have deep pockets to fund it. You should examine why you want to take this route, when the content has been removed.

[deepone]

But I still have a case if the content gone?

[Jenstar]

Did you download a copy of each page and get screenshots of everything? Did you print out the infringer's pages?

[deepone]

yes

[Jenstar]

I also forgot to ask where the infringer is located. If the infringer is located outside the US, it gets much trickier.

You should also get a copy of the whois for the domain of the infringer as well, if you haven't already.

Next step would be to contact a lawyer who is familiar with copyright law, and see what he or she says about turning this into a lawsuit. A lawyer will be able to give you a much better idea of what is involved and if you have a strong case or not to win.

[Jenstar]

FredP - have you been successful at getting the infringer to remove your content? Is it always the same person doing it? Or is it just the same content being stolen repeatedly by different people each time?

[FredP]

Jenstar - different people copy my stuff and I didn't know that you could stop them. I assume the law in England is differs from you guys in the States. Do you know if UK law has any protection for people like me?

[SMXwebcrawler]

This page has some useful information about UK copyright laws and the exact laws they come under.

[internetrights.org.uk...]

[tbear]

>>If it is in Google, you can also file a DMCA report with them

Hmmmm, 2 sites copied and used my work (one includes my author statement and is a pure spam site). I informed Google, with their instructions copied to the letter, some 6 to 8 weeks ago.
Both sites are still showing my stolen pages in the Google serps.
Don't hold your breath for Google to act......
There are so many obviously 'iffy' sites in the Google serps that I wonder if they really care. Or maybe it's just a sign of the times.....

[Jenstar]

Google does act, albiet they are slow at it.

If you do a search for "Kazaa", scroll to the bottom and you will see:

In response to a complaint we received under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we have removed 14 result(s) from this page. If you wish, you may read the DMCA complaint for these removed results.

So they are removing sites and pages as per the DMCA. If you do a search for Google at chillingeffects.org you can also get a list of the ones they have taken action on.