Site Content Stolen

[Admin]

I just discovered that a registered UK company has stolen content from my domainprices.co.uk and drops.co.uk sites and posted it as their own, even including a copyright statement & an internet ethics statement!

I will be on the phone Monday morning to their MD.

What would you do?

MAD :twisted:

Admin

 

[mat]

For a start think it through first before you go ringing their MD.

Ive had some content stolen before and I was ready to pick up the phone right away and have a rant, but it wont come across professional especialy if you are wound up when you talk to him.

I would let your solicitor handle it if you have one.

 

[Admin]

I don't have one but may need to appoint one now.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr

 

[mat]

Alternatively spend some time writing out a well thought out letter to the MD asking him to remove it or face legal action.

 

[ratboy]

It stinks. We once had our complete site stolen, the only change was the logo. Apparently I even worked for them. I rang up and asked to speak with Mr Ratcliffe, the phone went quiet. They changed it quick smart. Think it's one of those things that if they can get away with it, they will. Challenged they will probably just delete it. Cheeky!

 

[devolution]

What site is it BTW?

 

[bb99]

i'm in a gambling mood - so take printouts of both sites and get a solicitor's letter faxed to them on monday. sure it'll cost you for a solicitor but offer them a deal along the lines of "pay £xxxx or see you in court". a highballing strategy but well worth it, especially given that it's christmas.

 

[rob]

My post had a certain name starred out... I have edited this out as I guess there has been a complaint previously.

If this is the case then certainly quite cheeky to nick admin's stuff

 

[Admin]

Rob I've blocked their site URL form appearing here, just because I don't want to promote them.

The plot thickens a little as I dig further but for sure I will pursue this, even if it costs me money.

I spend hours updating domainprices.co.uk and drops.co.uk was my first attempt at a PHP/MySQL site i coded myself so it took me a lot of effort too.

Has anyone ever lodged a site with a website copyright service?
Is it worth anything to do this?

 

[devolution]

In the UK, there is no need to register copyright - it helps a little if you identify it with some sort of copyright symbol & date like:

(c) Whoever 2007
or
© Wir Havinalaff 2007. All Rights Reserved.

From: http://www.ipo.gov.uk/copy/c-claim/c-auto.htm :

Automatic protection
There is no official registration system for copyright in the United Kingdom (UK) and most other parts of the world. There are no forms to fill in and no fees to pay to get copyright protection.
So long as you have created a work that qualifies for copyright protection, that is it falls into one of the categories of material protected by copyright, you will have copyright protection without having to do anything to establish this. It is a requirement of various international conventions on copyright that copyright should be automatic with no need to register.
To help protect your copyright work, it is advisable to mark it with the © symbol, the name of the copyright owner and the year of publication. Although this is not essential, it will let others know when the term of protection started and hence whether it is still covered by copyright, and indicate who to approach should they need to ask permission to use the work.

Some other useful info:

Copyright Registers: http://www.ipo.gov.uk/copy/c-claim/c-register.htm
Database Rights (might specifically apply in this case as you have a database): http://www.ipo.gov.uk/copy/c-claim/c-otherprotect/c-otherprotect-database.htm

Hope this info helps!

 

[scooter]

Admin,
Beasty is your man to get it sorted.

.

 

[GreyWing]

Baseball bat is cheaper :-D:-D

Bat £20 from JJB, Solicitor's letter £150 per hour.

GW

 

[uglygit]

Cheeky sods

If you don't go down the solicitors route, when you do converse with them you can tell them that the copyrighted material they have taken is frowned upon by google and will be subsequently removed from their indexes.

 

[olebean]

I'm unsure what evidence you have other than a list of names to suggest the data / information is stolen

 

[Admin]

I'm unsure what evidence you have other than a list of names to suggest the data / information is stolen

This list of names is built by hand, and I include certain anomalies just for such an occurence. The drops.co.uk date of dropping is the exact date, time and second that it appears on my site for thousands of domains, impossible for them to say otherwise.

 

[Admin]

This list of names is built by hand, and I include certain anomalies just for such an occurence. The drops.co.uk date of dropping is the exact date, time and second that it appears on my site for thousands of domains, impossible for them to say otherwise.

And thinking about it further, the sales value of a domain is often in Euros or Dollars which I convert at the exchange rate on the day of publication. Too many variables for them to have it from any other source.

 

[GreyWing]

Dam you admin,

I never knew about your site, just registered and you are going to cost me a fortune again registering junk.

aaarrrrhhhhh

When will I learn

Seriously though, great site and well done.

 

[Admin]

Shhhh it's a secret...

 

[mojoco]

You have probably done this already but get a sceren print of every page before you contact them.

Find out as much info as possible about them before you make any contact whatsoever.

If you contact them by phone, record your conversation and be very careful what you say.

 

[Admin]

Yeah I have thanks for the tips. I see they are also advertising some AD members domains for sale...... I hope they know about it