Cople of douchebags are copying my web site!

[adlep]

So I started playing with http://www.copyscape.com/ and bam:

He stole my web site

Another "Smart Person"

Is there anything I can do to stop this person in China from hijacking my site?

And btw, the copyscape tool is great. If you own a web site, please use it, although prepare to be very disappointed in people...

:-(

Edit:
Copyscape's Copyright Guide:

Guide

This is another great Copyright Protection Guide

 

[rivan]

On one hand I see your problem with it. On the other hand... your site looks like it was built from a template to begin with?

 

[adlep]

I have used a Joomla CMS, but the template itself is a custom job (me), based on a template wds_hosting for joomla. I have taken the theme and modify the heck out of the css to make it unique to my site. It is very different from Joomla's standard CMS template.

All of the pictures and text are my and copyrighted. They have been taken from istockphoto.com and I have paid for them!

The upper site is a word-for-word copy of mine!

 

[kt]

I am sorry to say, but I agree with Rivan. Your website does look like a lot of templates that are out there. You may have "designed" it, but you yourself may have "copied" it from somewhere without knowingly doing so.

 

[adlep]

Originally posted by: kt
I am sorry to say, but I agree with Rivan. Your website does look like a lot of templates that are out there. You may have "designed" it, but you yourself may have "copied" it from somewhere without knowingly doing so.

It is not about the template folks. It is more about MY TEXT and pictures. I don't really care about what template someone uses on their CMS as long as they use their own articles, links, color scheme, and pictures.
All the content of the site is stolen. And the content is really the most important element these days.


To clarify; it in not about the design it is about all the unique other things on the site like text and pictures that are taken word for word from my site. I have spend about 2 months collecting pictures from istockphoto.com and working on the text to make it professional. The CONTENT is mine and not from a template. If you don't believe me just READ the text.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: adlep
I have used a Joomla CMS, but the template itself is a custom job (me). It is very different from Joomla's standard CMS template.
All of the pictures and text are my and copyrighted. They have been taken from istockphoto.com and I have paid for them!

The upper site is a word-for-word copy of mine!

You do not own the photos that you license from istockphoto.com. There's absolutely nothing at all preventing someone from licensing those same photos and using them on their website. You are clearly confused about the nature of stock photography licensing.

The straight text copy is bad, but if it's really in China there's nothing you can do about it on a practical level.

ZV

 

[FoBoT]

i thought you guys said pirating was ok
y'all steal music and TV and movies all the time on your bittorrents, why complain about people stealing web content

 

[adlep]

What?
I never have said that...

 

[GasX]

On a semi-related note. Have you ever downloaded songs from the internet? If so, why is it okay for you to use the internet to steal other people's work?

OK, back to the topic at hand.

I think it is well established that beginner web designers use "view source" as the basis for learning how html works and for obtaining templates from which to play around with editing it. I don't really have a problem with this unless your website is in direct competition to the thief's. However, if it is just 100 percent theft, then I do see that as beyond just curiosity and learning.

Also, welcome to the wonderful world of the chinese stealing your work and reproducing it at 1/10th the cost.

 

[rivan]

Originally posted by: adlep

Originally posted by: kt
I am sorry to say, but I agree with Rivan. Your website does look like a lot of templates that are out there. You may have "designed" it, but you yourself may have "copied" it from somewhere without knowingly doing so.

It is not about the template folks. It is more about MY TEXT and pictures. I don't really care about what template someone uses on their CMS as long as they use their own articles, links, color scheme, and pictures.
All the content of the site is stolen. And the content is really the most important element these days.


To clarify; it in not about the design it is about all the unique other things on the site like text and pictures that are taken word for word from my site. I have spend about 2 months collecting pictures from istockphoto.com and working on the text to make it professional. The CONTENT is mine and not from a template. If you don't believe me just READ the text.

Yeah, I see now the directly copied paragraphs. Looking at other pages, I also see the duplicated images. It's very likely they copied your site. I don't think you have any recourse.

As for istock images, it's not like you were buying exclusive licenses for those images - at least I assume (and hope) you weren't. They probably didn't pay for them, but you have no claim to the image copyright. If you want to, report the site to istock for probable unlicensed use - they might (but probably won't, the site being in China) pursue the issue on behalf of the people istock represents.

 

[yllus]

Those websites look nothing alike. Nobody using a CMS and simply applying a template should be allowed to say, "They copied my layout!" It's not like you have a copyright on menus on the left and text on the right. The text copy is a legitimate grievance, though.

 

[adlep]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: adlep
I have used a Joomla CMS, but the template itself is a custom job (me). It is very different from Joomla's standard CMS template.
All of the pictures and text are my and copyrighted. They have been taken from istockphoto.com and I have paid for them!

The upper site is a word-for-word copy of mine!

You do not own the photos that you license from istockphoto.com. There's absolutely nothing at all preventing someone from licensing those same photos and using them on their website. You are clearly confused about the nature of stock photography licensing.

The straight text copy is bad, but if it's really in China there's nothing you can do about it on a practical level.

ZV

I don't think that I can agree with you. Again pictures and text work together to create a unique content. Everyone has the right to use these pictures and the same template (so be it) but the overall "content" should be different.
If you folks do not see anything wrong with what is happening, I rest my case.
But still, if you own a blog or a web site at least checkout the www.copyscape.com

 

[adlep]

Originally posted by: yllus
Those websites look nothing alike. Nobody using a CMS and simply applying a template should be allowed to say, "They copied my layout!" It's not like you have a copyright on menus on the left and text on the right. The text copy is a legitimate grievance, though.

Again, the CMS template has been heavily modified. Most of the CSS on it has been changed including the color schemes. However because of the open nature of the Joomla/CMS I DO NOT HAVE ANY problem with anyone using the template or design. I have never implied a problem with someone using the "design".
Go ahead, use it.

However, it is not about the template OR Layout...
It is about the unique content that I have spend a lot of time on. There are many joomla sites, or worldpress sites or blogger sites. They all have similar templates. But what diffenciates them is the content.

 

[SearchMaster]

I know a guy who got busted with that tool . He ended up buying her website a year later and sold it for a tidy profit a few weeks later.

I think what they did is wrong but you're really not going to get anywhere with it. Be flattered that yours was the one they chose to copy and move on.

 

[adlep]

Originally posted by: SearchMaster
I know a guy who got busted with that tool . He ended up buying her website a year later and sold it for a tidy profit a few weeks later.

I think what they did is wrong but you're really not going to get anywhere with it. Be flattered that yours was the one they chose to copy and move on.

I will, but not before trying these tips first.

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
i thought you guys said pirating was ok
y'all steal music and TV and movies all the time on your bittorrents, why complain about people stealing web content

:roll:

Stealing content =/= Claiming it is yours

 

[Modeps]

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?

 

[kt]

Originally posted by: adlep

Originally posted by: kt
I am sorry to say, but I agree with Rivan. Your website does look like a lot of templates that are out there. You may have "designed" it, but you yourself may have "copied" it from somewhere without knowingly doing so.

It is not about the template folks. It is more about MY TEXT and pictures. I don't really care about what template someone uses on their CMS as long as they use their own articles, links, color scheme, and pictures.
All the content of the site is stolen. And the content is really the most important element these days.


To clarify; it in not about the design it is about all the unique other things on the site like text and pictures that are taken word for word from my site. I have spend about 2 months collecting pictures from istockphoto.com and working on the text to make it professional. The CONTENT is mine and not from a template. If you don't believe me just READ the text.

Sorry I didn't know you were talking about the actual content. Yeah, it does look like they took some of the text straight from your website.

 

[adlep]

Originally posted by: Modeps
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?

Heh,
I guess so...
I actually may link their site to mine and just tell everybody that I do not have anything to do with them...

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

Heh, people occasionally try to copy my site but generally give up after the first 10,000 or so pages.

 

[compman25]

Originally posted by: adlep

Originally posted by: Modeps
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?

Heh,
I guess so...
I actually may link their site to mine and just tell everybody that I do not have anything to do with them...

Why not just link to them and tell eveyone you're a multinational company with branches around the world?

 

[adlep]

Thats what I have done already... more or less....

 

[rezinn]

Couple of douchebags copied my site too:

http://www.computerfix.org/home.html

http://www.beijingfix.com/

 

[adlep]

Originally posted by: rezinn
Couple of douchebags copied my site too:

http://www.computerfix.org/home.html

http://www.beijingfix.com/

Prove IT

 

[compman25]

Oh yeah, another thing. Do you really have a lot of the same territory customers? Are they stealing customers from you? Will you make house calls to Bejing?