So..someone stole my website -_-

D

DemolitionX

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So, just as I feared, some piece of shit idiot stole my website. They didn't steal the idea, format or anything, they literally REPLICATED it exactly! Furthermore, they used a domain that's only difference from mine is that it has a dash (-).

So...how do i go about exercising copyright infringement to force them to take it down? Copying youtube videos is one thing, but i won't tolerate my entire site between stolen!
 
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Hope this helps:

The first way an OSP can be put on notice is through the copyright holder's written notification of claimed infringement to the OSP's designated agent. This must include the following:

(i) A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

(ii) Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at that site.

(iii) Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to locate the material.

(iv) Information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to contact the complaining party, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an electronic mail address at which the complaining party may be contacted.

(v) A statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.

(vi) A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

See 512(a) and (h) below if the information is not stored on the system of the OSP but is instead on a system connected to the Internet through it, like a home or business computer connected to the Internet. Legal liability may result if access to material is disabled or identity disclosed in this case.

If a notice which substantially complies with these requirements is received the OSP must expeditiously remove or disable access to the allegedly infringing material. So long as the notice substantially complies with clauses (ii), (iii), and (iv) the OSP must seek clarification of any unclear aspects.
 
Wait how is that possible? Did they steal all your posts too? Word for word?
 
I've never heard of this happening before. If I were in your shoes. I'd report it to Google right away.
BA,
 
Basically they made a exact clone of your site?
 
File a DMCA Takedown Notice with their hosting company.
 
DemolitionX said:
So, just as I feared, some piece of shit idiot stole my website. They didn't steal the idea, format or anything, they literally REPLICATED it exactly! Furthermore, they used a domain that's only difference from mine is that it has a dash (-).

So...how do i go about exercising copyright infringement to force them to take it down? Copying youtube videos is one thing, but i won't tolerate my entire site between stolen!
Click to expand...

Before you and your attorney do anything at all, you should read this: http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2009/02/domaining_regis.htm

To sum it up, the US District Court in New Hampshire held in 2009 that cybersquatting is OK as long as it is not a brand. There are several legal problems with the holding, and so you AND your attorney should read it.
 
The easy way is to just get a pattern of DMCA notice via Google search, then edit it and mention the details of your infringing content and send it to the hosting company and also contact with the domain registrar.
 
Do not forget to collect Evidence. eg raw screenshots to back up your claim. If they are making money or stealing your traffic sue them or threaten them and make them surrender their website to you.
 
tompots said:
Basically they made a exact clone of your site?
Click to expand...

Yes. I should clarify that my website is pretty much just a fancy landing page, with a few other pages. I'm sure they somehow got into my web directory because its clear that they didnt manually upload content to the website, but just literally copy and pasted it. All the html/css edits i did manually, they have on their website. In fact, at first i came to the conclusion that it was somehow just an "older" version of my website that managed to accidentally gone public. Further digging revealed that it was indeed the work of someone else.
They even stole the background picture and word description of my content locker, talk about LAZY!
 
Your site is stolen, it is a good thing to know and to take action is upon you.

If your site is stolen, you are doing it really nice. You should not worry, what is original always stays original.
I was proud of myself, when I saw someone stole my website, because if someone is copying me, I got a fan.

Anyways, just my thoughts. You should do what you think is right. Good luck.
 
I don't know why so many people are saying to contact Google because Google will not do a damn thing about it unless it is they who are hosting the infringing content. In your case, the DMCA notice needs to be sent directly to the company which is hosting the stolen content.

Google states:

Google is a provider of information, not a mediator. We bring you different webpages that relate to your search request, but we don't make any claims about the content of these pages. For more information, please see our Terms of Service. In matters involving trademark, it is best to directly address the webmaster of the page in question. Once the webmaster has altered the page in question, Google's search results will automatically reflect this change after we crawl the site.
Click to expand...
 
what is the website? would'nt they be able to report same thing?
 
if it is just a landing page, don't even bother. If your site had 500+ pages then I would go for it but if it is just a landing page, don't even bother. If it is ranking in google, people can just report it as a thin affiliate site and it will be gone from google asap.

JustUs said:
Before you and your attorney do anything at all, you should read this: http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2009/02/domaining_regis.htm

To sum it up, the US District Court in New Hampshire held in 2009 that cybersquatting is OK as long as it is not a brand. There are several legal problems with the holding, and so you AND your attorney should read it.
Click to expand...

this basically means that if your domain are english words like fish, acne, garden, new, terrific, and etc. You cannot do anything. Even microsoft couldn't win when people use "Windows" in their domain names like windows1234. However, if you have a company and it is registered, you should sue and make the guy pay for attorney and traffic damages.
 
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It depends what it is worth to you. It cost me $1000 to hire an IP lawyer to beat down a scumbag who copied my site and product and was selling it. IS it worth $1k to you is the question? If yes find an IP lawyer. If no, try the stuff on here.
 
Submit an abuse letter to the hosting company they are using and send them an email with a take down
notice. Plenty of legal ways to go about handling this.
 
xha44a said:
It depends what it is worth to you. It cost me $1000 to hire an IP lawyer to beat down a scumbag who copied my site and product and was selling it. IS it worth $1k to you is the question? If yes find an IP lawyer. If no, try the stuff on here.
Click to expand...

Well, seems interesting story. Can you give more details? Like did he copy everything exactly or altered it?! Is he from USA too? Where you able to get anything from him ( you said beat down which mean you won )
 
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