How to Protect Copyrighted Material from A Fraudster!

[Maria Gudelis]

Hi fellow warriors...I've got into an interesting situation that I'd like your thoughts on how best to handle.

Yes - my attorney is sending a cease and desist letter to this particular 'warrior' and actually would love to enter a legal court case about this so he can be deposed.

Here are the details- my flagship product is 'offline money mindmap' - he is now promoting a 'offline money blueprint' and has put my mindmap on his youtube channel.

One of my students who has a twitter product, ppt slides and 64 page twitter guide she gave 'review copies' of to this person, this person asked for resale rights w/o offering any compensation...now all of a sudden he has a '50- page' twitter guide and even registered a domain with the actual title of her guide in it...just dropping off one word from the 4 word title.

Would love to hear your thoughts as I know this has happened so many times to others I'm sure....

[MarkR]

Maria,

WOW, this sounds like deja vu all over again.....lots of excellent advice here - Rant: Don't Be an Internet Marketing Leech

Good luck!

Mark

[Maria Gudelis]

Originally Posted by MarkR

Maria,

WOW, this sounds like deja vu all over again.....lots of excellent advice here - Rant: Don't Be an Internet Marketing Leech

Good luck!

Mark

Wow Mark - thanks for that thread - great info in there - can feel Tiffany Dow's pain of her quote: "I do NOT like it when someone leeches off of the branding that I worked hard to create for my site."

Yes - a U.S. IP attorney is involved.

[kindsvater]

The best way to handle this would be to stop posting information in the forum and to let your attorney take care of it.

If you want a court case and to depose someone, you don't send a C&D - you serve a complaint.

[DavidO]

Something very similar happened to me last year. I wrote to the perpetrator and demanded changes to material that was ripped off from me. I also alerted the perp's host and requested action.

I was disappointed by the host, who did absolutely nothing. So, contrary to popular belief, you shouldn't count on much support from that side.

But I forced this underhanded "competitor" (it's not competition when someone cheats, is it?) to make changes to their content and remove things that infringed my copyright.

This person is still using material that is probably infringement. It burns me up but I made my point and I've found that taking further action only distracts me from my real mission in life.

Some things I'll fight and others I'll leave to die a slow and painful death of their own accord.

[mariner7]

I had a guy buy one of my ebooks only to reproduce the contents on a new site filled with adsense...

I sent letters regarding the copyright infringement to his host, google and also twitter. Copyright infringement is very hard to prove legally, but reputable companies involved don't want to take that chance.

Good luck with it.

[Maria Gudelis]

Originally Posted by DavidO

Something very similar happened to me last year. I wrote to the perpetrator and demanded changes to material that was ripped off from me. I also alerted the perp's host and requested action.

I was disappointed by the host, who did absolutely nothing. So, contrary to popular belief, you shouldn't count on much support from that side.

But I forced this underhanded "competitor" (it's not competition when someone cheats, is it?) to make changes to their content and remove things that infringed my copyright.

This person is still using material that is probably infringement. It burns me up but I made my point and I've found that taking further action only distracts me from my real mission in life.

Some things I'll fight and others I'll leave to die a slow and painful death of their own accord.

Yes - he has already been informed of his improper use of copyrighted material and has blatantly ignored it and has stole even more copyrighted material....

[FeliciaSlattery]

Hey Warriors!
I haven't been around much-- been busy implementing & speaking on IM stages across the country :-)

Maria asked for my opinion so here I am.

It's difficult for me because I know both parties involved. Call me naive, but I don't know if the offender was trying to be malicious. It could be a case of someone not understanding how to do business properly.

With so much information being exchanged for free in IM circles: reports, rebrandable things, PLR, and so forth, it could be conceivable that this person really didn't "get" that taking someone else's info & passing it off as one's own is wrong on multiple levels.

I'm not sure if you actually asked the person to stop using the information-- without lawyers and defensive language/tone. But I have found that is the best 1st try. Often people will realize what they did was inappropriate and stop moving forward with the misuse of someone else's proprietary info.

Something like that recently happened to me when I received a Google alert for someone using the same name as my proprietary trademarked product. I sent an upbeat-- "so glad you're also teaching this kind of info-- loads of people need it" type of message. Then told her I had the actual name trademarked and to please come up with another name. The email I received back was very nice and she stopped using my trademark.

That's the way things work when people are decent & do business with integrity.

Of course in hindsight, the lesson is not to share anything with anyone that you wouldn't want them to give out for free or use on their own-- unless you know with 100% certainty the person is trustworthy or if you have a written formal agreement (for example in my coaching business I have my clients sign a confidentiality agreement that what I share with them is confidential and what they share with me is confidential also).

Moving forward with this instance, if it was me, I would call the person or send an email and be as professional yet friendly as possible-- allowing benefit of the doubt-- asking the person to stop using any of my materials immediately.

It's a tough place to be. Not fun.

Good luck with it all!
Felicia

[Maria Gudelis]

Hi Felicia and I thank you - this person has been asked politely a few weeks ago to kindly stop and the opposite had occurred unfortunately...more use of the copyrighted material.

Yes it is a good lesson to have agreements...yet it is difficult to put an agreement in place for every person that buys an info product. In this case this was a product he had purchased from me like many other fellow warriors that has the standard copyrighted protections in it...

It is sad that even a fellow student who sends a review copy over which also has copyrighted notices on it gets taken advantage of as well...

[TiffanyDow]

Got your PM. I bet he gets scared off by the legalities. Hope they mention the proof is in the YouTube video and that you make a copy of it so he doesn't delete it and say he thought this stuff up from scratch when he's using your mindmap. The laziness of some people! LOL

[Maria Gudelis]

Originally Posted by TiffanyDow

Got your PM. I bet he gets scared off by the legalities. Hope they mention the proof is in the YouTube video and that you make a copy of it so he doesn't delete it and say he thought this stuff up from scratch when he's using your mindmap. The laziness of some people! LOL

Tiffany you rock - thanks!

[sbucciarel]

Originally Posted by Maria Gudelis

Hi fellow warriors...I've got into an interesting situation that I'd like your thoughts on how best to handle.

Yes - my attorney is sending a cease and desist letter to this particular 'warrior' and actually would love to enter a legal court case about this so he can be deposed.

Here are the details- my flagship product is 'offline money mindmap' - he is now promoting a 'offline money blueprint' and has put my mindmap on his youtube channel.

One of my students who has a twitter product, ppt slides and 64 page twitter guide she gave 'review copies' of to this person, this person asked for resale rights w/o offering any compensation...now all of a sudden he has a '50- page' twitter guide and even registered a domain with the actual title of her guide in it...just dropping off one word from the 4 word title.

Would love to hear your thoughts as I know this has happened so many times to others I'm sure....

DMCA notices get the job done fast. I just posted my experience and great results on domainingdiva.com ... latest post. Also posted how to find their host and a sample DMCA letter to swipe. This worked for me and it was immediate ... even on a weekend, the site owner was notified by his host to remove it or adios.

[MacFreddie]

Don't sweat it Maria. Class always wins, and you're a 1st class lady.

In the long run Winners always Win, and Losers always Lose.

Just ask Bernie Maddoff and a bunch of other conmen.

I firmly believe that "God has a Plan" and this will eventually be good for you.

Remember what they say, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

I know your CREATIVITY, PASSION, and DRIVE. The other person doesn't have a chance.

You should actually pity them and say a prayer for them, REALLY!

I truly feel sorry for people who don't have what You and I have. I would hate to be like 97% of the people in this world.

I truly believe this will make you a better, stronger, and even more creative person.

All my best,

Mac

[Maria Gudelis]

Mac - you made my day - thank you so much...enough said and certainly will make me stronger! Cheers, Maria

Originally Posted by MacFreddie

Don't sweat it Maria. Class always wins, and you're a 1st class lady.

In the long run Winners always Win, and Losers always Lose.

Just ask Bernie Maddoff and a bunch of other conmen.

I firmly believe that "God has a Plan" and this will eventually be good for you.

Remember what they say, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

I know your CREATIVITY, PASSION, and DRIVE. The other person doesn't have a chance.

You should actually pity them and say a prayer for them, REALLY!

I truly feel sorry for people who don't have what You and I have. I would hate to be like 97% of the people in this world.

I truly believe this will make you a better, stronger, and even more creative person.

All my best,

Mac

[DiamondPed]

Hey Maria,

I'm VERY sorry to hear that "someone" has the Gall to do this to you after you have done so much for them .

MacFreddie said it all in his excellent post, also "... we all reap what we sow in the end ..."


I was involved in a situation almost 2 years ago, whilst helping someone to get started in property (real estate), they took my ideas & techniques and utilised them with some other people, leaving me to "pick up the pieces" in a variety of ways, mainly financial.

A VERY costly error on my part ...........

Anyway, whilst legal action is a suitable method to pursue, this man should realise that above all INTEGRITY means a whole lot more than short term cash gains, in this & any other business, and when people find out (& they will) I'm sure many people will refuse to do business with him ...... "he might do the same to me?"


Hopefully this man realises what he has done & rectifies his mistake quickly & amicably .......


Looking forward to the new 14 day challenge so ...


Onwards & Upwards !

Take care,

PeterC

[terrapin719]

Wow, what a crazy mess. I'm so sorry you are going through this Maria. The fact that you asked nicely and they just grabbed more content to use as their own instead of stopping what they were doing is just sickening to me. People hide behind their computer monitors and think they can do as they please without any regard for guidelines and rules.

[jacktackett]

Maria,

sorry you're dealing with this, but its just a fact of life. I've written 10 books and we once found a publisher in China just printing it and selling it without any contracts etc. They simply stole it and published it.

You haven't said but in case you have not registered a copyright I would recommend doing so now. While registering in the US doesn't automatically grant protection world wide - its pretty close given the various treaties involved.

Some of the Pros to spending the $35 is you get a bar code/official document that you're the copyright owner. This document is like a passport - it proves in a court of law - and in a DMCA/C&D letter - that you are the owner. It also provides you the right to sue for punitive damages in case you are infringed. While you may never collect after winning such a judgment - you can use it to scare the pants off the bad guys.

You can now register your copyrights online for what some Warriors spend for ebook covers...check out:

U.S. Copyright Office - Online Services (eCO: Electronic Copyright Office)

Good luck, and hang in there!

best,
--Jack

[Maria Gudelis]

Hey Everyone - thanks for all of your support! I'm moving on...notch it up as a lesson - just got a tad angry the person also took one of my students' stuff which is so wrong...

Will move on and upward! Thanks again for all your input!!!

[terrapin719]

Let your legal team hash it out from this point on and don't worry too much. I'm sure once they get the official C&D from the attorney they'll start to wise up and realize this is a serious ordeal.

[Maria Gudelis]

Legal team is working on it - thanks -

and also asked the WF to ban this warrior -

as he has also taken review copies of a fellow warrior and created his own product out of that so to also protect other warriors...he should be banned.

[Scott Ames]

The opportunity is ripe for some enterprising person to start a service to battle these kind of things. Maybe a lawyer, maybe just someone that can hassle the offenders to death and kill all their sites and articles.

Imagine turning over your battle to someone that for a reasonable price would take care of it for you so you don't need to. Maybe this service exists, I have not done any research.

[MichaelHiles]

Maria, I would recommend axing this thread in case the guy gets a defense attorney and uses anything you post as fodder for a counter action. You know how slimy attorneys are, and courts don't care about truth or what's "right". It's all about who makes the better case and can negotiate a settlement - which is NEVER all one side or all the other. In civil court, you always lose in some fashion.

Sorry to hear some ****bird is doing this.

[amanita]

Hello Maria,

I am quite new to this forum. However, I try to keep informed on what is going around and am always eager to find out on security options designed for the Internet.

My guess at the moment is that it is extremely difficult to ward against copycat as it can always happen in a way or the other.

What amazes me in your story, however, is how the lout does not even try to cover for such obvious piracy !

Is there a lesson to be learned ? We must of course protect our images, products, contents, ideas, etc. the best we can but in every system there will be fault to the benefit of scavengers and likes.

Ad another warrior already stated, in the end losers lose and winners win.

I will only add one of my motto to this: Success attracts succes.

So be sure that in the end you win and the vilain loses.

Regards,
Amanita

[Bruce NewMedia]

Yeh, Maria, you're absolutely right.

I found the guy you're talking about. He is presenting YOUR material - completely unethical. I didn't know about how he ripped off your student, but that would be wrong, too.

I'm actually amazed that someone would think he could get away with that....seems an obvious copyright violation.
_____
Bruce

[TerrieS]

Gina Gray is going through a similar thing right now. Her offline marketing product squeeze page was copied almost element by element. I guess people are going to jump on the bandwagon by any means available.

[Maria Gudelis]

Originally Posted by brucerby

Yeh, Maria, you're absolutely right.

I found the guy you're talking about. He is presenting YOUR material - completely unethical. I didn't know about how he ripped off your student, but that would be wrong, too.

I'm actually amazed that someone would think he could get away with that....seems an obvious copyright violation.
_____
Bruce

It is an obvious copyright issue indeed.

[Tomwood]

Yes Marie
ripoff merchanst are a big problem as are pirates and people who think it's cool to post a download link to your product on certain forums, my desperate dollars wso is less than 2 weeks old and apparently it's is already been posted on one forum for free download

[Mr Money Maker]

It happens...I own the rights toi 5 e-books, and at no time or another found people selling my ebook online....trying to make my $28.50 for each sold like I do.
I own the rights....international and USA copyrights..post the rights...and still they steal....they figure you'll never catch them.....they figure they need fast money and they'll do it for a few weeks, then go into hidding.........the truth is I run Internet checks and searches to find these people....I am good at Internet spy secrets and can find anyone online ripping me off.
AS I am sure many of you are good at doing...Yes you have to protect yourself....but con artist are everywhere....they really are..and they just don't care.
People always want the easy lazy way to get rich...so the steal.....but it's the same as robbing a bank......no difference......payback is a Bit_h....
Well good luck...
Thanks Mr Money Maker

[Maria Gudelis]

Originally Posted by Mr Money Maker

It happens...I own the rights toi 5 e-books, and at no time or another found people selling my ebook online....trying to make my $28.50 for each sold like I do.
I own the rights....international and USA copyrights..post the rights...and still they steal....they figure you'll never catch them.....they figure they need fast money and they'll do it for a few weeks, then go into hidding.........the truth is I run Internet checks and searches to find these people....I am good at Internet spy secrets and can find anyone online ripping me off.
AS I am sure many of you are good at doing...Yes you have to protect yourself....but con artist are everywhere....they really are..and they just don't care.
People always want the easy lazy way to get rich...so the steal.....but it's the same as robbing a bank......no difference......payback is a Bit_h....
Well good luck...
Thanks Mr Money Maker

You are right - they want the lazy easy way to riches....thanks for the good luck wishes! cheers Maria

[Floyd Fisher]

Originally Posted by Maria Gudelis

Hi fellow warriors...I've got into an interesting situation that I'd like your thoughts on how best to handle.

Yes - my attorney is sending a cease and desist letter to this particular 'warrior' and actually would love to enter a legal court case about this so he can be deposed.

Here are the details- my flagship product is 'offline money mindmap' - he is now promoting a 'offline money blueprint' and has put my mindmap on his youtube channel.

One of my students who has a twitter product, ppt slides and 64 page twitter guide she gave 'review copies' of to this person, this person asked for resale rights w/o offering any compensation...now all of a sudden he has a '50- page' twitter guide and even registered a domain with the actual title of her guide in it...just dropping off one word from the 4 word title.

Would love to hear your thoughts as I know this has happened so many times to others I'm sure....

Contact youtube yourself and get your product removed from there asap.

There is a 'flag' button you can use, and one of the options is 'this violates my rights' where you can explain that your copyrighted material is being used in the presentation without permission.

Your student can craft a dmca takedown notice, and get his domain and hosting disabled by contacting the hosting company and domain registrar. Also, she can contact his merchant, and get that disabled by explaining what is going on.

That should totally put the brakes on this cretin without getting lawyers involved.

If you need help with any of this, I'm only a PM away.

[Maria Gudelis]

Originally Posted by Floyd Fisher

Contact youtube yourself and get your product removed from there asap.

There is a 'flag' button you can use, and one of the options is 'this violates my rights' where you can explain that your copyrighted material is being used in the presentation without permission.

Your student can craft a dmca takedown notice, and get his domain and hosting disabled by contacting the hosting company and domain registrar. Also, she can contact his merchant, and get that disabled by explaining what is going on.

That should totally put the brakes on this cretin without getting lawyers involved.

If you need help with any of this, I'm only a PM away.

Thanks Floyd -that is great advice for any of us when someone pirates your product. Appreciate it!

[MikeHumphreys]

Originally Posted by Maria Gudelis

Hi fellow warriors...I've got into an interesting situation that I'd like your thoughts on how best to handle.

Yes - my attorney is sending a cease and desist letter to this particular 'warrior' and actually would love to enter a legal court case about this so he can be deposed.

Here are the details- my flagship product is 'offline money mindmap' - he is now promoting a 'offline money blueprint' and has put my mindmap on his youtube channel.

One of my students who has a twitter product, ppt slides and 64 page twitter guide she gave 'review copies' of to this person, this person asked for resale rights w/o offering any compensation...now all of a sudden he has a '50- page' twitter guide and even registered a domain with the actual title of her guide in it...just dropping off one word from the 4 word title.

Would love to hear your thoughts as I know this has happened so many times to others I'm sure....

Hi Maria,

It's not as clear-cut as you might think. You definitely need to consult with an intellectual property attorney so you don't leave yourself open for libel countersuit.

Case in point: I recently discovered a competitor in a non-IM niche who is using several of my domain names and even a product name of mine in the same exact niche to promote his business on several video sharing sites.

After talking to 2 different intellectual property attorneys who special in online IP cases, I discovered that you can't copyright domain names or product titles. To do so for a product title via the patent office is very time-consuming, potentially expensive (depending on your viewpoint of what is expensive), and not guaranteed to be approved. Apparently the patent office is concerned about people being able to string a series of words together without triggering a trademark infringement.

re: Offline Money Mindmap vs. Offline Money Blueprint. Unless you have a trademarked system that he's ripping off, I hate to say it but you probably don't have a case. The phrase offline money can have multiple uses.... just do a Google search and you'll see what I mean.

The way it was explained to me, you can't copyright or trademark the content in your system because if you could, who ever was the first person to explain 'x' marketing technique could sue everyone else who ever explained 'x' marketing technique in later released products.

Best of luck,

Mike

[Maria Gudelis]

Originally Posted by MikeHumphreys

Hi Maria,

It's not as clear-cut as you might think. You definitely need to consult with an intellectual property attorney so you don't leave yourself open for libel countersuit.

Case in point: I recently discovered a competitor in a non-IM niche who is using several of my domain names and even a product name of mine in the same exact niche to promote his business on several video sharing sites.

After talking to 2 different intellectual property attorneys who special in online IP cases, I discovered that you can't copyright domain names or product titles. To do so for a product title via the patent office is very time-consuming, potentially expensive (depending on your viewpoint of what is expensive), and not guaranteed to be approved. Apparently the patent office is concerned about people being able to string a series of words together without triggering a trademark infringement.

re: Offline Money Mindmap vs. Offline Money Blueprint. Unless you have a trademarked system that he's ripping off, I hate to say it but you probably don't have a case. The phrase offline money can have multiple uses.... just do a Google search and you'll see what I mean.

The way it was explained to me, you can't copyright or trademark the content in your system because if you could, who ever was the first person to explain 'x' marketing technique could sue everyone else who ever explained 'x' marketing technique in later released products.

Best of luck,

Mike

HI Mike - thanks - yes I do have the best IP attorney, Bob Silbers and yes - it is very clear cut here on what this fellow warrior has done.

These things do take time however and I am aware of that.

[Belinda Jane]

Sorry to hear about your experience Maria, horrible, and so much time and energy wasted now having to deal with it.

I am new to IM and quickly realized that people ripping you off is part of the territory (to an extent). For the launch of my first e-books and free report I was looking for a good way to have some legal protection, cheaply. I ended up getting ISBN's for them - and in my country of origin (New Zealand) can you believe that was free! In the US and other countries there is a fee, but once they are registered that is at least something.
Thanks and I hope it works out,
Belinda

[highbrid]

I have had the same problem on numerous occasions and have even had to initiate legal proceedings in one instance, however in this case a formal summons to court did the trick. I think that so many people bluff their willingness to take things all the way legally that fraudsters have just learned to ignore the threats.

On the other 3 occassions I proposed a somewhat counter intuitive deal that did the trick... I promised to give them MORE content for free if they agreed to sell it all as an affiliate. For most fraudsters the idea of 50% + no legal risk might seem better than 100% + threat of legal action.

Best of luck...

[Robert Puddy]

Originally Posted by kindsvater

The best way to handle this would be to stop posting information in the forum and to let your attorney take care of it.

If you want a court case and to depose someone, you don't send a C&D - you serve a complaint.

Hmm the one post in this thread from a real attorney and your ignoring him...