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What to do when someone steals your website

by Rob P
17 replies
Hi,

I have just discovered that a well-known purveyor of IM goods and services has nicked my website and is selling MY product using MY name and MY photo - without my permission.

I originally contacted this person for a joint venture last year because he was a big name here in the UK which he agreed to but I later pulled out because it didn't feel right and I have since found a lot of negative feedback about him - on this forum and elsewhere.

I wish I could post his name up as a warning to others but I doubt I can get away with that. Anyway, it's something to keep in mind - if you are asked to give a potential partner your hard work so that they can put it on their own servers and run the JV from their side (why didn't I spot that???) think twice.

Having said all that, does anyone know how I should proceed? I'm guessing there's nothing that can be done and to be honest, I'm not that bothered about him taking the product - that happens a lot and if people are so p**s weak that they will stoop to stealing other people's work I pity them - it's just that he's using my name and photo to promote it in a way I don't want to be associated.

Cheers folks,

Rob
#steals #website
  • Profile picture of the author Liam Murray
    It's a shame that has happened Rob, I truely don't understand why someone would do it. Hope everything sort's itself out.
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  • Profile picture of the author Fernando Veloso
    Email.
    DMCA.
    Expose Him.

    I follow this order. Usually I never get to the last one. A small email telling people we'll move in with a lawyer and a Copyright take down of all his sites is enough.

    Good luck, hate this kind of problems.
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    • Profile picture of the author techservice
      Very annoying, feel for you Rob. From what you say this is stealing strait and simple. Normally a simple email saying stop with the mention of legal action should do the trick.
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    Originally Posted by Robplevin View Post

    Having said all that, does anyone know how I should proceed? I'm guessing there's nothing that can be done and to be honest, I'm not that bothered about him taking the product - that happens a lot and if people are so p**s weak that they will stoop to stealing other people's work I pity them - it's just that he's using my name and photo to promote it in a way I don't want to be associated.

    Cheers folks,

    Rob
    Easy .. just file a DMCA notice to his host. Instructions are here with a sample DMCA to use. Depends on where his host is whether or not they will comply, but it's the first thing you should do.

    http://domainingdiva.com/legal-issue...ipoff-artists/
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  • Profile picture of the author retsek
    I've sold a few profitable sites on Flippa. Not only are a few jerks trying to reverse engineer the backlinks, one has opted to exactly copy the site. The content, recreating the custom theme, everything.

    Needless to say the buyer isn't happy. What can you do? They're in India, Pakistan, etc and they don't reply to requests for removal. So you just gotta leave them until they are spanked by Google.
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    • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
      Banned
      Originally Posted by retsek View Post

      I've sold a few profitable sites on Flippa. Not only are a few jerks trying to reverse engineer the backlinks, one has opted to exactly copy the site. The content, recreating the custom theme, everything.

      Needless to say the buyer isn't happy. What can you do? They're in India, Pakistan, etc and they don't reply to requests for removal. So you just gotta leave them until they are spanked by Google.
      If the host won't respond to a DMCA, file it with Google. What good will the website be to them if they are deindexed?

      I've gotten a whole site deindexed from Google once that posted all of my content on their site with no link back. I just complained about my content, but Google deindexed the whole site.
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  • Profile picture of the author myeanne
    Sorry to hear about what happened Rob.
    Contact all the necessary people and complain about your concern.

    Hope you can sort things out as soon as possible.
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  • Profile picture of the author sloanjim
    Well B*S* that's surely illegal to pretend to be you ...isn't that fraud?

    Do you have his address? I'd speak to solicitor and see what legal action you can take. If h'e a big time B*Ser market he's probably fleeced quite a few ££'s so a big lawsuit might scare him...

    What an a***ole....man wish you could name him.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rob Actis
    The web is transparent, is there a good reason why you cannot share who did this? I have seen other posts where people have been called out bigtime on this forum. Offer to give him some free exposure, it may not be the exposure he is looking for.

    Sorry that happened, good luck.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jack Duncan
    Rob,
    Sorry to hear about your troubles.

    Hope you can get this all fixed very quickly.

    My suggestion...based on the info you have provided, would be to do your best to try and contact them first.

    Maybe there was just some really bizaar misunderstanding about the JV arrangement. (Though it does sound really strange.)

    Make sure to keep a record of each attempt to contact them.

    If you cannot contact them, the next step is to file a DMCA violation notice with their web host.

    That works very frequently...and usually gets matters taken care of in less than a week.

    You could also see who his payment processor is and check on the available channels to report fraudulent activity (Selling someone else's copyrighted material)

    Of course, when all else fails, the last recourse would be to get an attorney and dig into the local laws.

    Sure hope it doesn't come to that though.

    All the best,
    Jack Duncan
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    • Profile picture of the author Rob P
      Thank you all so much for help and advice - you lot are brilliant!!

      Yeah, Newman, I made the mistake of giving him the files. He told me it was the way he worked and I was just so thrilled to have landed what I thought was a tremendous opportunity. Little weasle. :-)

      Thanks Rob - I did put a post out about him but it got deleted.

      Jack, there was no misunderstanding, I have since found loads of bad press about this guy.

      But... please hold the sympathy folks - that's not why I posted. I wanted some advice about what to do but I am not really phased by it. It's inconvenient but not worth losing sleep over. I feel sorry for him and anyone else who has to stoop that low. :-)
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      • Profile picture of the author Rob P
        Fir your information... If anyone else has this problem this is the email I sent to the person in question and it seems t have worked. I got an email back within 2 days saying:

        "I will take the site down. Don't ever contact me again." -ermm yes, as if I would!

        Here's the email...

        Dear.....

        You are running a website using MY name, My product and MY photo without my permission.

        Please take this as notification and written confirmation that I want the
        site www...... taking down.

        I will be contacting your host & Clickbank within the next 7 days and
        taking legal action if you fail to do so.

        Yours sincerely,


        ----------

        Thanks to everyone who helped me on this. :-))
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        • Profile picture of the author Lloyd Buchinski
          Originally Posted by Robplevin View Post

          Don't ever contact me again." -ermm yes, as if I would!
          Oh you never know. You might want to if he steals another product.

          It's nice to hear the happy ending of the story. Sometimes people post about a problem and then never come back to the topic.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alex Copeland
    Glad this got worked out, it's really not on for someone to use your hard work without permission.

    At least it didn't turn out too bad in the long run and lesson learned for all of us.

    Still want to know who it is though.... but in your best interest to lay it to rest now rather than open up anything further! lol!
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