# Stolen Content



## michfan (Jul 6, 2008)

Anyone else ever had their web content stolen? Thanks to a fellow PT member for pointing this out to me. What is the best way to handle this? Email? Call em? Beat em over the head?


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## Rcon (Nov 19, 2009)

michfan said:


> Anyone else ever had their web content stolen? Thanks to a fellow PT member for pointing this out to me. What is the best way to handle this? Email? Call em? Beat em over the head?


Did someone copy your website content word for word? 

Send them an email asking them to stop using your *copyrighted* info. They'll probably change it right quick once they find out they're busted.


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## Last Craftsman (Dec 5, 2008)

michfan said:


> Beat em over the head?



:yes:


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## Roadog (Apr 18, 2007)

Yea, first call. Half the time they have no idea. It was the web designer they hired.


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## daArch (Mar 15, 2008)

someone once sent me a heads up on my contact form about a Mass painter who stole one of my pix.

I called and read his wife (who was the "web master" ) the riot act and threatened legal action. I was blunt, honest, and rather abrasively hostile towards her and rather unkind with my opinion of those who steal copyrighted material to represent themselves. 

The content was removed within 6 hours.

See what "persuasion" can get you??


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## NEPS.US (Feb 6, 2008)

once again ....sorry


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## daArch (Mar 15, 2008)

Close Chris, 

They were in Plymouth


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## NEPS.US (Feb 6, 2008)

hmmm ...now you sparked my interest


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## daArch (Mar 15, 2008)

Don't worry, can't remember the name. Real crappy website - looked like she had spent two hours on it. Not a real threat to anyone.


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## NEPS.US (Feb 6, 2008)

When you coming to deluxbury again?


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## daArch (Mar 15, 2008)

When The Mother needs something <G>

Hey, I was in Hangover yesterday. Nice homes on Homestead Ln.

Actually had NO traffic. Got there by 7 left by 3


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## NEPS.US (Feb 6, 2008)

daArch said:


> When The Mother needs something <G>
> 
> Hey, I was in Hangover yesterday. Nice homes on Homestead Ln.
> 
> Actually had NO traffic. Got there by 7 left by 3


 
Should of called. 

Ive done 10 or so houses in that neighborhood (more on the newer side). Shop is only a few miles away.


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## daArch (Mar 15, 2008)

Hey I thought of you ! 

But seriously, I am so paranoid of traffic that I get in and out of the south shore as quick as possible.

BTW, this house was one of the new ones. He said it was the model. Had some real nice details in it. That road isn't very old anyway.


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## NEPS.US (Feb 6, 2008)

daArch said:


> Hey I thought of you !
> 
> quote]
> 
> ...


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## daArch (Mar 15, 2008)

Seriously, I was looking for a NEPS vehicle on Rte 3. No joke.


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## michfan (Jul 6, 2008)

*Well...*

that didn't take long! I tried calling both numbers on the thieves site and did not get an answer from either phone. So, I filled out the contact form and already they have most of the contact removed. I know they might even be reading this post right now. 

*If you are, please remove the rest, including the pictures!!!*


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## Workaholic (Apr 17, 2007)

michfan said:


> that didn't take long! I tried calling both numbers on the thieves site and did not get an answer from either phone. So, I filled out the contact form and already they have most of the contact removed. I know they might even be reading this post right now.
> 
> *If you are, please remove the rest, including the pictures!!!*


Damn, they used you pics too?  
Watermarking is a good way to go.


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## daArch (Mar 15, 2008)

Workaholic said:


> Damn, they used you pics too?
> Watermarking is a good way to go.


Yah, but you gotta have it right in the MIDDLE of the damn pic. I have mine "tastefully" in the lower right corner and she cropped it out ! She actually had the cajones to say she found the pic through google and thought it was open source. 

I think that's when I got a bit testy. (God I love an excuse to yell obscenities over the phone :thumbup: )


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## NEPS.US (Feb 6, 2008)

daArch said:


> Seriously, I was looking for a NEPS vehicle on Rte 3. No joke.


I hope you didnt see any of my trucks driving between 7-3. They better be on the jobsites during those hours.


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## NEPS.US (Feb 6, 2008)

michfan said:


> that didn't take long! I tried calling both numbers on the thieves site and did not get an answer from either phone. So, I filled out the contact form and already they have most of the contact removed. I know they might even be reading this post right now.
> 
> *If you are, please remove the rest, including the pictures!!!*


 
WOW! talk about brazen.

Rat em out. Lets get em!


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## johnpaint (Sep 20, 2008)

OK, I went ahead and took the rest down. would you know where I could get some others to replace the ones I took down?


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## mr.fixit (Aug 16, 2009)

a neighbor of mine owns a store that sells equpiment for bands and dj's and such. he had a girl managing his website and she stole a bunch of photos from a competitor. The competitor called him and he was unaware that she had done it. He told her to remove all of it and went on vacation when he got back a month later he had a court summons waiting, He paid a $25,000.00 and she got fired because she decided that the guy did not own the content


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## mr.fixit (Aug 16, 2009)

Hey daArch I cant help but saying I dont know if i would be so proud about yelling obscenities to a woman


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## RCP (Apr 18, 2007)

Here is a post from CT that has some good advice.
http://www.contractortalk.com/f11/stealing-has-stop-68018/#post805782


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## Last Craftsman (Dec 5, 2008)

michfan said:


> *If you are, please remove the rest,*


:notworthy:

Lol. Who has the presence of mind and composure to say *please*, in a situation such as this?

Michfan your diplomacy is unrivaled.


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## straight_lines (Oct 17, 2007)

Its the internet guys what do you expect? If it isn't hurting your business then I wouldn't waste my time with it.


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## George Z (Apr 15, 2007)

straight_lines said:


> Its the internet guys what do you expect? If it isn't hurting your business then I wouldn't waste my time with it.


It can hurt you.
Google doesn't like duplicate content and you hope the spiders know which content is original.
Also, the guy had my employment application web-form,
word for word, including our company name (Ecopainting).
I worked hard to create that, easy for him to come and use it without asking.
He is in our area and he was using michfan's site thinking nobody will know.
I guess that lasted an hour or two.


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## NEPS.US (Feb 6, 2008)

Jason123????


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## George Z (Apr 15, 2007)

No,
Jason is cool and respectful.

This is the painter thief

He did take almost everything down.
One thing with the internet now, it's a small world.
You are either with the good guys or not.


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## NEPS.US (Feb 6, 2008)

I've seen Ecopainting and GTA Painting on a few sites.


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## Last Craftsman (Dec 5, 2008)

straight_lines said:


> Its the internet guys what do you expect?




FTS. 

I expect the same rules to apply after the internet that applied before the internet.

If it wasn't ok to steal things before, it's not ok to steal things now.

Let the little worms come up with their OWN business name and literature.

I mean what kind of lazy thinking is required to steal someone's busniess name AND their web design?

It would be insane if that was the new standard in the world was to just use someone else's business name and marketing.


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## George Z (Apr 15, 2007)

NEPS.US said:


> I've seen Ecopainting and GTA Painting on a few sites.


GTA (Greater Toronto Area) can be used by anyone of course and having it in the URL I guess can help. Like www.gtapainters.com
Three of us work together on it.
All-Chroma and myself are member of Painttalk as well.

"Eco" is trendy of course and ecopainting, ecopainters eco-paints,
eco-anything can be seen anywhere.
Our name is about 10 years old, way before Al Gore.

Hope that helps


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## NEPS.US (Feb 6, 2008)

George Z said:


> GTA (Greater Toronto Area) can be used by anyone of course and having it in the URL I guess can help. Like www.gtapainters.com
> Three of us work together on it.
> All-Chroma and myself are member of Painttalk as well.
> 
> ...


You should of Trademarked it 10 years ago. Whenever I see it I think of your company.


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## George Z (Apr 15, 2007)

NEPS.US said:


> You should of Trademarked it 10 years ago. Whenever I see it I think of your company.


I didn't think I could, but didn't look into it seriously.


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## daArch (Mar 15, 2008)

mr.fixit said:


> Hey daArch I cant help but saying I dont know if i would be so proud about yelling obscenities to a woman


I am not a sexist. I refuse to treat a woman as an inferior, weaker, more delicate human being. A lying thief receives equal treatment from me, irregardless of what's between the legs.


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## Rcon (Nov 19, 2009)

daArch said:


> I am not a sexist. I refuse to treat a woman as an inferior, weaker, more delicate human being. A lying thief receives equal treatment from me, irregardless of what's between the legs.


:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
If someone has it coming then someone has it coming. I don`t give a rats ass if it`s male or female.


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## michfan (Jul 6, 2008)

Last Craftsman said:


> :notworthy:
> 
> Lol. Who has the presence of mind and composure to say *please*, in a situation such as this?
> 
> Michfan your diplomacy is unrivaled.


:thumbsup:


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## Induspray (Dec 10, 2009)

I posted this last year but it is exactly relevant to the topic. We had an offender 2 weeks ago copy dozens of our pictures and content from our site. We send DMCA notices to him and his service provider and it was taken down in one day. (he did send us an apology letter blaming his daughter saying she found them on google and thought they were public domain- nice guy to blame his daughter)

(Originally posted 12-17-2010)
We have people copying content off our site all the time, our project pictures, content, buttons, meta tags etc. Go ahead and steal it. What we do is notify Google through their copyright infringement section and when they get around to it they will penalize the positioning of the offending site, in some extremes they have completely blacklisted the site . The best thing is that the offending site is never notified why their ratings have decreased. I have seen some of our competitors drop off the first page of google after we sent in a notice, maybe it was coincidence, maybe not. When you think about it isnt it better to let the offender use your content but at their own peril. If you are extremeley possesive about your content you can put copy sentry on your site for $5 a month for the basic service and it will email you when someone uses any of your content at their site http://www.copyscape.com

Here is a sample letter to send to the copyright offender for DMCA (Digital Media Copyright Act)

*DMCA copyright infringement takedown notification template*



========== BEGIN SAMPLE DMCA TAKEDOWN NOTICE ==========

Attn: Copyright Agent - Offending website or Service provider where the offending site is hosted


Pursuant to 17 USC 512(c)(3)(A), this communication serves as a statement that:
I am [the exclusive rights holder | the duly authorized representative of the exclusive rights holder] for [title of copyrighted material being infringed upon, along with any identifying material such as ISBNs, publication dates, etc -- or, if the material is a web page, the URL];
These exclusive rights are being violated by material available upon your site at the following URL(s): [URLs of infringing material];
I have a good faith belief that the use of this material in such a fashion is not authorized by the copyright holder, the copyright holder's agent, or the law;
Under penalty of perjury in a United States court of law, I state that the information contained in this notification is accurate, and that I am authorized to act on the behalf of the exclusive rights holder for the material in question;
I may be contacted by the following methods (include all): [physical address, telephone number, and email address];
I hereby request that you remove or disable access to this material as it appears on your service in as expedient a fashion as possible. Thank you.
Regards,
[your full legal name]

========== END SAMPLE DMCA TAKEDOWN NOTICE ==========​ 
Now, if it really drives you nuts to know that someone elses site is broadcasting your content as their own and you want to devote some time to it here are the steps I would use

1) Email them and ask them to remove the copied material. Be polite but stern, telling them you will pursue legal means if this is not addressed within 48 hours. In the US, you can cite the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and copyright law violation.

2) If no response, have a lawyer send the same type of message.

3) If no response, contact their ISP and ask that they take action, copying your prior correspondence as backup. In the US, cite DMCA and ask how to proceed.

4) Contact a copyright lawyer and ask for legal advise on possible action. While often difficult to pursue, penalties for copyright violation are severe.

5) If totally stuck, change your content.

Usually the polite email does it. When from a lawyer I've seen VERY fast response on this -- almost obsequious if they realize they can be sued. 

If it comes down to it, see if their website gets spidered by "the wayback machine" - http://www.archive.org/index.php in which case even though they may do a last minute revision on their site, you'll have a record of their infringement.

Once a suit is filed, you'll need some evidence, preferably from a third party, and The Wayback Machine can provide that evidence.

The Copyscape site noted earlier seems worthy for detecting future infringement but in your case you've already latched on to the varmints.

I'd create a single cease and desist letter and send it to ALL the parties of interest at once (CC the email to the website admin, their host, your lawyer, their domain registrar, Google, etc.).

Chances are the problem will remedied in short order. If the infringement has been in place for a lengthy period of time (as shown from previous spidered versions of their site on The Wayback Machine), you might be able to file a damages suit in addition to the infringement. I.e., any income they generated from their site can be presented as evidence of damages to you.

For international claims, I believe the registrar's involvement can have the site/domain revoked (shut down), regardless of their home country - I think.


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## johnthepainter (Apr 1, 2008)

ive had an imposter here in my area for over 5 years.

ive caught him several times, and people have called me many times to tell me about his shennanigans.

he went to an employment agency last week looking for a job, he was willing to flip burgers he is hurting so bad.

when the girl at the employment agency was asking him questions about his prior work history, he proudly stated "im john the painter"

she said she had a good lead for him and to call this number (mine)

i painted the empolyment agency's exterior, the owners house ,her peacock barn, and built them an aviary.


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## jason123 (Jul 2, 2009)

Wow he thinks Im "cool" too!


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## George Z (Apr 15, 2007)

jason123 said:


> Wow he thinks Im "cool" too!


Of course :cool2:

Now, stop painting with your pyjamas on!


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## jason123 (Jul 2, 2009)

George Z said:


> Of course :cool2:
> 
> Now, stop painting with your pyjamas on!



I cant stop so comfy. 
Jeans never fit right your always pulling them up like your doing a curtsy when you need to bend down.

Stark white jeans, logo t shirt on initial quote!
I just come out and put up post's in the major league. I'm not playing there yet!


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