Site Rip Advice Requested

[epiphany]

Hi guys,

I just noticed a referrer in my stats from this site:

http://www.soscriminalistico.com/index2.html

If you take a look at my site:

www.ethicaldesign.co.uk

you'll see the similarities (i.e. blatant rip off). It looks like they're currently in the process of ripping off my site (the links on the page even point to my website at the moment).

Does anyone here speak spanish and can make out what this site is about?

Any advice anyone could offer me about getting this removed would be much appreciated. I've tried to find their host, but all I find from the whois record is pointing to:

http://www.sandrojurado.com/

Which I'm guessing is who's actually doing the rip for them (though not completely sure about this).

Who would you contact in this situation, the site owner themselves (perhaps they are unaware that the designer they've employed is stealing work), or should I try to hunt out their host and ask them to pull it?

I'm guessing that this sandrojurado.com site is on a reseller account. Should I go to them first, or directly to whoever is above them?

I'm a bit unsure how to deal with this because I don't speak spanish, so I'm wondering if any message I send is going to be understood. Anyone had any experience of dealing with that if it turns out to be a problem?

[devorem]

Here is a Google Translation of the main page:

The experts we are fallible human beings, with errors and successes and therefore the diverse forenses related to sciences physical and chemical expert works are vulnerable and absolute expert work does not exist, all of them have a degree of approach to the truth, but with his dose of error, the forense expert is mistaken and although its objective is to be mistaken less possible always is inclined to be mistaken, which provides category to the physical search chemical this in the act to recognize expert errors often other people's to its will. Like old equipment, descalibrados instruments, suitable, standard lack of instruments, chemical agents old, absence of quality patterns, etc, single when the chemical expert is conscientious of his limitations and recognizes them is when the expert emerges from category, to a problem a solution.
We are an establishment of forenses experts intimately related to chemical expert works physical and others related to them, with ample experience criminology  judicial police officer and experience and professionalism we put it to the service of the authorities, men of laws, personnel of the Armed Forces and Police officers and public in general

.................................................. .................................................. ..

I CAPITULATE 2 CONTROLLED Drugs CHEMICAL INSUMOS

I CAPITULATE 3  Toxicología- DOSEJES ETÍLICOS

I CAPITULATE 4 FIRES And WRECKS

I CAPITULATE 5 DOCUMENTOSCOPIA

I CAPITULATE 6 ENVIRONMENTAL APECTOS

I CAPITULATE 7 EXPLOSIVES - HUMAN RIGHTS

I CAPITULATE 8 MISCELANEOS

Contacts

[epiphany]

Thanks Devorem,

I tried the google translation of their index page already but couldn't really make much sense of it. My guess was that whoever owns the site is involved in forensics and law enforcement in some way (though I could be wrong as the google translation is a imperfect to say the least).

This is what leads me to think that it might just be someone outside their organisation who is doing the design for them (or they're unaware that it's wrong to copy like that).

I'm writing up a friendly email to them to begin with which I'll cc to their host (though all I can find so far is http://www.sandrojurado.com/ (this is where their nameservers point to, but not sure how to get any further up the tree than that).

Hopefully they'll pull it as soon as they get the email (and can understand what I'm saying), otherwise I'll send them a cease and desist letter and see about moving it further up the line, along with a demand for usage fees for their unauthorised use of my work (unless anyone has any better suggestions). Not that I'm expecting any money out of it, but it might encourage them to remove the site.

[Curt]

I'm sure I'm not the most appropriate person to suggest options here, as this is something I've never had to deal with before, but in your situation, I would talk to the owner of the IP address. Chances are that they are not the same person who is carrying out the theft, and they will likely take a dim view of anyone under them who can get them in trouble for hosting copywritten material.

You have to admit though that there is something funny about the situation. It sounds like they're an organization of some sort that works with convicts, yet they themselves are stealing images for their website. Well, it made me chuckle at least.

[epiphany]

:lol: Yeah, the irony wasn't lost on me either. It looks like a work in progress because it looks like one of the links has changed away from my site (one of the links on their pages were pointing to a page on my site previously - that's how I noticed it in my weblogs).

I'm sending an email to them now and cc'ing a copy to who I think is their host (though it could be them who is designing for them because it doesn't look like a hosting site but a designers site - and I'm not sure how to get their hosts details because they're using custom nameservers).

Fingers crossed anyway. I've asked a couple of people to do screengrabs for me and page saves for me as proof of the theft if they remove the references to my site (if you view source on their pages you'll actually see that it includes references to 'ethical design' in it).

[Curt]

Just did an IP WHOIS at DNSStuff.com.

This page shows the site's IP address is 70.85.126.164:
http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools/lookup...ico.com&type=A

This page shows the contact info for the IP address:
http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools/whois....6.164&email=on

Looks like they're hosted at ThePlanet.com in Dallas, Texas, though I don't know how to tell if they're a managed hosting or colo customer. If they're colo'd, ThePlanet probably won't touch their server, just contact the server owner, but if they're a managed hosting customer, which I'd say is more likely, then ThePlanet is probably pretty likely to help you out.

Best of luck!

[epiphany]

Hey, thanks loads curt. That's much appreciated. I'm sending them an email right now, so hopefully they'll pull it soon (if they can understand what I'm saying that is - hopefully they can speak English better than I can speak spanish).

[Zoren]

If you don't get a positive response, send the planet a DMCA notice. Send it certified snail mail along with an email copy. The planet is not known for responding quickly if at all to such emails. Godaddy is their registrar and also frowns upon copyright infringment. If you post at pirated-sites.com they will probably notice the unwanted referals in their stats.

You can also have some fun with htaccess and redirect their links to wherever you'd like them to go. Change the images or direct them to a peruvian justice ministry.

[epiphany]

Thanks Zoren.

I'll bear that in mind. It looks like the links to my site had been removed by the time I'd sent them the email requesting they remove the material.

If they don't get back to me or remove it I'll do what you say and contact the planet and godaddy.

If there's anyone who speaks spanish here could give me an overview of what the site is about that would be much appreciated. I may have been wrong in my first look at it using the google translator, and I'm now thinking it may be some sort of criminal aid/legal aid site. If that's the case it seems like a worthy cause so perhaps I could offer to supply a template design to them for the site or something.

I'm a bit put out that they just took my design without asking (particularly as that site is where I make my living), but if it's a worthy cause I'd rather help them to get something up there and change the design than just tell them to remove it. I don't speak spanish so this is difficult for me to work out what the site's about exactly just using the google translator.

Any spanish speakers here?

[Zoren]

Epiphany,

Your desire to help them is admirable. I don't think enabling them will help them better serve ex-convicts though. I think they are setting a bad example of how to re-integrate with society. I wouldn't offer someone breaking into my office a sandwhich. Rewarding these people will just encourage them to do it to others. It's up to you how to deal with this however. Just my 2 1/2 cents.

The name & shame may be your best bet. The planet & the host may wait for some sort of legal judgement as they don't want to get involved by becoming the arbitors of such disputes. They see quite a few of them. Here's the process for dealing with the planet:

http://theplanet.com/legal/index.html

I have had content ripped and had to fight quite hard to reclaim my work.

Good luck in your efforts here.

[epiphany]

Thanks for the link Zoren.

I'm glad to hear that you got it sorted out when it happened to you (though sorry to hear it was such a struggle).

I don't want to pass judgement on them just yet because it could be that they don't even know the design is stolen (I've seen that happen before when someone has employed a designer and they've stolen work and the company employing them doesn't know until it's reported).

If it does turn out to be them or there's any argument about them removing it, then I'll be less charitable ofcourse. Hopefully it won't come to that.

I've bookmarked a selection of online site piracy resources and places where I can list their copy if they refuse to remove it and I don't have any luck with the planet or godaddy, and I'll look into pursuing further action legally if the need arises, but I'm hoping it can be resolved amicably without getting to that stage.

Thanks again for your help

[cjmelhorn]

How did this turn out or are you still in the process of attempting to get this resolved? I know the post is old, but, it takes me some time to get around to the posts.

I see that the two sites are different now, so either you did a redesign or they did. Now that I have read through the whole post, I am kinda interested in your efforts and the resolution.

Thanks...... oh, and that sucks!

[epiphany]

Ahh...Completely forgot to update this thread. Sorry about that.

I contacted their host (not the planet directly, but the guy who their nameservers pointed to - probably a reseller or someone with a server located there). He pulled the site straight away without any further prompting.

The last time I checked, the site was completely off line.

After just checking again, you're right it seems that they're up and working again.

I can still see a close similarity in some areas to my own site, but not enough for me to be concerned about it.

It was the use of actual graphics without permission and the exact layout/colouring and style that I was a bit put out about (not to mention that they'd left references to my site in the code that would have been a bit of a pain regards the search engines).

I did make an offer to the guy who was hosting them asking him what the site was about and explaining that if it was a non-profit group or something that I'd be prepared to help them with a design/template rather than them using my site design, but I didn't hear back from him again. So either they weren't interested or he just didn't want the trouble of organising it. I'm thankful of him acting so swiftly to remove the offending material however, so can't really expect more than that I guess.

All in all it worked out pretty well

Thanks again to all who helped me with this and offered advice

[mresell]

Sounds like you have a healthy attitude epiphany. There CAN be a fine line between inspiration and rip off or copying. Every designer or creative person can say they didn't really invent anything, but there is a difference. And of course there can be real situations where people are accused where they may have both created thier own sites from scratch, but they are similiar. You have to make sure you have evidence and follow thru properly and reasonably. I have seen questionable accusations like this before. All that said it does suck when people grab stuff and run and don't value your work or you all that much.

[epiphany]

Yes, I wouldn't loose any sleep over the similarities that still exist. I can't copyright proportions and general approaches to layout as far as I know and I wouldn't really want to.

On the otherhand, when I first spotted this site, it had my own graphics in it that they hadn't asked permission to use (lifted directly from my site), the source code itself still contained references to my site, and their css style was basically a direct copy aswell. That's not on ofcourse.

You're right theres a fine line between copying and inspiration. If my site inspired someone to create their own and there were similarities in the approach I would be flattered. It's just when people directly copy and lift my graphics directly that I have a problem.