Others using my site as their own creation

[dadster]

Not sure what to do about this:

I developed a site http://www.needmortgage.net and have started to see that two other sites refer to it as a site developed with their product. Sites in question:

http://www.parkslopetaxandaccounting.com/qb/qbwebsite.cfm
and
http://www.kwrobelcpa.com/qb/qbwebsite.cfm

Click on the link 'View a Website sample" and you will see my new revised page as to their scam.

I have written both asking them to cease, and have changed the site so visitors are aware that they are flimflammers.

Anything else I can do - or anything I shouldn't have done?

Thanks for any and all advice.

Frank

 

[Andrew Shaw]

I will not doubt be contacting an attorney unless they cease their fraud

Change that to NO doubt.

Also, the best you can do is contact them from what I understand. If the site means a lot to you, which Im sure it does... I would consider contacting your lawyer regarding copyright laws. To protect yourself, it wouldnt hurt to dedicate a page to explaining that the material wherein this site is not to be duplicated etc...

I would talk to someone more experienced in this field though. Good luck.

 

[Bill Roy]

Frank,

Hit them with a huge lawsuit. Obviously these appear to be shysters and if they are fleecing you how many others have they done this to?

Just used Google satelite to find out the kind of property, and they are lovely new homes there!

Of course you could always ask them to pay a royalty, say $900 for each one sold on top of a $50,000 licence to sell your work, per website they advertise it on of course. k:

You could also of course just point out to them that they live in a nice house according to the satellite image and it is new and ask them how much it cost?

 

[Gerry]

Not sure what to do about this:


Frank

Congrats on your success that others want to copy you.

I think you have don the appropriate thing by warning visitors. A bold banner would help.

But in the meantime you are losing traffic and money? That is not cool.

I would definitely seek legal advice on this. You should keep details records of every thing, when this first came to your attention etc.

If you are losing money while your site is down, you should consider a couple of options.

Leave the site down as a great preventive to stop this fraud, as you have done, calculate daily loses, hosting, etc. Punitive, monetary, and civil damages could be sought.

Get you site back up with a large banner at top warning the consumer.

Sorry you have to deal with this. Just goes to show that success breeds scams.

 

[stock_post]

Put your adsense or yahoo ads on the top and leave it for now.

They feed your site. And you keep the money.

 

[karter9977]

Dadster,

Found this one too:

http://www.integritybusinesssolutions.net/websitebuilder.html

The site above was created by the company below. I have a feeling the company below is the creator for all those sites. They probably add that page as promotion for themselves or something.

http://www.masscothosting.com/

 

[Deleted member 5660]

look into a dmca takedown notice sent to their provider

 

[karter9977]

Dadster,

I was bored so I did some research and theres a ton and I mean a ton of sites that are using your domain/website.

I will send you a list of all the websites I found soon, theres a lot.

Steve

 

[Kamloops]

You missed this site as well. So who built what? I am confused?

http://www.integritybusinesssolutions.net/websitebuilder.html

Which says - MASSCOT INTERNET, INC © Copyright 2005 by Masscot Internet, Inc. Cape Cod, Massachusetts - All rights reserved.
This page created and maintained by: Masscot Internet, West Yarmouth, (Cape Cod) MA 02673-8269 Masscot Privacy Policy

http://www.masscothosting.com/

 

[Theo]

All sites look like shit

 

[stock_post]

looks like all of them belong to one company/person

Just add adsene and you may get lot of hits.

 

[fab]

Why have you taken your site down?

 

[whitebark]

Why have you taken your site down?

Agreed - why go to that extreme. A big banner in the center would suffice. You are only hurting yourself by taking your site down - you don't want to get indexed like that and lose any hard work up to that point.

 

[myst woman]

Why not link to their site?

 

[jmizel]

Here's some advice from a Webmaster who's been ripped of many times...

Are you rich? Are you bored? Are you vindictive? Can you afford to waste time, energy, and valuable traffic?

Best advice, forget about it and put your site back. Then put your ads up and promote it and make some money. These guys are sending you traffic and giving you inbound links, all good things.

If you insist on acknowledging them, just add some copy to the bottom of the page with a link to what's on the home page now. Don't waste valuable real-estate trying to "get back" at them. The best revenge is a fat paychek from Google every month

Jonathan

 

[cyberlaw]

In addition to some of the other comments, I recommend that anyone that creates original content file for copyright protection with the U.S. Copyright Office. In addition to giving you the "clear designation" of rights, there are also other advantages, such as statutory damages and some other protections. My firm does these or you can file them yourselves at copyright.gov.

 

[Gerry]

In addition to some of the other comments, I recommend that anyone that creates original content file for copyright protection with the U.S. Copyright Office. In addition to giving you the "clear designation" of rights, there are also other advantages, such as statutory damages and some other protections. My firm does these or you can file them yourselves at copyright.gov.

I would also like to add that you can add © or TM to original content without having to have the copyright or the TM issued.

All can be "pending".

I have often seen original artwork that I have done reproduced without permission. I have and maintain rights to that work until I "sell" those rights. Usually when I sell a painting or graphics, I am releasing my rights.