I just found out that a respected member of this board has used a large and unique graphic from a big hosting company for his own design. I am not sure if i should post his URL and the website address of the original design here or not, but its just sad to see this happening over and over again :(

No point letting us smell the brownies without feeding it to us :(

Yes please post :D this is like a fox hunt :D

I'm just a goodol boy from oklahoma, we don't do fox hunts.

However I do enjoy a linch mob from time to time.


thank you
Jason Miller:homer:

There you got the brownies ...

Design 1: http://cqhost.com/
Design 2: http://www.ewsnl.com/hosting.html

:rolleyes:

And no, i'm not "hunting" after graphics/designs all day long ...but i just happen to work in this industry 7 days a week and i like visiting my competitors :D

it looks like they hired the same web designer, the pics are modifided a bit, could be a legit thing.
however the eagle one is offering unlimited bw so who knows.

thank you
Jason Miller:homer:

So who copied who? It's hard to tell although it looks like Eagle copied CQhost.

edit: Actually, I'm almost positive Eagle copied since the area behind the $9.99 price is sorta shady compared to the clear $12.50 at CQhost. Also CQhost has a much better color scheme that goes along well with the rest of the site.

Hard to say...sure is a cool graphic, though.

Aloha
well just by looks of eagles logo in the upper left and the quality of the rest of his site looking homemeade and the cqhost all looking like the tech look of the menu
I would have to say whoever designed his site copied that
if he did not he should get his desinger by the dakine

funny how people can copy in this industry so much seems like no other industry copies each other so much
from eagles site: established a partnership with Hypernatic design, a wellknown Dutch Design company, which also has partnerships with the Entertainment/ broadcast company: SBS broadcasting.
Hypernatic uses on a unique way different kinds of design techniques, which make a site unique and trendy!
so unless it is them that copied or created both companies website or happened to be a template available that makes that look
I am very curious to hear what eagle has to say about this since he is on WHT

do you guys feel the same about html as you do graphics? I don't see how you can claim any rights to html. I would like your thoughts.

thank you
Jason Miller:homer:

Aloha
well yes and no
if it is very unique and someone stole that part I might think this is bad
I think if ya see a cool site download it find out how it works and wrewrite it from your own perspective and you are OK but do not copy it

well if they just copy it, all the links are going to lead to your site lol. by the way, my site had a black back ground, and I don't like that a lot of you have stolen that from me,

give it back, give it back, Give it back I say
sorry insane raging rant over with I'll be ok now. You have to understand I'm a little cranky, it took me two hours to find my keys!!!


Thank you
Jason Miller:homer:

you try to take my background again and my lawyer will be down your throat and out your @$$ Fast. she'll clean you out better than lettuce

do you guys feel the same about html as you do graphics? I don't see how you can claim any rights to html. I would like your thoughts.
I guess it all depends on the use. Did they do as Honu suggests and view the source to learn how to do it, or did they completely rip off a particular design?

This brings me to another question...
I'm all for copyrighted work, and people not ripping other people off. I don't do it without permission, but I will occasionally ask someone if I can use something I like. But the question is...how many of these "copyrighted" works, like images or cool html, have been done with ripped off software? Sure, you can make a great graphic, but if you do it with a "borrowed" copy of Photoshop or Fireworks, are you right to whine about people stealing it? Or maybe a neat style sheet written with a "liberated" copy of Dreamweaver?

I'm not asking anyone to own up to anything...just opinions.

Aloha

hmm a good point
a company I did work for was and is using a msdn ver of SQL2000 (yes MS allready knows) this company makes around 1,000,000 + a year it can afford to buy it but there programer thought nah we can get away with it
now a disgruntled employee is trying to black mail them about turning them into MS funny the idiot does not know that they allready know.
I own copies of stuff I make money with it is fair
everyone bashes MS but they give you 4 months to try there software.
I bet as sbrad says a lot is made on warez.
I say if ya make money form a piece of software buy it so it becomes better and better so it can make me more and more kala ;)

Aloha
bad bad bad person
Either Eagle or your designer

I like the answer I got when I emailed CQHOST about it
now I will apologize if you struck a deal with them but I do not think this is the case

I asked
did these people steal your menu or do you know they have it or are they resellers ???


there reply:
They just steal it. Not a serious company. If this is a company.


I like that reply obvious they could really care less that is pretty cool of them ;) shows me they have a good feeling they are comfy with themselves and do not need to steal !!!!

Ouch! Sorry Guys...

First of all, Hi, I am from Eagle Web Services...

I dont know who stated something about hiring the same designer...But that might be true...

We DID hire someone to design the site, and we were quite happy with it....
Let me contact them and see what they did...

If you are correct, and they used the same design on both pages I will have them do a redesign for us...
Cause of course, this is not what I paid for, and this is plain stupid... I hate stealing designs so this won't be up there long...

Sorry guys, I truely apologize for this,
I was not aware of this and I apologize again for any inconvenience.

And thanks for reporting!!

Ouch. No problem :)

Again, sorry guys

GRR this totally pissed me off :uzi:
I paid good money for it and I get a stolen design :(

BAH

Again, sorry guys, I was not aware of this,
and I will take further action....

Make sure to take some screenshots of the design ...in case your designer has access to the server.

He doesn't

but good point...
might need them in case of a lawsuit....

Thanks for the advice

Eagle, good to go. To bad Vortech hosting doesn't follow your standard. They still display their web site with stolen graphics from Affinity.

We are always worried about our outsourced designers taking graphics from other sites too. It happens. Once you are informed, the correct thing to do is what you just stated.

Really? People actually do that when they are aware of the fact that it is stolen? Geez....

See, this is not even my fault and I feel SO embarassed... :(

I can't imagine people just ignoring a matter like this...

Maybe Eagle's designer and the cqhost designer both got the image from an images/clipart cd?

jericho

Possible,

but still...Don't use the same image for 2 sites...

Originally posted by Honu
Aloha
well just by looks of eagles logo in the upper left and the quality of the rest of his site looking homemeade and the cqhost all looking like the tech look of the menu
I would have to say whoever designed his site copied that
if he did not he should get his desinger by the dakine

funny how people can copy in this industry so much seems like no other industry copies each other so much
from eagles site:
so unless it is them that copied or created both companies website or happened to be a template available that makes that look
I am very curious to hear what eagle has to say about this since he is on WHT

Just a note,
this is a NEW ALLIANCE...
So THEY are not respondsible for this... This is a COMPANY and the old (=bad) site was designed by one person...
However, GOOD NEWS, hypernatic is already in the process of designing a new site for us...
Cause stolen **** is just plain rotten!!

DIE THIEVES DIE!! :D

Originally posted by jericho
Maybe Eagle's designer and the cqhost designer both got the image from an images/clipart cd?
That sort of thing is certainly possible, and is usually the case when you see identical images on two different sites. In this case, though, even it did start with the same stock image, the text that's been added to the image is exactly the same, except for the package price.

You know, the issue of hiring a "designer" who then steals from other sites to create yours (whether that's what happened in this case or not) illustrates a similarity to the webhosting business. How many times have we seen a customer choose a host only because of price, end up with a new company with no reputation or track record, and come back disappointed with the result?

Same thing with web design. Site owners hire the cheapest designers they can find, saving a few hundred dollars over what a professional would cost them, and then are surprised that their bargain-basement designer isn't all that creative.

Um...The CQhost design used to be used by mybizhosting.com when they first launched :)

So you mean CQ host stole it too?

Aloha
Eagle

just so ya know in no way was I trying to attack you
I said either you or your designer
yeah if your designer stole it I see that a lot with designers that are nto real designers so many people put together sites that should not be allowed.

sorry if I sounded harsh I suck at typing ;)

but glad you steped on this
the clipart thing might be the case but somehow that does not look like a clip art menu but could be
just hte way it fits in with all the rest of the site did not gell to me sory again to sound harsh on your design ;( but seems like ya offer good packages.

also in other threads I have mentioned it might be the designers that are stealing
ususally you can tell if a designer stole it or the person whos hosting co it is
the later tend to steal everythign content and all
designers tend to steal elements

anyway
hope ya get this situated and tell all the customers of that designer he is a a lousy thief designers like that should go out of biz

best of luck
Chad

Originally posted by Honu

hope ya get this situated and tell all the customers of that designer he is a a lousy thief designers like that should go out of biz

best of luck
Chad

Hehe,

nah it's cool
I called the design company we currently have an alliance with and they are URGENTLY working on a new page...costs me a damn penny, but hey...at least I know THESE guys build it from scratch.....

Thanks again ya'll for notifying me!

Eagle,

While you're at it, I would suggest removing the "Cobalt True Blue Partner" image from your site before you have another lawsuit on your hands.

The last time I checked you had to pay 10k per quarter to be a part of that. :(

http://trueblue.cobalt.com/

I knew we WERE,
dont know what happened...
Heard that we might kiss Cobalt goodbye...
Anyways....
We're redesigning the new site, so I'll leave it out then....

Btw, its 10k / mo purchase... We recently sold more Unix/Win2k boxes then RaQs
As you might know RaQ prices will skyrocket in the next few weeks / months....Well thats what I've heard

Aloha
why are they going to skyrocket ?????

seems odd

Originally posted by Eagle
I knew we WERE,
dont know what happened...
Heard that we might kiss Cobalt goodbye...
Anyways....
We're redesigning the new site, so I'll leave it out then....

Btw, its 10k / mo purchase... We recently sold more Unix/Win2k boxes then RaQs
As you might know RaQ prices will skyrocket in the next few weeks / months....Well thats what I've heard

You actually paid the 10k? I find that hard to believe, but okay. :D

Was it worth it?

Originally posted by Eagle
Btw, its 10k / mo purchase...
Originally posted by mastersites
You actually paid the 10k? I find that hard to believe, but okay. :D Sorry, guys, but I believe there are two pieces of misinformation there. It is $10,000 per quarter for the True Blue Partner program, not per month. But that number is your purchasing commitment; how much you have to spend with them, not a fee that you have to pay.

Howdy guys

Well, I am not sure on this, I do not do the cobalts here in the company....
However, what I was told is that it was per month, could also be per quater, I do not know...

As for the prices I heard they took out RaQ3 and now raise the prices on RaQ4 :(

Hi...

Sorry to hear for what happened.

I noticed the same graphics a long time ago, and indeed CQ had it for a long time now.
It seems it happens quite a lot nowadays, and we should make some kind of a list of designers who steal work, and sell it.

Could you tell us who was your web designer?

Thanks.


Originally posted by Eagle
Ouch! Sorry Guys...

First of all, Hi, I am from Eagle Web Services...

I dont know who stated something about hiring the same designer...But that might be true...

We DID hire someone to design the site, and we were quite happy with it....
Let me contact them and see what they did...

If you are correct, and they used the same design on both pages I will have them do a redesign for us...
Cause of course, this is not what I paid for, and this is plain stupid... I hate stealing designs so this won't be up there long...

Sorry guys, I truely apologize for this,
I was not aware of this and I apologize again for any inconvenience.

And thanks for reporting!!

FYI, there's no way that's clip art. I remember seeing the CQ site a while back and was knocked on my ass by that design. Kudos to the designer whoever it was. From someone who can tell exactly how that site was designed just be looking at it, rest assured there's some serious photoshop time involved.

re: ihoppoet
The designer spends a few weeks designing a site, the client spend a few hundred (if not a few thousand) dollars on the final product. Both are happy. Some ass with a right click comes along and steals the same work and uses it for themselves for free. Believe me, the thief would not want to share the same room as me the moment I found out about it.

Eagle,
I don't think anyone is holding you out for hanging if your 'designer' nabbed the graphic. Sadly it seems to be a bit of a trend lately. a lot of hosts have seen not only graphics, but full sites stolen by other people. At least most of them don't have the gall to on-sell their ill gotten goods.

Greg Moore

Originally posted by akashik

re: ihoppoet
The designer spends a few weeks designing a site, the client spend a few hundred (if not a few thousand) dollars on the final product. Both are happy. Some ass with a right click comes along and steals the same work and uses it for themselves for free. Believe me, the thief would not want to share the same room as me the moment I found out about it.


Even when hosts are notified of a stolen desing, some still tend not to change it.

I checked Eagle's web site, and it is interesting that they DO offer web desing. Most likely that is who desinged their site, since it would make so sense to hire a web designer, when you offer web design service. I wouldn't recommend using designers who steal work from other HARD working people.

Bogdan,

hypernatic (company we currently have a design alliance with) is a NEW company,
they DID NOT design the old site...

They made a full new site (design is there already) and we will be releasing it soon....

Just for your information
hypernatic are NO stealers...

Originally posted by Eagle
Bogdan,

hypernatic (company we currently have a design alliance with) is a NEW company,
they DID NOT design the old site...

They made a full new site (design is there already) and we will be releasing it soon....

Just for your information
hypernatic are NO stealers...

I did not mean to flame you, I was mainly talking about web designers.

If you meant hyperbatic, then it might not be stealing if you ask the company to use and modify the graphic. But if you take someone elses graphic and modify it to your comfort, than it is stealing, because you did not create it.

not sure what you mean

but let me make this clear for all

old design: done by a lad I hired, he no longer designs for us
new design: hypernatic, the new company we have alliances with...

http://www.ewsnl.com/sotawh.gif

Isn't this the questionable graphic?
The site's changed since I saw it a few hours ago so I presume that's the new design...
To the best of my knowledge it contains more of CQ's graphics than it used to.. Forgive me if I'm mistaken.

Greg Moore

Ehm the new design is not up yet

that is still the old one...

Originally posted by Eagle
not sure what you mean

but let me make this clear for all

old design: done by a lad I hired, he no longer designs for us
new design: hypernatic, the new company we have alliances with...

I mistaken Hypernatic (the company) with a misspelled word. :)

Never mind my previous post then.

Aloha
this thread makes me think that the contract should state where the graphics coem from and that they are not copied if they are found to be copies the designer will be liable and have to pay any and all legal costs and replace all graphics with similiar quality that are original.
these graphics must be original and have the original layered documents
blah blah


might not be a bad idea

figure if some designer gets scared away ya know they can not do it form scratch

Originally posted by Honu
might not be a bad idea

Erm....dude,
this is an EXCELLENT idea...

Originally posted by Honu
Aloha
this thread makes me think that the contract should state where the graphics coem from and that they are not copied if they are found to be copies the designer will be liable and have to pay any and all legal costs and replace all graphics with similiar quality that are original.
these graphics must be original and have the original layered documents
blah blah


might not be a bad idea

figure if some designer gets scared away ya know they can not do it form scratch

Actually were I in Eagle's position of having to pony up for a new designer due to the old one's lack of morals I'd be hoisting a chargeback at him (if he paid by card). Same rules apply. He was employed to provide a service. I would think it's at least *implied* the designer will provide an original design, or at least provide one without copyright infringements.

IMHO, the more dead wood that gets cut away from both the hosting and design industry the better for everyone.

Greg Moore

Originally posted by akashik
(if he paid by card)

Paid cash :bawling:

Originally posted by Eagle
Paid cash :bawling:

*ouch*
well I hope you can lay to his first born son and wire him to a keyboard with rusty fishhooks and make him perform customer support till the debt is paid :D

Greg Moore

I'm secure in the knowledge my new design is squeaky clean, legal and original. ;)

Um. . . now how to keep it from getting stolen? Disable right-clicks?

Originally posted by alchiba
Um. . . now how to keep it from getting stolen? Disable right-clicks?

There was a 7 page (or so) thread about this a while back. In short, nothing will prevent anyone knocking off your site if they really want it. Your best defense is to hound them like dogs when you find out, and make sure you (or your designer) keeps their design files handy :)

**edit**
Just noticed your weblink. :blush: There's close to 5 megabytes or so of .psd files sitting here so evidence abounds :D for when it finally goes online
**edit**


Greg Moore

Originally posted by alchiba
I'm secure in the knowledge my new design is squeaky clean, legal and original. ;)

Um. . . now how to keep it from getting stolen? Disable right-clicks?
Aloha
as akashik has said this is useless
sometimes it s fun to do
but in real world not one bit of help
about like putting a car sticker on your car saying alarm
a car thief will jack you car if he wants it.

Originally posted by Honu
this thread makes me think that the contract should state where the graphics coem from and that they are not copied if they are found to be copies the designer will be liable and have to pay any and all legal costs and replace all graphics with similiar quality that are original.
these graphics must be original and have the original layered documents Yep. And some do. Again, it's part of the difference between using the cheapest web designer you can find, and using a company that works professionally.

Part of the development process at my company includes the preparation of an "asset sheet," a spreadsheet that specifies -- among other things -- each image used and its source. The source of copy or text for each page is also recorded.

But production of complete documentation for a site takes time, and taking time takes money. If you're getting a site put together for $100, or $35, or probably even $250, you're not really paying for that kind of time.

Originally posted by Honu

Aloha
as akashik has said this is useless
sometimes it s fun to do
but in real world not one bit of help
about like putting a car sticker on your car saying alarm
a car thief will jack you car if he wants it.

Then after the new design launches, perhaps I'll offer a bounty to anyone who blows the whistle on a thief. An interesting twist on the "get paid to surf" model.

What we need is a LoJack for the Web. (Er, for all those not familiar with it, see http://www.lojack.com)

Originally posted by alchiba
What we need is a LoJack for the Web. It's been done.

I should have mentioned that when I explained the process we use: we also digitally watermark any significant images, and use DigiMarc's MarcSpider to track those images. Basically, that's the same idea as that behind LoJack.

Originally posted by JayC
It's been done.

I should have mentioned that when I explained the process we use: we also digitally watermark any significant images, and use DigiMarc's MarcSpider to track those images. Basically, that's the same idea as that behind LoJack.

Aloha
how has digimarc worked for you so far ???