Hello Everyone,
I have a big problem here. A few days ago someone whom I know has stolen my content and some stuff from my website.
The original site is :
http://www.onlywebmasters.com
Site who stole my stuff :
http://www.forwebmasters.net

It's now being hosted by Managed.com . Actually the hosting firm that is hosting the site have a dedicated from Managed.com.

When I read the managed.com AUP it says that
B. Reporting Copyright Violations. Managed.com complies with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA"). Managed.com encourages Users to report an alleged copyright infringement involving a user by sending a notice to: abuse@managed.com

Although I emailed them 10 times I got no response. Then I tried sending emails to their different addresses. At the end I received a response from info@managed.com and Jack Peterson from Managed.com said :

(Jack Peterson)
Greetings,

Please resend the complaints directly to sales@managed.com again. Note: I do need a sworn affidavit and proof of content ownership. Your complaint will then be forwarded to the complainee for verification.


I asked them what exactly I had to show them : No Response.
I emailed directly to the address he specified : No Response.
Sent Emails many many times : No Response.
I did my best but still no response.

I am pretty sure that all they care is $$$ right ? Just grab the money, sit on your chair and answer your "Customers" support questions. Don't ever care about people who has problems if you're the only place who can solve the problems...

I don't get it. Please advice.
What should I do now ? Although he told me to email sales I know I won't be able to receive a response from Managed sales if I emailed.

What do you think I should provide as a proof of ownership ?


At the top of the site forwebmasters.net the top used keywords/phrases part is copied from my site.
the categories and the sites listed under those categories has been ripped....
They are asking for a proof of ownership but it can easily be seen that my site onlywebmasters.com has ,almost, been online for 2 years and it's been only a month or so when forwebmasters.net was registered...

I don't know what to do for real. Please help me out.
Should I pay although I am the person who was ripped off ?

(What made Jack from Managed respond my email was that I emailed them with "Dedicated Server and Accounting Help" subject.)

Any advice would be truly appreciated.

Best Regards,
Umut Kale

You have arrived to the right place for a solution. Wait for sometime and I am pretty sure somebody from Managed.com will answer you. :)

I hope so too. I already emailed them and gave the url to this thread also.
But it really made me sad not being able to get a response and I can't express this feeling actually. Getting an answer here will make me think like "Ummm, they don't care about people with problems... They care about their popularity only... :("

WHT will be a good proof of the ownership of my website as i already have posted here when I first launched my site. Ofcourse Archive.org will be a good proof also. I'm ready to provide anything else they might ask.

I'd rather solve the issue here too. Instead of private messaging or emails.

Thanks

At a quick glance I can't see much similarity to your site!

Top SE Keywords/Phrases ... isn't that a factual thing rather than something you wrote?

ozwebfx, I understand why you can't see because I'm quite sure that you haven't read the thread topic and my post.
I said that my content was stolen and a little part of my website.

If you want to know the problem simply browse the exact categories on both sites and you'll see the listed sites on both onlywebmasters and forwebmasters. (The first 2-3 links has been removed while he was ripping the site off.)

Also he told me that his designer was who stole the content.

Tell him to fire his designer and drop the stolen content, have you tried calling mananged?

Actually, I can't call them directly. I live in Turkey and I must visit my father's office in order to make a free call. Otherwise the international phone calls are really expensive.

BTW , I don't believe calling them would help . As I mentioned above, they already received my email and they are informed about the issue but they don't care...

:(

Anyone can do me a favour and call them ? I'll send you the phone call cost by Paypal eh? :bawling:

I think this problem of yours is a little bit tricky.

I mean they did not steal any original article/design or something similar.

I wish I could help.

Alright but what else could they steal ? I am a Links directory and he's stealing my links. If I owned articles, documents etc then fine...
And if you check the way that links were listed (link order 1-2-3) you'll see that it's the same.

You can compare the content here :
Our site : http://www.onlywebmasters.com/browse-79.html
Theirs : http://www.forwebmasters.net (See - Free Website Hosting category)

Ours : http://www.onlywebmasters.com/browse-9.html
Theirs : Under Website Promotion category.

Looking it over I do not think that you can copyright links to other web sites.
He did not steal your design, he is using some of the same links to other sites you use, but if that was against the law then google, yahoo and msn would be suing each other all over the place.


Sorry I do not think you really have a case, and in this instance I have to agree with managed.com unless you can provide some solid proof you own exclusive rights to link to those sites then they have no reason to shut the site down.

Techark, can't you disallow Google and Yahoo to index your site? You can get your site removed from their directory right ?

BTW the problem with Managed is : They don't respond emails. You're saying that "You don't have exc. rights etc..." I'll be obtaining the exclusive rights within a few days if i ever have some spare time. Because the laws are different in turkey and I can obtain the rights.
As I said above , Managed.com is not responding emails. You said they have no reason etc.. But I have to right to get an explaination right? I'm a man like everyone else and also I didn't tell them to shut the site down. All i did was to inform them and get some information . What I see is that you have to be a "PAID" customer to get a reply.

Thanks and I appreciate all of the inputs.
Mods, please close this thread as requested.

Regards,
Umut