I got this email today in my abuse account:

A site in your network www.siteA.com is stealing content from my site www.siteB.com the content in question is the "smiles" on their bulletin board. As the host you're just as responsible for their actions as they are in a legal case. be advised that if this isn't immediately resolved I will take action.


I responded in two emails:

I will investigate the site and your report, expect my report in aprox. 24 hours, if I find that they did steal the images, I will give them 24 hours to remove the content, and if they do not, I will suspend the site untill the content is removed...

I need a list of each and every thing taken... I can only take action on what you list...

If I have a doubt on if you were the orginal author, you will need to provide proof that you made or own the image...

Thanks for your cooperation!


Is there anything else I should say? This is all over smilies, and I know some of them I've seen on other sites...

How should I verify they made the images? I don't generally deal with image theft, any help would be appreciated...

I personally would contact www.siteA.com and ask them where they acquired the images from and if they would sign a document stating that they acquired the images from "X" and they were purchased for $X.XX or were/are in public domain with no copyright or trademarks, active or pending.

I believe that this would protect you in case of a law suit vs. your company.

I'd make sure to have a lawer to write this in case the person is truly going to file a suit. More than likely, they just do not like the site/owner of the site and want to cause trouble.