Look at my beautiful site http://www.hostyard.com

and now look at what this scum and low form as*hole has done...

http://www.quickspace.net
http://www.clickhost.co.uk

They don't even have their own servers, they are fasthosts.co.uk resellers.

Need I say more?

I hope they get booted up the as*

Holy cow!!! You'd think he would of tried to change it just a little. It's a carbon copy!!!

Nice site BTW.

Jeez! They're like identical! Have you emailed the owner and threatened with a lawsuit? That's what I would do to a design stealer.

Takes a big pair of gonads to do that.

Originally posted by Jason6792
Takes a big pair of gonads to do that.

Or a brain the size of a small pair of gonads :)

It sure tells a lot about the service he will provide. I'd say he's gone in 6 months just by his own doings.

God dam...

I can't believe that..

The nerve of them...

Well, I wouldn't waste time threating them after the first two emails, just move on..

Dylan,

If you can't be bothered checking with a lawyer, then use these forms (http://home.cnet.com/webbuilding/0-3885-8-4500031-1.html?tag=st.bl.3880-8-3893266-1.txt.3885-8-4500031-1) from CNet and modify them to your needs. Tell them to change the design or they are dead as hell (I can't believe how blatant that was).

Some of my clients have emailed them to tell them how scum they are.

I've got a client who is learning or practising internet law (mmm, can't remember)... the bottom line is, he says there is sqwat we can do.


Another host we've had problems with is http://www.chosts.com ... a bunch of morons. Take a look at their approach to luring new clients and also check out their terms, you won't survive one day. Using Christ as a sales gimmick is evil!

They advertise hosting for one day, then they close down.
Next, they advertise an art gallery, then hosting again, then something nuts that I can't remember, and then hosting again. Freaks!

How do they advertise? They have a bunch of shameless supposed clients (actually the organisers) running around posting messages on "hosts" support forums.

Give them a week or two and I bet they'll be down again.

Sorry, forgot to mention...

chosts has changed their hosting plan over and over again.
I wonder how many people have been ripped off and lost their money.

Originally posted by Dylan
Some of my clients have emailed them to tell them how scum they are.

I've got a client who is learning or practising internet law (mmm, can't remember)... the bottom line is, he says there is sqwat we can do.


Another host we've had problems with is http://www.chosts.com ... a bunch of morons. Take a look at their approach to luring new clients and also check out their terms, you won't survive one day. Using Christ as a sales gimmick is evil!

They advertise hosting for one day, then they close down.
Next, they advertise an art gallery, then hosting again, then something nuts that I can't remember, and then hosting again. Freaks!

How do they advertise? They have a bunch of shameless supposed clients (actually the organisers) running around posting messages on "hosts" support forums.

Give them a week or two and I bet they'll be down again.

Yeah, that really pisses me off when I see a host use religion to sell you hosting. What the hell does religion have to do with providing hosting services. By the way, here is our above mentioned upstanding citizen:

Whois info for, chosts.com:
Registrant:
chosts.com
132 West End Lane
West Hampstead
London, NW6 1SA
UK

Domain Name: CHOSTS.COM

Administrative Contact:
Amue, Andrew aamue@btinternet.com
132 West End Lane
West Hampstead
London, NW6 1SA
UK
02076248875

Technical Contact:
odurinde, temitope temi@velnet.co.uk
72 Park Grove Road
london, England E11 4PU
UK
+44 8707 440151

Billing Contact:
Amue, Andrew aamue@btinternet.com
132 West End Lane
West Hampstead
London, NW6 1SA
UK
02076248875


Record last updated on 25-Jan-2001.
Record expires on 25-Oct-2001.
Record Created on 25-Oct-2000.

Domain servers in listed order:
NS0.TELINCO.NET 212.1.128.40
NS2.TELINCO.NET 212.1.128.42

Jeez,

Is it just me or are net.scams actually getting worse and more up front than they used to be... I took a look at their signup form and it doesn't even look remotely enticing (some bunch called responders.net or something).. Looked about as secure as a flyscreen door :)

Greg Moore

Well,

quickspace.net/clickhost.co.uk has pulled their website.

This is their reply:

We are deeply sorry for what has happened, we have
dismissed our web design company, and have now
employed another web design company to quickly
resolve the problem, we are really sorry that this has
happened and hope you can understand if we had
known we would have NEVER done anything like this

Yeah Right........

As well they should *lol* If their webdesigners can't remember if the company sells hosting, or books, or whatever them it is probably time to look at using someone else. :)

Greg Moore

Found out who the designer was:

Joseph R Matthews III

http://www.ou.edu/faculty/H/Charles.R.Hildreth/clrrefs.html?

"Matthews, Joseph R. (1986). Suggested guidelines for screen layouts and design of online catalogs. In: Online Catalog Screen Displays, Joan Frye Williams, ed. Washington, D.C.: Council on Library Resources, 3-61."

"suggested guidelines for screen layouts"

Actually, I don't see how they are really alike, or atleast now.

This one: http://www.apollohosting.com/ Looks more like a copy of jumpline.com than the examples you gave.

Curtis

Originally posted by Dylan
Well, quickspace.net/clickhost.co.uk has pulled their website.

It was a near identical copy before this post.

What do this kind of incidents teach us?

Register your website designs, to constitute proof for your creation!

Because the worst would be someone rip off your site and actually claim rights on the design ;)

you are talking about a US copyright registration or what?

I'm not sure how us copyright registration works, but I guess that would be a way, indeed.

In the "droit d'auteur" system we have here in europe, no registration is required, creations are protected under law for the sole fact that they have been created. Since no registration is required, there doesn't exist any register either.

However, if you claim violation of your copyright, you will have to proof your creation. You need evidence for the fact, that at a certain date (prior to the infringing copy) you already had the creation.

Any evidence is accepted. But of course it would be good, if a third partie could confirm the fact. Therefore you should make a paper copy of your creation and hand it to someone who, should it become necessary, can confirm that he has received that copy from you and when that was.

I think an attorney or "Notair" could do such a job for you.

A nice solution exists in France, where the national intellectual property institute offers such a service (envelope soleau). I'm not from France, but have already used this service and it's a great thing.

Things like web site designs do not generally fall under protection by copyright or trademark laws in the U.S. They are not intellectual property. Lists, short phrases, and surveys are all things specifically mentioned as not covered. Even slogans are usually not covered.

When a site copies yours, there is seldom anything that can be done about it legally. You can request they change their site, perhaps even bluff them into doing it, just understand you are likely powerless to force change.

These two links are to the U.S Copyright Office and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and explain what is and is not covered.

http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/
http://www.uspto.gov/

Things like web site designs do not generally fall under protection by copyright or trademark laws in the U.S. They are not intellectual property

What is protected by copyright law, are elements which make the creation something individual.

I agree with your "lists and short phrases" remark. these simple elements don't have anything individual, and therefore are not protected AS SUCH. But the combination of several simple elements in a particular way (page layout, particular fonts, color scheme, ...) usually makes, that the web page as a whole does have an individual character and therefore qualifies for copyright protection.

Well, I know what you mean: If someone goes and just slightly modifies your design, it often isn't considered infringement anymore. But if it's a mere copy, I wouldn't hesitate to sue for copyright infringement.

For sure, if you have created a nice logo for your site it's protected by copyright law and if someone should use your logo for a business of the same type (e.g. hosting), I think that's also trademark infringement in US. (Not here in Europe, because we only protect registerd trademarks).

Therefore: If you have made an effort to create a nice, original web design, it certainly is protected to some point. That's why I have filed one of my site designs at the french INPI, to constitute evidence for my creation.