This is my site - I bought the design from voxunity.com.
http://www.ebizalive.net/

And checking my web statistics revealed this referring url:

http://www.sdgl.net/

Can someone help me with what to do about this? :angry:

Could someone help me with a text or something to say to this guy?

Thanks
John

A WHOIS shows:

Registrant:
Stewart Design Group
19 West Harvard Avenue
Stratford, NJ 08084-1715
US

Domain Name: SDGL.NET

Administrative Contact:
Kelley, Glenn . domainsupport@stewarthosting.com
19 West Harvard Avenue
Stratford, NJ 08084-1715
US
856.207.0123

Anyone knows this guy?

John

And that's not the only spot he's using it

http://stewarthosting.com/ and http://hostmedic.com/

John

According to their Portfolio (http://voxunity.com/portfolio/entirelist.asp), your design was a template and hence they've sold this to many others too.

No Rob, this were designed especially to me. That was the deal with voxunity.com. And the way I discovered it were that a trail were left in my web site statistics - the referring url were to sdgl.net. If they bought it from voxunity.com what were they then doing at my web site ;)

John

Yes, I can see the word 'template' there. If that's true they have cheated my. This was a clear deal. I pointed out to them that I didn't want to buy a template. Sigh, what can be done about that. - But the guy did visit my web site so as for him I think he ripped it. :(

John

Also note that he is using my address in Denmark at the contact page - he only switched the business name. What's he up to? This is weird. So he ripped it.

John

Originally posted by nogi
Yes, I can see the word 'template' there. If that's true they have cheated my. This was a clear deal. I pointed out to them that I didn't want to buy a template. Sigh, what can be done about that. - But the guy did visit my web site so as for him I think he ripped it. :(
They do say "Template", so I'd take that as meaning they have sold multiple copies of that site etc. Someone else might have seen your site and ripped the template. I'd contact the designers and get some clarification on what they mean by "Template". :eek3:

I'd contact the designers and get some clarification on what they mean by "Template".

This were the deal: I couldn't afford a different theme for each page - it would have cost thousands of dollars - a theme for for the help section - domain section ect. etc. They accepted to make only one template, and at some time I would buy a template more, until I got a full design. So, for now, this template is used on evey page - same theme is shown whichever page you are visiting. :) - so template yes, but not such a template.

John

John,

Do you have a valid contract for the design?
Try contacting the designer and get to the bottom fast. If they didn't sell it to anyone other than you, contact the host/company using your design and demand they remove it ASAP or you'll be forced to take legal action. Also contact the people responsible for the stolen design and ask they remove it.

did you get anything written down from them to say they will not resell this template elsewhere... the flash is designed with no name in it as if it will be sold to many different brands.

Thanks for your advice. I did contact voxunity.com and they have not resold it. This is not the meaning off the word 'template' in their referral list. They also suggested me to address it to the internet commission and accuse the guy of stealing my design. They would support me 100% etc. - And look at those web sites. They all contain my text so he obviously didn't get it from the design company.

John

did you get anything written down from them to say they will not resell this template elsewhere... the flash is designed with no name in it as if it will be sold to many different brands.

I don't think that was their intention - he removed my logo to the left.

John

very true... have you emailed the sites in question and requested thay take the design down?

They may take the sites down rather than risk having it taken any further.

He obviously has an account with RACKSHACK.NET as their nameservers are returned in a WHOIS. Would you've contacted
them?

John

Originally posted by nogi
He obviously has an account with RACKSHACK.NET as their nameservers are returned in a WHOIS. Would you've contacted
them?

John
I double checked your info and found that stewarthosting.com (one of the many related domains) does indeed use RackShack.net nameservers.

Given the evidence (ie: even copied the postal address, etc...) I'd contact Rackshack and ask them to check their records to ensure he is indeed a client and then request that they suspend his account until he
a) removes your design
...and...
b) removes your address from his site
...because at present he is actually committing fraud and using your address to conduct business from as well as your site design. The latter in my view is as serious, if not more so and lends more weight to your complaint.

As for the comments above... hate to say it guys but those of you suggesting that it might have been the template designer at fault, you need to pay more attention to the trail of how the ripper was traced, etc... that suggestion shouldn't have become the focus of this thread... This is an out and out ripper case.

Consider your wrists slapped... Tsk tsk... ;)

The templates in our Portfolio's 'Templates' section are NOT for sale - they already have been sold to their clients. Their meaning is to only show our professional designing and development skills. The 'Templates' section indicates that we have designed for our clients templates only and we can't attribute to ourselves the whole merit of designing the entire site for them (our clients).

A 'you have violated the intl. copyright laws' e-mail as sent. Let's see what will they do next.

Thanx WebSnail, appreciate that.
We at Vox Unity respect and satisfy all our clients preferences and agreements we have with them. "Gents" attitude is a pro factor as well.

I don't want this to harm voxunity.com in any way. They didn't sell the template or do anything wrong - this guy ripped my web site with all content (he didn't even bother to change my address - just changed the business name so that he is selling under his own business with my address).

voxunity.com has send him a mail threatening him with legal action (as I did myself).

John

Well, whatever happened the site now appears to be unavailable..

It looks like someone somewhere took action and removed the site. :D

Dude is probably on this forum as well and has seen this or gotten word one way or the other.

I think this is gonna be the best you can do and that is to shame him on the boards. RS is not going to suspend the site as it is not covered in their AUP because while it may be ripped it is not illegal material to host.

Also I believe that he has just made the site unavailable to public viewing while he decides what to do. Thus the p/w required screen.

Good Luck.

If it has ripped a copyrighted design then technically it is covered under the RS TOS under hosting illegal contents. :)

Originally posted by UH-Matt
If it has ripped a copyrighted design then technically it is covered under the RS TOS under hosting illegal contents. :)

Ah, well guess he needs to get to proving it.

:)

very true... have you emailed the sites in question and requested thay take the design down?

Yes, we mailed him - voxunity.com did as well, threatening him with legal action. rackshack.net has been contacted as well.

John

Ah, well guess he needs to get to proving it.

He has taken the design down now, but his visit to my web site left a trace, and then there are voxunity.com and other witnesses. We also got a copy of "his" web sites with the minor changes. So, hopefully, no cat and mouse game in the future ;)

John

Originally posted by nogi
Ah, well guess he needs to get to proving it.

He has taken the design down now, but his visit to my web site left a trace, and then there are voxunity.com and other witnesses. We also got a copy of "his" web sites with the minor changes. So, hopefully, no cat and mouse game in the future ;)

John

Sounds like you're covered here. If nothing more he definitely has "MUD in his eye" now!

Keep your docs, too!

nogi,

This might give you an idea when he updated his/her site:

http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.sdgl.net

The word "Template" has been bastardized beyond belief. The meaning of a "Template" to a designer is a boilerplate, standard format, etc, usually leaving the content for the client to insert.

It doesn't have anything to do with the unique sale or re-sales of the item.

that sucks that your site was ripped , i would take it as a compliment though , it know its hard to do that though , but we all know who the deal is . They're not much a design group if they have to steal content , pretty pathetic