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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Location
    India
    Posts
    28

    Angry Content Violation, How to proceed.

    hi gurus,
    I found a site copying content from our site's main page and pasting with text size"1" on their main page, each and every words is same, only they have replaced our name with their URL.

    Before i send them a legal notice on this, what proof i need to keep while i visit my lawyer. should i take a print out or do i need someone to witness it.
    Their Page is also visible in many search engines with this violation, and it has affected our rank a lot on SE's

    Both sites are india based.

    Any help/suggestions much appreciated.

    Thanks,

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    East Texas
    Posts
    194

    start

    I would start out with an email that they have copied copywrited information and to please remove it. After that get, their contact information and send them a registred letter asking them to stop. Then talk to an attorney - at this point you can say that you did this, and this and the site has not stopped copying your information. Then the third or fourth contact you have with them will be a letter from a lawyer.

  3. #3
    Do you have any screenshots of the violations or a site grab prior to sending them a letter?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    Pflugerville, TX
    Posts
    11,231
    You can find a Cease and Desist template online without too much difficulty. Fill it out, send it to them and copy their upstream providers. If they don't respond in a reasonable period of time (I personally think two days is plenty), go directly to their providers. As long as copyright laws are upheld in the country in which the servers are located or the country in which the company in question is registered, they will be pressed to act swiftly.

    Some proof is nice as well (Internet archives are a good way to get proof that you created the content first).
    Studio1337___̴ı̴̴̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡*̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡ ̡̡͡|̲̲̲͡͡͡ ̲▫̲͡ ̲̲̲͡͡π̲̲͡͡ ̲̲͡▫̲̲͡͡ ̲|̡̡̡ ̡ ̴̡ı̴̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡̡.__Web Design

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    East Texas
    Posts
    194

    yep

    Quote Originally Posted by the_pm
    You can find a Cease and Desist template online without too much difficulty. Fill it out, send it to them and (a) copy (to) their upstream providers.
    +1 on that - and be SURE to send the letter certified mail with return receipt requested, so you have proof that they received the letter.

  6. #6

    Arrow

    In my experience, asking the plagiariser please to be nice has little effect. They don't generally even bother to reply, and most replies sneeringly insinuate that you probably plagiarised somebody else (as though this justifies their actions somehow).

    Don't waste time with the plagiariser if you don't have to. Instead, go upstream and find the web host. With any luck, the plagiariser is hosted in the US, and you can file a DMCA notice.

    You may or may not get any sort of intelligent reply, but the offence is usually removed (deleted) within a week or two.

    Good luck!

    Eliz.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    Pflugerville, TX
    Posts
    11,231
    Quote Originally Posted by stapel
    In my experience, asking the plagiariser please to be nice has little effect. They don't generally even bother to reply, and most replies sneeringly insinuate that you probably plagiarised somebody else (as though this justifies their actions somehow).

    Don't waste time with the plagiariser if you don't have to. Instead, go upstream and find the web host. With any luck, the plagiariser is hosted in the US, and you can file a DMCA notice.

    You may or may not get any sort of intelligent reply, but the offence is usually removed (deleted) within a week or two.

    Good luck!

    Eliz.
    FYI, most, if not all, upstream providers will insist that you show you've attempted to rectify this directly with the offending party, or else they will refuse to take action. It's not a matter of whether they'll play nice and remove the content. It's a matter of doing your due diligence, and you must do this!

    FWIW, the last ripper we faced was kind enough to take down the content in question with a brief chat. Every now and again, you might be surprised
    Studio1337___̴ı̴̴̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡*̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡ ̡̡͡|̲̲̲͡͡͡ ̲▫̲͡ ̲̲̲͡͡π̲̲͡͡ ̲̲͡▫̲̲͡͡ ̲|̡̡̡ ̡ ̴̡ı̴̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡̡.__Web Design

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by the_pm
    FYI, most, if not all, upstream providers will insist that you show you've attempted to rectify this directly with the offending party, or else they will refuse to take action.
    Really? Hmm.

    Perhaps what you have encountered is the "norm" amongst non-US hosts...? But it is certainly not the DMCA-required process, and I have yet to encounter this "requirement" after more than a hundred instances.

    Maybe I've just been astoundingly lucky, huh...?

    Eliz.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    Pflugerville, TX
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    11,231
    Quote Originally Posted by stapel
    Really? Hmm.

    Perhaps what you have encountered is the "norm" amongst non-US hosts...? But it is certainly not the DMCA-required process, and I have yet to encounter this "requirement" after more than a hundred instances.

    Maybe I've just been astoundingly lucky, huh...?

    Eliz.
    So the upstream providers you've contacted have taken corrective action without proof of their customers being notified of the violation first? What steps does the upstream provider take to ensure the complaint is legitimate? Do they act as the intermediary for the complaint? There are many cases on WHT where the upstream provider has refused to take action against their customers when direct contact has not been attempted first. In fact, there are a handful that require either a successful lawsuit or proof of content ownership via copyright office registration in order to take action. Yes, the moment something is created, copyrights are implied. But proving it is another matter, and the provider is going to tend to side with their customers. There were two threads in the WHT Lounge about this within the past couple weeks, IIRC.

    Just to add to this statement, we caught a company ripping our site in its entirety about six months ago. We contacted the upstream provider, who asked us to show that we made reasonable attempts to contact the company first. We faxed the ofenders a cease and desist and copied the DC on it (GNAX). Luckily, we tend to get paranoid and we digitally embed our name all over our site imagery. When the C&D went unanswered, we showed GNAX that their site had our name written all over it, and that was all they needed to issue a 24 hour ultimatum to the customer. The problem was solved 12 hours later Actually, some guy in Jersey called me and told me he received the fax and wasn't really sure why the offending site (registered to someone in Indonesia) had his fax number on it.
    Last edited by the_pm; 09-26-2006 at 07:25 PM.
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  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    U.S.A.
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    3,928
    Just contact the site and if they dont reply contact the provider. I'm pretty sure they'll take it down for you.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by the_pm
    What steps does the upstream provider take to ensure the complaint is legitimate?
    I have no idea what the web host might have done on its end, either in the way of investigation (which is not required by the DMCA) or in regard to any "intermediation" (also not required by the law).

    I merely filed the legally-required information, and the host merely following the legally-required notification and take-down procedure. It was as simple and straightforward as that. If the plagiariser had wanted to counter-file, there is a process for that. But of course, that never happens....

    I'm sorry to hear that you have encountered problems with hosts that required extra-legal processes and/or documentation of you. I hope you have better luck in the future.

    Eliz.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    Pflugerville, TX
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    11,231
    Quote Originally Posted by stapel
    I'm sorry to hear that you have encountered problems with hosts that required extra-legal processes and/or documentation of you. I hope you have better luck in the future.
    It was hardly a problem - an extra step and a half-day extra wait.
    Studio1337___̴ı̴̴̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡*̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡ ̡̡͡|̲̲̲͡͡͡ ̲▫̲͡ ̲̲̲͡͡π̲̲͡͡ ̲̲͡▫̲̲͡͡ ̲|̡̡̡ ̡ ̴̡ı̴̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡̡.__Web Design

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