Blatant Plagiarism - HTML Forums

webflasher · 06-19-2008, 07:18 PM

I've had people steal an image or pieces of code here or there before, but never so brazen as what I just discovered. I just found a site that so precisely matches a home page of a site I designed for a client that the company favicon logo I put there even shows up in the url line of the offending site! The entire source code of the page was obviously lifted, but amazingly, even the graphics they replaced are designed with about a 99.9% similarity, from visuals to language usage.

Right now, the offending site is simply an index page announcing their upcoming, "official Grand Opening" and visitors can sign up via a form for email alerts. I decided to test it out with a hotmail account, and indeed the form worked through an email marketing service. The email I received reiterated that the store would be opening soon, along with some discount incentives.

The site I designed is for a company with a truly unique product. The offending site is announcing the same offerings, so my concern goes beyond just the obvious plagiarism of their site.

Normally, I would simply contact the offender and tell them to take the content down, but given the degree of plagiarism here, I'm wondering if there should be a more thought out tact in addressing the issue.

I have already taken snapshots of the site designs and source code, and I have gathered all the WHO IS information from the site registrant, as well as gathered additional information from reverse address research. I feel well armed, but where should I go from here?

Horus_Kol · 06-19-2008, 11:09 PM

You might have done the design - but doesn't your client now own it... It is up to them to police any copyright theft of their property - not yours.

However, if you have retained the rights to the design, then yes, proceed by first contacting the site owner's of the offending site (it may be that they are unaware of where the design has come from if they have contracted a designer).

If that gets nowhere, then you are probably going to have to contact a lawyer.

webflasher · 06-20-2008, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Horus_Kol

You might have done the design - but doesn't your client now own it... It is up to them to police any copyright theft of their property - not yours.

However, if you have retained the rights to the design, then yes, proceed by first contacting the site owner's of the offending site (it may be that they are unaware of where the design has come from if they have contracted a designer).

If that gets nowhere, then you are probably going to have to contact a lawyer.

Thanks for your response. I have much more than a passive role in the company, and in fact the client defers to my advice when it comes to this kind of thing. In this case, I am less concerned about my work as with the integrity of the company.

I'll probably do as you say and contact the offender and simply ask them to take it down. But I thought I would throw the situation out there for consumption and feedback, because the infringement may extend beyond the web site design and into the products as well.

Funny thing is that the company owner almost wants to wait and see what they do, and then go after them. I'm not so sure that's a good idea.