Stolen Content - Vengeance

SethH

SethH

New member
Feb 4, 2010
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I normally wouldn't make this kind of post, but I've got an interesting scenario here.

I have a digital product I work with, and while sending some standard DMCA plagiarism takedown notices, I found that someone copied my entire old site, both the images and text, as well as the back end product as well. All he changed was the payment processor.

The reason that I'm at a bit of a loss with what to do though, is a little while ago we redid our entire site and product, so I can't really send a DMCA notice as the content is no longer the same. I'm sending a notice to his payment processor, but my experience with them is that they're pretty much deadbeats.

Based on this I kind of feel like I don't have the standard, above board ways of dealing with this kind of problem (unless you can file DMCA notices for old versions of your site)?

Looking back at my logs, I see that he purchased a copy of my product a few months back. As well, his Whois on the offending domain is unprotected.

So basically, after my research, I've got the following:
Name
Email
Address
Phone Number
Work Address and Phone (he's a realtor)
IP Address (from the log when he purchased)

He's not hotlinking anything, so I can't dickroll him. What would you guys suggest I do in a case like this?
 


jeffrey said:
I'll tell you what I wouldn't do - I wouldn't talk to a lawyer.
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Fair enough. If this was someone who was actually hurting the bottom line, absolutely, I'd go straight to a lawyer. But to be totally honest, the content he copied sucked, and if he's using it, especially with the mangled poorly copied version of the CSS he took, he's not even going to dent market share or earnings. Based on that, I find it really hard to justify paying legal fees in this case
 
Post his URL here. I'm sure we could find some creative things to to do help his SERP's.
 
OP had some content and some code stolen, but it's not hurting his bottom line in any measurable way, so now he is going to hurt his bottom line all my himself by dedicating his time to pursuing a vanity vendetta?

Is that pretty much the score here?
 
IceToEskimos said:
OP had some content and some code stolen, but it's not hurting his bottom line in any measurable way, so now he is going to hurt his bottom line all my himself by dedicating his time to pursuing a vanity vendetta?

Is that pretty much the score here?
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Exactly. Just DMCA the host with links to archive.org images of the old site and be done with it. No reputable host will tolerate it and the offender will move along to easier targets.
 
You absolutely can issue a DCMA notice for old content. If you own the content it's yours to do what you want with it even if what you want to do is no longer share it with the public.

Issue the DCMA to his host and if he doesn't dispute it then down goes the content. If you feel like it sue him in small claims court for damages. He probably won't show up and you'll get a default judgment. Then file a complaint with his payment processor and show them the judgment. If they don't comply hire a lawyer and sue them as well.

Personally, I would just issue the DCMA with the host and be done with it, because the lawsuits aren't really worth my time, but if they're worth yours go for it.
 
Beach Affiliate said:
Exactly. Just DMCA the host with links to archive.org images of the old site and be done with it. No reputable host will tolerate it and the offender will move along to easier targets.
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Thanks, I didn't know archive.org history could be used in a DMCA notice, which was partly why I posted this.

My plan is to send the DMCA notice to his host (godaddy - are they usually good with complying with DMCA notices?) payment processor, as well as a scare email directly.

I kind of wanted a little vengeance on an otherwise dull Sunday as well, but you guys don't seem to interested on that front
 
SethH said:
Thanks, I didn't know archive.org history could be used in a DMCA notice, which was partly why I posted this.

My plan is to send the DMCA notice to his host (godaddy - are they usually good with complying with DMCA notices?) payment processor, as well as a scare email directly.

I kind of wanted a little vengeance on an otherwise dull Sunday as well, but you guys don't seem to interested on that front
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GoDaddy will strip his shit faster than a drink bitch's prom dress. Go for it. Hell, tell them you want the domain too for shits and giggles. 50/50 chance they may actually hand it over - especially if you took the time to trademark and the name of the product is similar to yours.

As far as vengeance, there's better ways to spend your time on a Sunday. Just swipe a DMCA, shoot it out, and be done with it. Pirates gonna pirate.
 
Beach Affiliate said:
GoDaddy will strip his shit faster than a drink bitch's prom dress. Go for it. Hell, tell them you want the domain too for shits and giggles. 50/50 chance they may actually hand it over - especially if you took the time to trademark and the name of the product is similar to yours.

As far as vengeance, there's better ways to spend your time on a Sunday. Just swipe a DMCA, shoot it out, and be done with it. Pirates gonna pirate.
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Good to know. I don't have a trademark, and while the product is identical, the domain names are pretty different, but I'll give it a shot for the domain as well as he's got a decent one I wouldn't mind having for free.

You're probably right about the whole vengeance thing. This one just caught me at a bad time. Today I've already been hit with a DDOS attack that took my sites down for 2 hours, plus found another guy plagiarizing in massive scale on web2.0 sites that means I've got to send out more DMCA and abuse notices than I would ever want to. This is just the one guy where I can actually get at him, even though this issue hasn't hurt my bottom line by anywhere near as much as the other two issues have.

Should I at least get my VAs to call him and set up showings at the houses he has MLS listings out on, like dozens of them, strategically placed to send him a wild chase driving around town all day to meet a bunch of 'motivated buyers' who never show up?
 
SethH said:
Should I at least get my VAs to call him and set up showings at the houses he has MLS listings out on, like dozens of them, strategically placed to send him a wild chase driving around town all day to meet a bunch of 'motivated buyers' who never show up?
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Where is the percentage in this? Retribution should either result in some reparations being made, or present a strong reason for the offending party to think twice about the behavior that led to the retribution in the first place.
 
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