@jhmattern: Thanks for your answer, I have contacted BlueHost and they are not going to do anything. @habs4life: Yes, I'm going to ask to a lawyer next week, I have full proof of my work and emails. Thank you all for your answers.
What you said before is that you contacted them asking for login info so you could take it down. Of course they're not going to give you that. What you have to do is send a formal DMCA takedown notice, sending proof that you designed the material and still own the rights (not paid for). Then they tell the client to take it down (and if the client doesn't, they suspend their hosting account). That's the fastest way to get a result, but just emailing them or calling them won't cut it. You need to send the formal notice. Check their site to see their policies for whether they'll take the notice digitally or only via snail mail, and what they want you to include.
Do you have any chat transcript or email. You can use this as evidence and report it to bluehost upstream. So that they will shut the website down.
If you can't get any help from Bluehost you might want to contact the registrar they used for their domain name. GoDaddy might shut down their DNS if you send them a copy of the DMCA notice, they always seem to jump the gun.
next time you must do some precautions preventive action. Ask for MOU, ask for down payment, ask for id scanned or you may use escrow account.
@dnsg: The domain is Chilean, nic.cl is not going to shut down a chilean website. @jhmattern: I will seriously consider your suggestion, but I am not shure if I'm going to get anything. I'm going to contact a lawyer next week and see If something can be done. Thank you.
I hate what it has done to your overall feelings of trust. What has happened to the other party? Also, there HAS to be some sort of agreement, otherwise - how did you know what to do? Yes, report this to the scam sites! Sorry if too personal of questions, just curious about this.
No, but that's why you have to figure out who their site depends on that is under US jurisdiction. Bluehost is your easiest bet. If you can document that the material is stolen (that is, you created it and were not paid for it as per agreement) then you can file a DMCA complaint as others have suggested. It doesn't matter if the domain name and the company are in Chile.
Actually you still are entitled to money a verbal contract holds true in many cases if you can prove that you did do the work you may have a case. Of course your probably talking about lawyers, court dates etc. Do you have copies of your work to prove it. What was there site just curious, to see what kind of site it is. Yes you might go through alot of effort and still lose your case so it probably isnt worth fighting but If their site was just a site for advertising I would copy "your" site that you made put it on your server and beat them in the rankings. Disclaimer Of course my thoughts are only thoughts and should not be used, you should consult an attorney. Good Luck
It is hard to understand that you worked for somebody for 8 months without any pay? You should have been receiving partial payments as the work went along. That is how the business is done involving long project schedules. Try to be little more wiser in the future...mate. Regards, RightMan
It's happened once or twice to me, never again, now I nearly always get full payment up front, don't pay up front, don't get the service, simple. I won't fall for doing work in advance again, without getting paid for at least 75% bare rock bottom minimum first. If they're not happy with that, they can go elsewhere. If it means I lose a few potential clients, then so be it. That situation isn't going to happen again to me, I don't like to be taken for a fool. Therein, is some good advice for you too, do the same and you won't get burn't like this. It's a shame I know but it's just the way it has to be these days, you just can't chance pouring days, if not weeks of work down the drain like that and not get your reward, your rightful payment.
I agree with you but our member did not had any agreements with this company. Also, how he will prove that he hold the copyright of the design.
It's a shame when a few people make you have to distrust everyone. I also have done much work without money up front but have been luck enough to have been paid always. It will come back to him someday.
But what's the point in doing that? He will not get the money whatsoever and how people will come to know that the design is not unique?
If you don't resolve your problem with the legal side, try opening a site like "XXXX company is a scam! Totally unreliable employers didn't pay me for my work! don't work with them" and threaten them and try to bring them down on the search engines using blackhat means.
If they had so much as email conversations about the project (and they had to have something then there was an agreement that's not too difficult to prove). As for copyright, they own it from the moment of creation. Having the original files like .psds (when the client does not - which is a logical assumption given that he had access to do the uploads himself) in addition to those email / IM conversations should be enough to prove the case.