Someone has completely copied my site, I found it as they are still hotlinking to some images. Having done a tracert the site is hosted in the UK so when I sent a dmca notice to the host they failed to respond. This was sent 72 hours ago, so presumably I should have received a reply by now. Having sent a copy to the hosts provider (where they order the dedicated server from) their reply was "Please be aware that as this constitutes a civil matter, which has yet to be resolved, we are not able to get involved at this stage." Where do I take it from here? Thxs Mark
may be this is just terrible horrible bad luck to you, because a DMCA is US and NO way EU law and practice. in addition in USA you can sue a host for xx millions or more. in EU / (uk) such lawsuits are xxx $ or less ... a US based host would most likely close that site within less than 24 hrs for fear of being sued if a case is clear. for a case being clear of course YOU always have to PROVE to have had that content FIRST. I now from many in this forum that they exclude / deny access to ia_archiver - bot and later may have NO official records in web.archive.org as a possible proof of earlier ownership of THAT particular content. keep in mind that in EU law is different from US - all over the world law is totally different from US law and all you can do is to file another DMCA with Google and if successful then with other major SE IF others also follow common US-based DMCA procedures to have the listings of that site removed from Google search results. it seems that Google does that frequently since recent months or so. just look at the bottom section of SE results there are a growing number of notes published with results being removed as a result of a filed DMCA. Besides that there is little you can do - unless a UK forum member knows a solution. if ever you complain to host - be sure it IS T H E host and never a reseller !! always go TOP in the chain of command. i had in recent weeks 3 sites shut down for copyright infringement / hotlinking. without formal DMCA - but with plenty of hard evidence of ownership of all stolen material. as a last resort find out who the TOP owner of the datacenter is - since most hosting own only a few servers or sub-accounts on servers - and repeat with ALL solid hard evidence, hotlinking evidence like detailed log file lines, web.archive.org screenshots and links, original graphic files and photo files with exif data, etc. the mountain of hard evidence must be HUGE - then may be you have a chance but only if you directly address your complaint to someone who has LOT to LOOSE !! a small reseller host has nothing to lose, he moves his few accounts to another server farm and restarts all over again. be friendly BUT clear, precise and provide an avalanche of FACTS. find G search results FIRST to see if that one is a real threat to your own business by having top positions in same niche/keywords and thus takes away business from you. if you still get pics hotlinked - REPLACE the hotlinked pics with a legal notice instead of just blocking the pic hotlinking, that might turn away site visitors and have a more serious impression on the site owner. be tough but legal, human and fair!
if you really want to get nasty, rename the images your using on your site and replace the old named images with questionable pics, something the offending sites visitors will find offensive.
good idea sawz and then you could report them to the host again mabye if you keep on at the host they will eventually do somehting..
Send them some bullshit letter from a made up lawyer. I remember my hosting company made me remove simple text references to a company because their lawyers wrote them about it.
As you said it is a UK host, there's little you can do without going to court. Even still, you've gotta come over to UK to do that. A UK host is not responsible for copied content, and they can't be sued for it, and as hans said go to the "top owner of the datacentre"?.. owner... being the company who owns the building etc..? No chance, web hosts rent/buy an area of their datacentre, which means that the web host is the owner of that datasuite and take full responsibility. Sorry mate! Just do what sawz says, or if you have the guys email, see how scary/threatening your letters can get