Someone copied my site, and used a similar domain.

These people deliberately took my site template, and copied my forum boards exactly.

Check my site: www.ptctalk.com

The thief site: www dot talkptc dot com
(Sorry to be a pain but a link on DP is hella good and he doesnt deserve one!)

I bought the template from templatemonster.com.
I contacted them about it, but I don't think they are going to do anything.

What can I do?

 

wow~ you got a tough one in your hands O.O

 

I would say (and I'm not trying to be mean) not to much you can do.
You can pay a lawyer to look at the case, his time for research and if you have nothing, unfortunately you will have a bill from an attorney for his time.

Try to ignore it and welcome to the internet.

 

Can anyone with experience in this help me out with my question?
No offense, but the answers I have gotten have been far from helpful.

 

their look darker than yours and less content. Maybe you can state in your site that 'beware the copied site that look similar to us'

 

Well im not very experianced but have you tried to get in contact with thier hosting. Im sure if you can prove to them that they have copied your content they will immediately be shut down.

 

you can email their hosting company, which is namecheap.com at and inform them of the theft and they might shut it down due to copyrighting your material...

just an idea...

 

lol what a guy, he didnt even bother changing the name

 

Most hosts, including namecheap, will require you to file a DMCA complaint in the proper format. It's not that hard, you can use google to find a sample template. Make sure you understand what the notice is asking for, you must give specific examples of the content (like exact posts, or your text) that they stole - if you get his site shut down, and it wasn't copyright infringement under the law - you can be sued for a lot of money. Since you bought the template, are you sure they didn't purchase the same template?

Don't file an objection regarding the domain name being similar - that's not copyright infringement. There is a sticky on this forum which can give you a good idea of what copyrights cover.

You can also send the DMCA to google - which will remove the site from their index if it is indeed infringement.

 

I fully agree with you.

 

I don't think you are able to do much about it, you bought the template, what's to say he never too. The content is probably your strongest ground to stand on, but not very strong. Contact his host and see if they shut him down, or if you are serious about it, speak to a lawyer.

 

Too close to be identical.. The best thing you can do is contact some major search engines and state the fact that your site has been copied illegally (infringement).. They will know whether your statement is credible and if they found out that you're telling the truth then probably SE will remove the pseudo site soon.

 

...

I missed this part... hmmm.. Did you buy the template with Unique Rights? if no, Then you have nothing to throw against the guy not unless he got the same content as yours.. lols...

and also your domain is not a brand name like "google"..

 

Hmmmm... even to me it looks like a lost cause. Not much you can do unless you intend to take this too seriously and spend a hell lot of time and effort in reaching out to the DMCA and the SE's.

 

how do we know you didnt copy his site?

 

you must fell terribly

 

LoL why do I get the feeling you are the owner?
Look at the registration date of his (your) domain.

 

His meta keywords have my site name in them, and are in the same order as my site's.

 

Just send a DMCA notice to his host and send an email to google as well to ban his ass.

 

You aren't going to have any luck with the meta tag as you don't have a registered trademark. DMCA only deals with copyright infringement - and that doesn't qualify. You don't want to spend tens of thousands of dollars on legal fees trying to claim infringement.

Unless he copied actual posts from your forum, there really isn't anything you can do. You're better off spending the time promoting your site.