I vote for this option too. If you can block their income they will listen. htaccess is a good route to futher shut them out.
Hi The guys over at theoatmeal.com had a similar issue with funnyjunk.com ; you can google it for further info on it . Anyway my advice is to just let it go , these sort of things happen all the time on the internet , and pursuing this issue is really not worth the headache . Instead focus your energy on your site , that will get you places far better than fighting over the internet with sites that copy your material . A small piece of advice is maybe if there are any images you can watermark those with your site name , so when people do copy at least they create publicity for your site . Make sure the watermark is large and cannot be easily cropped out , preferably transparent , and in the middle of the image. Best wishes Omar b