Scraped

Discussion in 'Legal Issues' started by grobar, Jan 7, 2007.

  1. #1
    grobar, Jan 7, 2007 IP
  2. grobar

    grobar Well-Known Member

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    #2

    ....the response from the host:

    "Hello,



    We have been asking the customer for explanation. We will take the decision during 24 hours.



    Regards,

    ALVO Business Solutions, Corp.
    Domain4WM
    "
     
    grobar, Jan 7, 2007 IP
  3. Crazy_Rob

    Crazy_Rob I seen't it!

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    #3
    Wow, I can't believe you got a response. :eek:
     
    Crazy_Rob, Jan 7, 2007 IP
  4. grobar

    grobar Well-Known Member

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    #4
    yeah, i can't beleive it either. BUT, they way they worded the response made it sound like they already have complaints on this domain...so something may have already been rolling
     
    grobar, Jan 7, 2007 IP
  5. grobar

    grobar Well-Known Member

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    #5
    whats even more crazy...is the owner responded with the following:

    Dear Gary

    Sory

    All articles are deleted.


    And more amazing....all articles WERE actually removed! I will certainly be monitoring it for future occurrances
     
    grobar, Jan 7, 2007 IP
  6. sandbox

    sandbox Guest

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    #6
    How did you find out they were scraping your content?

    They must have gotten there wrists smacked! well done
     
    sandbox, Jan 7, 2007 IP
  7. grobar

    grobar Well-Known Member

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    #7
    Thank you. You are probably right about the wrist smacking thing. I contacted the guy first, but as mentioned earlier, the reply I got from their hosting company seemed to insinuate that they were already being investigated. They probably sent the guy a warning letter, which caused him to remove the content that he copied from me.

    The problem is, his whole site/strategy is to scrape sites. I'd imagine that if he does this at an extreme volume, he probably actually makes decent money. (which is sad) He took off my content, but the tens of thousands of other articles he has are still stolen from others. Sad.

    FYI - here is a copy of the "cease and desist" letter that our intern used. (One that is grasciously offered by Builder . com in their "Contracts for every occasion: Cease and desist letter (Copyright infringement)" section.)

    It has come to my attention that you have made an unauthorized use of my copyrighted work under various billiard related titles (the "Work") in the preparation of a work derived therefrom. I have reserved all rights in the Work, which was first published in 2006 on http://www.billiardsforum.info/, and I have registered the copyright.

    You neither asked for nor received permission to use the Work as the basis for the work nor to make or distribute copies of it. Therefore, I believe you have willfully infringed our rights under 17 USC Section 101, et seq. and could be liable for statutory damages as high as $100,000.

    I demand that you immediately cease the use and distribution of all infringing works derived from the Work, and all copies of it, and that you deliver to me all unused, undistributed copies of it, or destroy such copies immediately, and that you desist from this or any other infringement of my rights in the future. If I have not received an affirmative response from you by 1/9/2006 indicating that you have fully complied with these requirements, I shall consider taking the full legal remedies available to rectify this situation.

    Sincerely,

    Billiards Forum Legal Council



    it is probably not the most legally sound notice out there, but sufficed to do the trick.
     
    grobar, Jan 7, 2007 IP
  8. grobar

    grobar Well-Known Member

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    #8
    oh...sorry....you asked how I found out about the scraped content...

    I had an article that discussed a specific technique, and explained two facets of the technique. Apparently I didn't explain one of the facets well enough, and someone contacted me about getting more information.

    Because of this, I googled the specific aspect of the topic subject, and found a "title" and search engine result that looked errily similar to that of my own article. a quick review showed an exact article. When I accessed the guy's "billiard" category, sure enough, it contained all 98 of my own articles.

    I almost smashed my computer screens off my desk with anger.
     
    grobar, Jan 7, 2007 IP
  9. l1tilr

    l1tilr Guest

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    #9
    hi, sorry to piggy back on your topic

    is this scraping or is it something else? i'm not sure what to ask or what is happening.

    this site http://ipodflavor.com/reading-pa.html
    only has my site name listed in the title tag
    it came up in a search for my site name.
     
    l1tilr, Jan 7, 2007 IP
  10. grobar

    grobar Well-Known Member

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    #10
    nah, this guy is just an ebay affilliate. using a feed i think.

    scraping is when a bot just hits your html pages and copies them as is.
     
    grobar, Jan 7, 2007 IP