I just posted to my writing blog today about how writers can protect their content. Then, I started spotchecking my e-book to make sure no one was reselling it outside of the rights I granted. I found someone who was. But anyway, more importantly, that search brought me to another site that was a complete rip of one of my newer blogs: My site: www.ChickTech.net Scumball's site: ChicksTech.com Let's just say that did more than rub me the wrong way. I contacted their registrar first, and then them. I'm giving them 48 hours to remove all of my content, and stop associating my name with their porn ads, or I'll deal with taking it further. I know I'll get their content down, so that's not the biggest issue. What really ticked me off is the fact that their whois info is obviously fake. And it made me wonder... how is that even possible??? Isn't that why there's an option for private registrations... so if you don't order it your info is intended to be public??? What the hell would be so hard for enom or other registrars to simply use drop-down options instead of text boxes that allow people to make up their own states?? Why isn't there some kind of simple verification. For goodness sake... if shopping sites can handle making sure you have a legitimate address, registrars sure can! I'm pissed... can you tell? OK. I just had to rant. What do the rest of you do when you find an entire site's been ripped? Jenn
I have personally never had a site ripped, but I a really sorry about this and I hope you get their site taken down and the owners punished. They deserve to be severly punished for that. I hope everything turns out alrite Thanks Mike
I'm sure it will. If I have to go after the domain to get it down, I will. And I'm sure I'll win if it comes to that... I've never let anyone get away with ripping me off, and I certainly don't intend to start now. I have a friend who focuses in contractual / intellectual property law as well, so if it comes down to it, there's someone I trust to deal with it, and if he couldn't I know he'd recommend a firm that could. My big issue is more that they were able to set up false information with the registrar when that could be so easily safe-guarded. That really has me fuming.
I make sure to include links to my site to my blog in my RSS feed. That way if somebody steals my content - I get links to my site. I also make sure I point links to my internal pages... and thus get more links to my site. If their site really bugs you, then I'd try to find out their ISP and contact them. You might also contact ICANN and tell them about the false information (which means their domain might get blocked). I personally focus more on my own site - after all, it's not just the content that matters, it's also how you market it... and 7000 other things.
hey, any updates? Did you get in contact with them or their registar? Keep us up to date im really interested in the outcome of this Thanks Mike
Wow. Did it harm your business in anyway? Like sales, or whatever - not just the poor association with porn ads? If you trademarked your name, you could also get some sort of compensation maybe for ruining your brand? Dunno...im not a lawyer, just an idea id look into!
The association with porn in enough. They seem to be building backlinks more aggressively, so I do worry about them outranking me. Fortunately in the US, there's a commonlaw trademark on first use in business, and if I opted to sue federally, I still have time to do the formal registration. However, I don't believe this is a US-based user by their email address (could be wrong though, but the location in the whois info is definitely fake). If nothing else, if it's not down tomorrow, they'll be invoiced at my standard non-exclusive content rate for any work that they're using ($.35 / word). And if I have to go after any ad revenue they've earned from the use of my content, I'll consider it. Right now, I just want it down, and that'll be the easiest part of it. We'll see how I feel when we get to that point, and whether or not I decide to pursue anything further just for the sake of making a point.
And on another note... I did put links in my posts to my site. However, this creep changed each of those links to corresponding links on their own site.
I did. I also contacted their legal department specifically today, and copied the domain owner on it. I believe Enom's also hosting their site.
hello jhmattern (mam) i read the post - and sorry for what happened, i have a similar issue like this . for which i have tried many things but cant get through. i also need some help regarding this - can u pass me some information if u get any help. my site is http://www.insurance4all.biz which was in my name at time of registration. but later on the host -- www.eurohost.ws --- and esp mark venables -- changes the domain name in his names --when and how i dont know. when i am the owner and i am paying for sites -- why the domain shld be in anyones names. later on when i requested the change of owner ship-- they made a claw on their site and point me to that link-- whic states domain name transfer prohibitied. to add to that -- they have hike the domain name renewal to 15 euro ---- i am paying 9 dollar at go daddy. i have complained but of no help. problem --- they are not returning the site -- add more to that ---the site is still displaying my content -- my original content ---and i have requested them to shut it down --they say the site belong to someone and they are not giving me his information also ----- now whtg a can be dome to remove my content from that site -- i dont want the domains --- but i want my content back --- can anyone help me in this. who to contact --where to contact -- is thger any governing body to check the claws. i have 6 more sites runing on there server abd all are now trasfered to there names... too ad more one of my site was nearign renewal-- on 6th june -and now what they have done is sent me a n invoice for 2 years renewal --- iasked them that i dont want 2 yrs renewal -- iwant 1 year-- now they add up--and said -- we dont offer 1 year renewal we ofer minimum of 2 year wher as 2 months back i renewd 4 of my sites for 1 year -- now tell what to do .. so many claws they are changing daily .. can anyone check on this help me out
Wow! This is unbelievable. I can't believe someone would do this!! I just looked at the site. The worst I've ever had was someone on Craigslist who used to copy and paste my ads word for word! And I thought that was bad. This is awful! How unprofessional and just plain uncouth! Hope you're able to get them to take this down and get some kind of compensation or something. Good luck jhmattern.. keep us updated!
Someone mentioned on my writing forum that I should report them to any ad networks on the site. It looks like the porn ads are privately done (or the owner's sites maybe...). But in the articles they have adsense up. But it's using my adsense id. So I contacted adsense about that at least for now. The last thing I want is my account on a page with porn. I don't know what, if anything, they'd do about it... but better safe than sorry. I'll be hitting enom harder tomorrow if I haven't heard back from legal by that point.
dont bother with email. registrars dont listen to email. cease and desist is much faster, if they are hosting the site. Also ask for user identification data, such as IP, cookies, payment methods. IMHO, I wouldn't go too far as to track the individual down, just take the site down and if it happens again, let all hell loose. butternyk, domains purchased by you must be in your name. you can contact Go Daddy or ICANN with proof of purchase.
i still have the proof --i paid them via paypla and still have details . will that be enough . bcoz under there guideines--they have now mentioned-- domains trasfer prohbitied.. though i own them all
Since their whois information is fake, you can report this to the registrar of the domain. The domain owner can lose his/her domain because of false information.
Once they lose the domain, does it mean we can buy the domain after that? Or will it be freeze for a certain time of period.
Depending on how it goes, I might be pursuing ownership of it. If I'm granted that, it definitely won't be made available again.