Ripped Site

[Black Cat]

Here`s the short version, i have been optimising a website for a client since around April time with moderate success so far, all is going to plan until i look a little further into competing websites and low and behold i come across a website that is completely ripping off entire content.

I mean everything from about us page to terms and conditions and even the functionality of the website itself.

I am aware of the duplicate content stance from a ranking factor point of view, however the offending domain was actually registered before the legitimate url (2002) as opposed to the current site (February this Year).

My question is from your experiences if any, will this older domain hold more weight from the aging factor? currently the newer site outranks the offending domain for a number of keywords and phrases.

I am to meet with the client to discuss the options for legal action which is my second question, what actual rights if any other than copyright infringement and intellectual property does my client have?

There is a sting in the tail of this story which i can not currently comment upon, but i will update when the recourse and outcome is more clear.

Thanks in advance

[MeanSEO]

2 words: wayback machine.

Internet Archive: Wayback Machine
(this will prove who had what first)

[Black Cat]

That`s half the battle and it is also how i originated the 2002 registration of the offending domain before looking into it further.

However there is still no archive of the newer legitimate domain.

[sofomor]

Digital Millennium Copyright Act

Thank you

[Loft Conversions]

Wow, nothing more annoying than someone stealing your content, I've had it happen to me so I understand how fustrating it is. The person who was stealing my content was posting it on a blogger blog so it was easy enough to report it and a few weeks later it was removed.

If the offender is using a domain and hosting you can try sending an email to their host, they may decide to cancel the account rather than get involved in copyright issues.

The other thing you can do is make sure that your content is full of links (use absolute links) to pages on your site, then at least you get either a few links out of it, or they have to spend time and effort changing them.

Good luck and I hope you get it sorted out.

[Dubbya]

Don't be too quick to threaten legal action unless you've no other recourse, as it may not be required and often comes off as too heavy handed.

Quite often, companies hire "budget web developers" who think nothing of plagiarism, do the site fast, get paid and hit the road running.

The site owner may be totally unaware that the content, layout and basic design has been "borrowed" from another site and most are quite accommodating when asked to remove it.

I'd say your first course of action would be to contact them via a friendly email, state your case and ask them to remove the copied content.

Make sure they're aware that you'll be filing a DMCA complaint within 48-72 hours. Once they're made aware that their site may be banned from the Search Engines, most site owners are happy to comply.

I've done this several times, even tried calling the company owner once. In most cases, they'd hired some fly by night outfit who'd scammed the company by copying another site. Once the owner was made aware of the situation, they complied immediately.

.02

[Black Cat]

Sofomor, thanks for the link to the DMCA, i was not aware of that page or Chilling Effects, even after all these years i still learn, then again this is the first time i have been in this situation.

Thanks for your suggestions Loft Conversions, they were some of the options we were considering, however as Dubbya has pointed out, my client decided on the direct approach.

As it happens, it all turned out to be an innocent test server which the site admin had forgotten to take down, and in respect of that i will reveal no further details, just to say thanks for your suggestions, once again WPW has been as helpful as ever.

I will return with contributions of my own for those starting out or otherwise, weird weekend over.

Rep given to all those who took time to reply, however Dubbya, it looks like i have given you rep already, gotta spread my love.

[graphyx]

I was reading your posts and replies and I have what may be a dumb question. Exactly what is the DMCA and what is their link. My website is a professional portfolio and I have found many of my images on other web sites, not by people claiming that the work is theirs but being used as background or decorative images with the copyrights removed and used with complete disrespect for the work and for me as a digital artist. I would like to find out more about this option. Thank you.

David Griffith
david@graphyx.com
Graphyx Media Design and Digital Illustration

[Black Cat]

Exactly what is the DMCA and what is their link.

Read more about the DMCA

Link credit to sofomor

[graphyx]

Thank you . . .