[thelist] Site Copycat (Special Circumstances Involved)

[David Bindel]

Hello thelisters,

I know that this topic comes up here every now and then, and it can
sometimes be annoying and get off-topic, but I believe my case is a
little bit out of the ordinary as far as site copying goes, so if you
will, please hear me out (and respond if you have any advice!)

My site (www.DavidBindel.com) has been copied by Kevin Naia
(www.KevinNaia.com), a friend of mine.

At first, I was trying to teach him how to use CSS, and I told him it
would be OK if he used the same general layout from my site and changed
certain aspects of it so it would not look like mine.  I worked with him
some trying to get it looking dissimilar to mine.

Then he decided to copy all the content from my website as well, as you
can clearly see on all the pages of "his" site.  In a few places he has
changed the wording slightly, but from reading most of the text you can
see that it is generally precisely the same.  I've talked to him about
changing all the text on his site to something *original* that he wrote,
but that has worked to no avail.

So what is so unusual about this?  Well, he's 12.  And he knows (next
to) nothing as far as web design/development go.  He has made a single
website for a client (www.greatlakehosting.com), and it is very obvious
that the design was copied from not only my website, but also a design
that I had made to demonstrate to a potential client
(http://customleader.davidbindel.com).

A few people have told me that "imitation is the sincerest form of
flattery", but the big problem is that he does not how CSS or PHP works,
so whenever he gets a new project he comes running to me for help
because he has no idea where to begin.   Then he copies what I have
done, calls it his own, and gets money for it.  He's pretending to be
what he is not, and eventually it will catch him when he is unable to do
what a client has asked for (without my help).

I'm a supermoderator on the Evrsoft Developers Forum, and I posted a
message regarding this at
http://developers.evrsoft.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=10138#post1
0138 (watch for the wrap).

Should I contact his hosting company about this blatant copying of my
work? (we are hosted by the same company)
Should I threaten him with legal action? (just threats, no action - I'm
16 can't afford a lawyer; he's 12)
Should I link to my "fan sites" from my website?
Should I deface his website? ;-)
Should I contact his clients and tell them that their website is
actually a copy?

What else can I do?

Thanks,
David Bindel

-- 
    David I. Bindel
  Website Development
 dbindel at austin.rr.com
  www.davidbindel.com