[thelist] Site Copycat (Special Circumstances Involved)

Bob Haroche spambait at onpointsolutions.com
Fri Jun 20 19:32:32 CDT 2003


David Bindel wrote:

> AFAIK, his customers have no idea that I am involved in the
> creation of their sites.  Would it be a good idea to email them?

It all depends -- is the hassle of fighting this battle worth it to
you in the long run? If you stop collaborating with this guy, and he
ceases to pass off your stuff as his own, does it still matter? Only
you can answer that question.

If the answer is yes, though, then I would contact the site owners.
Technically they are infringing your intelluctual property rights even
if they didn't instruct their designer to steal your work. You could
write them (by letter, not email) and politely but firmly point out
that their design (and copy?) were taken from your work. Provide URL's
for detailed comparisons. Unless you know the owners knowingly
participated in the copying, there's no need to accuse them of
wrongdoing in so many words. You can take the high road and say you
assume they didn't know, but now that they do you any of the
following: (1) their site removed, (2) compensation for a license to
use your copyrighted design, (3) a credit link back to /your/ site,
(4) something else.

You may or may not get any satisfaction from the site owner but you
could reasonably expect the owner to call up the designer with a WTF
type of question. Might be just the right sort of comeuppance and
lesson the other designer needs.


-------------
Regards,
Bob Haroche
O n P o i n t  S o l u t i o n s
www.OnPointSolutions.com




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