Member Avatar for psyphi

While perusing my server logs and checking out some of the sites that I'm receiving traffic from I came upon a site that, to my shock and horror, had completely ripped off my website.

It is an exact duplicate, only they have replaced my site name with theirs in the header logo.

My site is and the offending site is .

I haven't taken any action as of yet, but I will be very soon. My site took years to develop and is very unique. I'm not letting some goof simply copy the whole thing and slap it up onto their website.

I'll be sending them some sort of "cease and decist" email, but I don't expect that I'll receive any response.

If anyone else here has had any experience with this sort of thing, I would appreciate any advice that you have to give.

This is just so annoying, I have other things to do with my time than fart around with an idiot like this. :icon_frown:

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by roryt

Dani AI

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Nice catch, — finding a sham site in your referrer logs is exactly how a lot of copycats get caught. Below is a concise, practical checklist that fills gaps in the thread (what to preserve, how to make a compliant takedown, and what to expect next). It follows the DMCA notice-and-counternotice framework used in the U.S. and points to defensible ways to preserve proof before anything disappears.

Preserve everything immediately: make an immutable copy of your server logs, save raw HTML and all assets (images/CSS) for the copied pages, and take full‑page screenshots (desktop + mobile). Use the Internet Archive’s Save Page Now to create an on‑demand snapshot, and capture the domain/registrar details (RDAP/WHOIS) so you have registration dates and registrar info. These captures make the timeline and the exact content clear if you need to escalate. (archivesupport.zendesk.com)

When you’re ready to demand removal, send a properly formatted takedown (a DMCA notice in the U.S.). A compliant notice must identify the copyrighted work, identify the infringing material (specific URLs), give your contact info, include a statement of good‑faith belief, include a statement under penalty of perjury that you’re the owner or authorized agent, and carry your signature. Use the Copyright Office sample notice and send it to the site’s designated DMCA agent (and keep copies). Don’t overstate facts — false or reckless claims can create liability. (copyright.gov)

What to expect and next steps: hosts that receive a compliant notice should act expeditiously and notify the uploader; the uploader may file a counter‑notice, and if they do the host can restore content in 10–14 business days unless you file suit. If the problem is a domain/trademark issue rather than content copying, administrative remedies (UDRP/URS) are alternatives to court. If you plan to sue for damages later, register U.S. copyrights first. For practical follow‑ups: monitor search indexes, save any new copies you find, and involve an attorney only if you need a subpoena or court action. (copyright.gov)

This is essentially the route and suggested (host/registrar), plus ’s advice to keep watching search results. The procedure above makes your case clean, quick to act on, and defensible should the other side contest it.

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Member Avatar for joshSCH

Hmm.. wrong forum to post in, I would suggest a mod move this to the "Web development" forum.

To the poster: I have actually seen websites that are almost the exact same.. I always wondered how people could get away with that, and how copyright laws were enforced online..

Member Avatar for stymiee

If their webhost is located in the US send a DMCA notice to them and have the entire website removed.

Member Avatar for John A

Seems like they're using godaddy for their domain hosting service. You can always fire off a message to and see what happens.

While it won't eliminate the problem, it will make the site inaccessible for a period of time.

Member Avatar for psyphi

OK, sent out the email to them:

June 6, 2007

James Hubbs

Adkoro Inc
Qiu GuiZhi

URGENT

Dear Sirs,

Re: Copyright Infringement

It has come to my attention that you are copying entire pages from my website at www.magatopia.com and publishing them on your own website, in direct breach of my rights under International Copyright Law.

You have 24 hours to Remove the offending pages and confirm by email to the address at the head of this letter that you have complied and will not repeat this infringement.

Failing this, I will be taking immediate further action against you.

This is my final communication to you on this matter, and I look forward to hearing from you as a matter of urgency.

Sincerely,
James Hubbs

I have actually seen websites that are almost the exact same.. I always wondered how people could get away with that, and how copyright laws were enforced online..

Me too. Looks like I'm going to learn the hard way.

If their webhost is located in the US send a DMCA notice to them and have the entire website removed.

You can always fire off a message to and see what happens.

If they don't comply by tomorrow that's what I'll do. And also to their registrar, enom.

Member Avatar for jbennet

good i hate how people do that. i make CSS templates, and i offer them for free. The only things that I ask for my email to be at the bottom or that i otherwise get some mention, yet there are always people who blatantly steal my layouts and sell them for cash / use them with the notice removed

Member Avatar for Fungus1487

those people are called the "wannabe" coders who dont wish to put in the time to learn the subject themselves.

Member Avatar for psyphi

Well they responded to my email:

Because of error, made duplicate your website, I had already given up all contentses

I reeeeaaaalllyyyy don't like being lied to. And this guy just lied to me twice in two sentences. "Because of error" Right. He accidentally copied every page of my site. And reworked the logo to say his website name. Plus, "I had already given up contentses" No you didn't, not until I emailed you demanding you did. :icon_rolleyes:

So, they took down the pirated content at seecase.com. But, just the index.html. The rest of the pages are still up.

So I sent them another email:

I see that you have replaced the main page. However, the rest of my site is still duplicated on your site.



etc....

You still have hundreds of the duplicated pages up on your site. If ALL of these aren't removed IMMEDIATELY I will be forced to take further action.

James Hubbs

I might be too lenient in sending this second email instead of just contacting his host and registrar. But if he hasn't removed every last shred of copyrighted material from his server by tomorrow I certainly will be.

Member Avatar for joshSCH

Good for you, man. Take 'em down tomorrow if they haven't complied.

Member Avatar for MattEvans

it does seem a bit leniant to give another chance after giving a 24 hour cease and desist warning already.. if he doesn't remove the hidden hiearchy as it can be accessed via HTTP, definately go forward with further legal/ISP/registrar action; if he does remove it, you might have difficulty finding out if he's put it up elswhere on another domain, seeing as he wont need to connect to your server to get the pages this time... i'd advise regular searches on google for the next few months for blocks of your copyrighted text, i know that's probably an uneccessary hassle, but at least (s)he wont ever be able to host your pages on a site and have it google indexed.

Member Avatar for joshSCH

haha.. the goal of google is to index everything, and trash what cannot be indexed :) which is good for you, bad for the hack

Member Avatar for stymiee

I'd send the DMCA request now. It will take them a day or two to comply anyways.

Member Avatar for psyphi

Well, it appears that they have complied and taken down the pages. I'm almost disappointed that I can't go through the whole process of getting their accounts suspended, etc.

But, now I can spend my time at other, more productive, pursuits. Like the complete re-design of my site that I'm working on. Kind of ironic that the pages being stolen were going to change anyway.

Of course even after the re-design, the old pages won't be any less copyrighted. I'll be watching out for those guys in case they decide to try to put the pirated pages back up again.

Here are a few links to resources I found useful in researching what to do in this situation:

http://www.whois.sc/
http://copyscape.com/
http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/legal_agreements/show_doc.asp?pageid=TRADMARK_COPY
http://www.enom.com/terms/copyright_policy.asp

Member Avatar for roryt

I congratulate you on your efforts. Do you know how long it had been up their?

Member Avatar for psyphi

I congratulate you on your efforts. Do you know how long it had been up their?

I don't know how long they had the pages up, but it was no longer than a month and a half as that is when they registered the domain name.

Member Avatar for roryt

how on earth did you actually find it?

Member Avatar for psyphi

how on earth did you actually find it?

Their site showed up as a referrer in my logs. They either left a link to one of my pages, or were leaching images.

Member Avatar for roryt

Well spotted. I'm glad you managed to sort it

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