Another related site stole my unique codes/programming

[JayA]

Ok, I had a website developed that used very unique and innovative programming. Scripts were 100% custom and all developed sometime last year, now I go and find my exact programs being used on another website within my niche.

I had customized blog software that allowed for user registration, from there members could use my content and develop their own sports pages' that they could easily share with anyone. To put it short, it's much more than that though.

So, recently I found the same setup, same coding being used on another site that seems to have kicked off just last month.

I'm hoping there's something I can do for this guy stealing my ideas and coding, or is that simply the way of the internet? I am so mad to see people stealing my ideas, is there anyway I could put an end to it?

How feasible is it to trademark/patten online material?

 

[Damion]

What Do You Do When Someone Steals Your Content

Here is some useful information describing what actions can or should be applied to protect your hard work.

Good luck!

P.S. @Namepros staff - This link should be put in a separate thread and stickied :imho:

 

[Ronald Regging]

Ideas are not protected, unless you have a patent on them. And I dont see how someone could steal your coding, because they just wouldn't have access to the backend code.

If it looks exactly the same, maybe the person you hired to code it has been reselling it? And depending on your contract, he may be perfectly entitled to do so. People copy ideas all the time, and sometimes your "original" idea isn't as original as you think. Its probably a little of both.

Obviously you haven't given enough details or shown examples, so its really hard to tell, but unless you can prove that they have directly stolen your images, content, or the EXACT code that you are using, you really have zero options. Even if they have stolen something, your options may be fairly limited, but I'd look at the link Damion posted.