Somebody is trying to steal my design and site idea

[Erdy]

Here is a video explaining: http://www.vimeo.com/12662107

Copy of my website:
1. screenshot: http://i47.tinypic.com/2d1joes.gif
2. copycat website: http://domaindocking.com/
3. developers site: studio4dev.com

I'm the owner and designer of namecatch.com. I have spend many sleepless nights working on this site for weeks and I still continue improving it. I worked on every aspect of the site to create a better user experience. I created all graphics, even very little things myself. Now those guys came and they are stealing my design and concept.

Registrant:
Alan Donovan
1200 University Ave
Palo Alto, California 94301
United States

Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (Domain Names, Web Hosting and SSL Certificates - Go Daddy)
Domain Name: DOMAINDOCKING.COM
Created on: 19-Mar-06
Expires on: 19-Mar-11
Last Updated on: 06-Jun-10

Administrative Contact:
Donovan, Alan [email protected]
1200 University Ave
Palo Alto, California 94301
United States
+1.8888206292

Technical Contact:
Donovan, Alan [email protected]
1200 University Ave
Palo Alto, California 94301
United States
+1.8888206292

Domain servers in listed order:
DNS.HOSTONY.COM
DNS.HOSTONY.ORG

I'm super annoyed by these guys.
Erdinc

---------- Post added at 11:24 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:06 AM ----------

The "bid" links on the developer site redirect to UpName Domain Search
http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/1572/26441003.gif
Domain Docking

They are actually pulling the data from our site because they made thousands of searches during the last 2 weeks. Then they add one extra column "Pagerank & inlinks" to our results.

---------- Post added at 12:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:24 AM ----------

If anybody is offering domaindocking.com for sale, don't buy it. That site is a fake. It doesn't have a functional database. It gets search results from my website. We will fix this and it will stop working.

It also seems to get some data from upname.com.

 

[Spade]

Yah, thats definitely a lame move. I think your best course of action is to simply ban their IP from accessing your site. I would also send over a C&D. Im not sure you stand much legal ground, but it may scare them enough to straighten their site up.

 

[enlytend]

File a DMCA complaint with their hosting company. And their domain registrar.

Good luck!

 

[amoeba]

Detect their IP address and feed them bogus data.

 

[Kate]

File a DMCA complaint with their hosting company. And their domain registrar.

Ditto. That should do the trick.

Detect their IP address and feed them bogus data.

Yes, have fun with it.

 

[Erdy]

After DMCA notice to the hosting provider along with screenshots of server logs showing over 4000 file requests from the two infringing websites in question, they have taken down the domaindocking.com website.

After legal notice to the developer, the development version on the freelancer's website studio4dev.com has been taken down.

It looks like the domaindocking.com was not pulling search results from my site but they were getting those from upname.com.

They downloaded my code, the home page, my CSS file, and my images. Inside they code they didn't even bother cleaning up my site name. I've send a friendly letter to the site owner. I hope he will take it seriously and won't repeat it. He did not respond to my emails. The owner was a young person, also a domainer.

http://i50.tinypic.com/nd96z6.gif
http://i45.tinypic.com/eh0kk1.gif
http://i49.tinypic.com/2dcc2lx.gif
http://i47.tinypic.com/2d1joes.gif
http://i47.tinypic.com/6rhel5.gif

By the way, a 'DMCA Takedown Notice' along with some evidence to the hosting provider and if needed to the domain registrar, is definitely the way to go in these matters. However, to the infringing website instead a DMCA, a cease and desists letter should be send.

Thank you for useful information and support in this thread.

Erdinc

 

[enlytend]

Glad it worked out for you - hopefully the other person has learned a lesson.

 

[Erdy]

Yesterday the site was taken down by host. Now it is back up again.

Domain Docking

Inside the code view you can still see our site name. What should I do now against this guy?

I know who this person is in real life. Also the developer who was hired to do the job is cooperating with me. What is the next step?

 

[lothos]

Yesterday the site was taken down by host. Now it is back up again.

Domain Docking

Inside the code view you can still see our site name. What should I do now against this guy?

I know who this person is in real life. Also the developer who was hired to do the job is cooperating with me. What is the next step?

DMCA is an American law, and the hosting company is not American.

Send notice to Godaddy, they'll pull it for sure.

 

[Erdy]

I recorded a video:
site rip off on Vimeo

I can't believe the replica site domaindocking.com is up again after it was taken down by host.

 

[Kate]

Is this still the same webhost ?

 

[Erdy]

Yes it is still the same host. I checked whois on the registrar. The nameservers are still the same DNS.HOSTONY.COM

This hosting company has taken down the site yesterday. I had posted them this screenshot: http://i50.tinypic.com/nd96z6.gif as a proof that files were downloaded from us.

Now today, that particular code is removed and the site is up again. Removing the link doesn't change the fact that my html, css and image files and my code was downloaded and is used now. It is my design they have on their site.

I live in the UK, the host is a UK host, the person copying my site lives in the US. Do I have to file a lawsuit in the US? In case the site is taken down later on I would like get this documented. I'm already taking screenshots and video. Is there a way to get this documented officially?

I also have server logs and the freelance developers emails about what happened who was hired to do the job.

What is the next step?

---------- Post added at 10:43 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:51 AM ----------

The replica site Account Suspended is now taken down for the second time by the host.
Yesterday it was taken down and went up again after a few hours.

This guy is just asking to get his ass sued.

 

[enlytend]

Did you file a DMCA with Godaddy? They're usually very responsive to complaints. If nobody's taking this seriously, then time to lawyer up.

Of course, if this person's determined to be a ********, they could just keep putting the site up on different domains and hosts. Lawsuits are a pain in the *** but it sounds like you're in a good position to teach them a lesson.

BTW, I see they're hotlinking your ajax loader image with the full pathname - can you rename that image on your own site and serve up some different image just for them ?

 

[Erdy]

Hi enlytend,

The domaindocking.com site has been taken down now for the second time by the host and is down at the moment.

I already filed a DMCA with Godaddy a few hours before the site was taken down by the host. Probably godaddy will check it and see the site is down. I don't know if they would still go ahead and cancel the domain.

Somebody commented here about DMCA being for the US only. Is this correct? Should DMCA be not mentioned when you file elsewhere?

 

[enlytend]

Somebody commented here about DMCA being for the US only. Is this correct? Should DMCA be not mentioned when you file elsewhere?

It's a US copyright law - I believe so, but I could be mistaken.

 

[Spade]

Erdinc,

Has the owner responded to your email? Perhaps a friendly phone conversation at this point would "cut" the tension? Things seem to be much more real for people when an actual voice is on the other end of a phone and not just an email from cyberspace.

 

[Erdy]

I have send him 3 emails and he didn't respond to any.

After the site was taken down by the host I have send him a legal notice with all the details and explicitly told not to repeat the offence. A few hours later he put the site up again. He is not the most reasonable person I've come across during the last few days.

He used this freelancer page to outsource the job to somebody:
Freelancer.com - Web Page to display sortable results from table with filters | AJAX | Javascript | PHP
I'm now contacting freelancer.com as well about the situation.

---------- Post added at 03:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:20 PM ----------

The site is back again:
Domain Docking

 

[synapsis]

For what its worth Erdinc, I think your idea is great and its unfortunate that your going to run across garbage like this. Perhaps you should fix the problem as quick as possible as it will render what he's doing useless.

 

[Erdy]

The site is taken down again for the third time.

---------- Post added at 04:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:45 PM ----------

Can somebody tell me if I need to file charges in the US or UK?

I'm in the UK. The host is in the UK and the site owner is in the US.

---------- Post added at 05:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:47 PM ----------

I was just received an email from the host. They are annoying. They say they have let the site up again because the owner told them he removed the infringing material.

 

[amoeba]

My recommendation is to try your best to block their site by technical means, before resorting to legal action. Can you block their IP address (or netblock) from accessing your site, for example?

Edit: sorry, I didn't fully understand the situation.