Online content infringement

D

Daniel Postilnik

Junior
Jan 14, 2011
304
1
18
37
San Francisco, CA
Hi guys, I recently got a call from a young fellow (younger than me and I'm 24) asking to rent a DJ system because he was double booked doing homecoming dances. I told him I'd get him a quote, and in the meantime I did some research on his "company."

I found out that he had stolen copy from my website and used it, word-for-word, on his own website without attribution or permission.

Since he's primarily an aspiring DJ and promoter, I extended an offer to him to partner up with me so he can throw bigger and better events without having to invest time or money to get to that point, and at the end of my email I reminded him that he had stolen from my website and I wasn't going to be able to deal with him in any capacity until he changed or removed the offending content.

He hasn't responded to my email (it's been 24 hours or so). According to one friend of mine in law school it's infringement, so he's definitely in the wrong. I sense, however, that if I start to get into issues of legality then this guy's dad will have a friend who is a lawyer etc. etc. etc.... Any advice on what to do next? Thanks.
 
Re: Online content infringement

I didn't when he stole it, but I do now. I think all I would have to do is prove that I posted that content first.

From the wikihow.com article on internet infringement:
"In nearly all jurisdictions, including the United States, and all other Berne Convention signatories, it is not necessary for a work to have an explicit copyright notice for it to be copyrighted.[1] It is also not necessary for copyright in a work to be registered; this simply makes it easier to be compensated in court. Without an explicit dedication to the public domain, assume that it is still under copyright."
 
Re: Online content infringement

before starting any legal action you have to ask yourself a few questions:
1: is the infringement making him money that he otherwise wouldn't have made?
2: is the infringement losing YOU customers or money that would otherwise be yours?
3: is the cost of legal action less than the amount(s) in 1 or 2?
4: if you are successful, what do you hope to achieve? and could it be achieved without feeding the lawyers?

Jason
 
Re: Online content infringement

Jason Lavoie said:
before starting any legal action you have to ask yourself a few questions:
1: is the infringement making him money that he otherwise wouldn't have made?
2: is the infringement losing YOU customers or money that would otherwise be yours?
3: is the cost of legal action less than the amount(s) in 1 or 2?
4: if you are successful, what do you hope to achieve? and could it be achieved without feeding the lawyers?

Jason
Click to expand...

I don't want to take legal action, but I do want a strategy for convincing him to knock it off, even though there is little to no money on the line, just professionalism.
 
Re: Online content infringement

Daniel,
Basically you have taken the right first step.
Cease and desist.

24 hours might be a bit short on time. Especially to change the web site, although he should have answered you by now.
It sounds like you have been cordial. Continue to do so.

If it were an image, the next step would be to invoice him for use of the picture. This usually will make them change, if not pay you.

Speaking of images, you can now drag and drop one of your images into google images, and it will find the closest likenesses on the interwebs. This way, you can find if someone else is using them.

Anyone could do this with text, drop your web text into google and see what comes of it.

Regards, Jack
 
Re: Online content infringement

Also, the way I understand it you are right and Silas is wrong.
It would be easier to be compensated for infringement if you had gone through channels. (Same as with photos.)
But, just putting it out there is itself a copy write, and enough to get him to take it down.
 
Re: Online content infringement

Jack Arnott said:
Also, the way I understand it you are right and Silas is wrong.
It would be easier to be compensated for infringement if you had gone through channels. (Same as with photos.)
But, just putting it out there is itself a copy write, and enough to get him to take it down.
Click to expand...

Disclaimer: don't expect free legal advice from 24-year-old on a random forum to be worth anything. :lol:
 
Re: Online content infringement

Daniel Postilnik said:
Hi guys, I recently got a call from a young fellow (younger than me and I'm 24) asking to rent a DJ system because he was double booked doing homecoming dances. I told him I'd get him a quote, and in the meantime I did some research on his "company."

I found out that he had stolen copy from my website and used it, word-for-word, on his own website without attribution or permission.

Since he's primarily an aspiring DJ and promoter, I extended an offer to him to partner up with me so he can throw bigger and better events without having to invest time or money to get to that point, and at the end of my email I reminded him that he had stolen from my website and I wasn't going to be able to deal with him in any capacity until he changed or removed the offending content.

He hasn't responded to my email (it's been 24 hours or so). According to one friend of mine in law school it's infringement, so he's definitely in the wrong. I sense, however, that if I start to get into issues of legality then this guy's dad will have a friend who is a lawyer etc. etc. etc.... Any advice on what to do next? Thanks.
Click to expand...


I, personally, would have handled this a little differently and less confrontational:

I would also have offered some sort of cooperation in terms of you getting some surplus work from him, etc (can't have too many partners :) ). I would however probably have told him that I noticed that he was using some text from my site, that you think it's a nice compliment, but that you're not comfortable with it as you're worried some people might confuse his business for yours.

That way he could have rectified the problem without having to admit to a potential partner that he's a thief. You probably won't see much business from him. Had he refused or blown you off, THEN I would have gotten into the dialogue you started with.

Best regards and best of luck,

Kristian Johnsen
 
Re: Online content infringement

Daniel Postilnik said:
Hi guys, I recently got a call from a young fellow (younger than me and I'm 24) asking to rent a DJ system because he was double booked doing homecoming dances. I told him I'd get him a quote, and in the meantime I did some research on his "company."

I found out that he had stolen copy from my website and used it, word-for-word, on his own website without attribution or permission.

Since he's primarily an aspiring DJ and promoter, I extended an offer to him to partner up with me so he can throw bigger and better events without having to invest time or money to get to that point, and at the end of my email I reminded him that he had stolen from my website and I wasn't going to be able to deal with him in any capacity until he changed or removed the offending content.

He hasn't responded to my email (it's been 24 hours or so). According to one friend of mine in law school it's infringement, so he's definitely in the wrong. I sense, however, that if I start to get into issues of legality then this guy's dad will have a friend who is a lawyer etc. etc. etc.... Any advice on what to do next? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Email his hosting company about that. I haven't looked into our current host's policies, but Dreamhost had was pretty serious about copyright infringement.

I'd guess that of you shot them an email with some sort of proof that he stole your content, they'd at the very least look into it. Once they are aware that they're hosting copyrighted material, that's their responsibility.

Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer.
 
Re: Online content infringement

kristianjohnsen said:
I, personally, would have handled this a little differently and less confrontational:

I would also have offered some sort of cooperation in terms of you getting some surplus work from him, etc (can't have too many partners :) ). I would however probably have told him that I noticed that he was using some text from my site, that you think it's a nice compliment, but that you're not comfortable with it as you're worried some people might confuse his business for yours.

That way he could have rectified the problem without having to admit to a potential partner that he's a thief. You probably won't see much business from him. Had he refused or blown you off, THEN I would have gotten into the dialogue you started with.
Click to expand...

Kristian,

I agree with you, and I would say that the approach I've taken reflects how much I respect him (very little) and how much of a threat I think he is to my business (not much). It's more a matter of principle to try to prevent someone who was put very little work into their marketing material to use something that I worked hard to develop and perfect.

David, how do I find out who his hosting company is?
 
Re: Online content infringement

try whois

JR

ps: People tend to respond similarly to how you treat them, so I would be inclined to wait until he starts acting like an A__hole before I treated him like one. You may just get bad attitude and behavior that could have been avoided with a lighter touch.
 
Re: Online content infringement

K folks, here's an update. Chat support for the host directed me to their content infringement instructions, which instruct me to send a letter to the host with proof, etc. I think this is worth two hours and 45 cents to put all that together and get it taken care of once and for all. My final concern is that the host will take a conservative (not in the political sense) reading of my infringement claim (comprised of two paragraphs of text - one which is badly plagiarized from my site, and the other which is copied without any changes) and argue that I'm crying over spilled milk. Then again, it's possible that the host is takedown-trigger-happy and doesn't want to get involved in any copyfighting.
 
Re: Online content infringement

Most hosting companies don't even look for the infringement, they accept the take-down notice on it's face. It's up to their user to prove they are in compliance, whether that is the law or not. Hosts don't have the staff to investigate every complaint that gets emailed to them.
 
Re: Online content infringement

They notify the offending party and give them "X" amount of time to comply or appeal, but it's almost unheard of for a provider to examine the alleged offending content prior to notifying the offender.
 
Re: Online content infringement

FINAL UPDATE:

I talked to the guy on the phone (he had not received my email) and upon notifying him of the infringement he apologized, said he would fix it, and explained that "he wasn't so good with typing" and had paid his little brother $50 to make the website. I asked him to disregard my somewhat belligerent/condescending tone in the first email and it seemed like he was interested in talking more about an informal partnership. It's amazing how clear things become when you get the full story! Thanks for everyone's input nonetheless.
 
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