Copyright Question

bens · Feb 27, 2011

Afternoon all. Looking for a bit of advice....

I have an established directory (.com) which has been running for the last 3 years and currently has over 2,500 active members.

This afternoon, i have been informed about a site with my domain with the .org.uk extension registered 3/2/2011. The site contains most of the text off our site, slightly modified but it's quite clearly ours. Meta tags and Title tags have also been copied.

The domain is registered on the LIVEDOMAINS tag but the domain is pointing to ns1.genelab.co.uk.

I have contacted fasthost and i'm waiting a reply. I have also contacted google to ask them to remove the copied text from their search but i'm unable to find a contact information for genelab.co.uk.

My question is really, is there anything else i should/can do?

Domain available by pm.

Thanks

Alien · Feb 27, 2011

Blimey, that's annoying.

Seems the IP of 174.121.133.226 belongs to genelab.co.uk?

From whois of genelab.co.uk:

Name servers:
ns1.genelab.co.uk 174.121.133.226
ns2.genelab.co.uk 174.121.133.227

Gives IP : 174.121.133.226
Host : sigma.websitewelcome.com

IP : 174.121.133.227
Host : e3.85.79ae.static.theplanet.com
Country : United States

Dunno if that helps, but thought I'd post it anyway.

bens · Feb 27, 2011

thanks.

I did look at this and it seems that theplanet.com have been aquired by softlayer.com. Do you think it's worth contacting them?

Ashton · Feb 27, 2011

DMCA to hosts?

wb · Feb 27, 2011

Does the WHOIS on the copied website domain give any additional information regarding who has registered and owns the website?

Not sure if it helps however the domains below are the only ones I found with the same genelab nameservers and they are all also registered to the same name

qwut/com
gbcns/com
ufology/org/uk

If the details on those matches up with your copied website, then the WHOIS on the .com's will provide you with an email/address/telephone number.

bens · Feb 27, 2011

Ashton said:
DMCA to hosts?

Does anyone have any experience with dmca.com?

Ashton · Feb 27, 2011

bens said:
Does anyone have any experience with dmca.com?

Send your own DMCA, sure there are templates out there. No point using a paid service.

If they are hosted in the UK dmca law doesn't apply here - but the hosts will still pay attention to a DMCA even if they are UK

bens · Feb 27, 2011

wb said:
Does the WHOIS on the copied website domain give any additional information regarding who has registered and owns the website?

Yes. That's the one. The owner seems to use a couple of similar addresses and several different names to register them.

wb · Feb 27, 2011

Getting the host to take it down may just get the website moved elsewhere.

Have you tried making contact directly? There is a telephone number on the WHOIS or alternatively a nice legal letter should do the trick.

bens · Feb 27, 2011

Ashton said:
Send your own DMCA, sure there are templates out there. No point using a paid service.

If they are hosted in the UK dmca law doesn't apply here - but the hosts will still pay attention to a DMCA even if they are UK

Thanks. Link if anyone ever needs one: http://www.getfreelegalforms.com/dmca-notice-to-host/

bens · Feb 27, 2011

wb said:
Getting the host to take it down may just get the website moved elsewhere.

Have you tried making contact directly? There is a telephone number on the WHOIS or alternaitvely a nice legal letter should do the trick.

I've not tried yet but I'll definitely be contacting them via my solicitor tomorrow.

anthony · Feb 27, 2011

There's an address at chriswhitlock .co.uk too.

crabfoot · Feb 28, 2011

This comment is "after the event", but it can help to use the syndication-source and original-source metatags on your site so Google knows the content is yours before someone nicks it.
http://www.google.com/support/news_pub/bin/answer.py?answer=191283

When you have separate pages on a HTML site, the canonical is preferred:
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/02/specify-your-canonical.html

If the burglars don't have such tags installed, get them on your site quickly and Google should downgrade their content as duplicate.