people claiming downloaded styles as their own [Archive]

vbcustomized

01-04-2009, 10:56 PM

I think you should give the guy a call seeing as his number is freely available on the site. Or maybe I will and record it for your listening pleasure :D

lmao, thats pretty funny.

It actually isnt a big deal, there is always a few that will do something like that, the majority keep it intact. My guess is its someone that downloaded it from themesbase.com, not here

djxcee

01-04-2009, 11:38 PM

Sad to hear.
Hope you are able to do something about it.

domainmagick

01-04-2009, 11:40 PM

definitely contact them. you never know how they came into posession of the software, could be they really do think its free (doubtful but possible) iow maybe thats how they received it and have no idea your (c) is missing (doubtful but possible) :)

just send off an email and say hey i noticed youre using my new theme, glad to see you like it, but ummm my (c) is missing ;) kind of msg. and see what happens,...

btw - theme looks very nice, keep up the good work.

SEOvB

01-04-2009, 11:44 PM

If you've got it in your TOS/AUP/User Agreement for using the style, send the webmaster a friendly email letting them know they are infracting your copyright and kindly ask them to restore the copyright within X days.

Send your copyright code and even instructions for restoring it in the email, and possible consequences if they don't restore it.

If they don't comply, send a DMCA notice to the hosting company

vbcustomized

01-05-2009, 12:16 AM

Shelley_c

01-05-2009, 02:24 AM

It's quite amazing what lengths people will go to steal and/or even claim stuff as their own even when you provide them for free. Some people were just brought up to steal, and, expect everything on a plate. Normally, these kind of people have trouble even with the simple tasks like wiping their own backsides and still have their guardians do it for them. Just haven't got time for people who steal or lie, there's no reasoning with them.

As FRDS advised. Send a DMCA notice to the hosting company which may have the desired results your looking for or atleast contact the guys ISP though filing the DMCA notice should do the trick.

Brandon Sheley

01-05-2009, 02:35 AM

I would try the email to that forum owner first. In my experience this will usually get your link back in place and an apology by the thief.

vbcustomized

01-05-2009, 03:05 AM

Loco and shelley,

I actually did both, contacted the host provider and sent an email to the domain owner, Still no responce from either. Its been about two hours.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

TimberFloorAu

01-05-2009, 03:51 AM

You also could join and contact all 3 members LOL

Nice style dude !

SEOvB

01-05-2009, 03:55 AM

Thank you everyone for your suggestions.

It is possible that they downloaded the style from someone that has removed the license file.

I have emailed the website owner and hosting provider about the issue.

Now I will wait and see what happens.

Your welcome,

It is possible they've done that, however that still doesn't mean they can use it without the original copyright. One of the reasons you should always send a friendly email first.

Most hosts won't respond to DMCA complaints unless you've used a DMCA complaint form that meets the requirements. A good free one that usually works is here: http://www.tareeinternet.com/dmca/DMCA-ISP.doc

You can also send DMCA notices to major search engines which don't take lightly with such things and have their sites compeletly removed from search results. Heres an example for a Google DMCA complaint: http://www.tareeinternet.com/dmca/DMCA-Google.doc

At any rate, good luck with getting your credits back

Shelley_c

01-05-2009, 04:00 AM

You also could join and contact all 3 members LOL

Nice style dude !

The 3 members are likely to be the same 1 person. The admin account and the member OwaisG have the same telephone/e-mail. With OwaisG having it in his signature and the forum having it resided in the footer. The 3rd account is from the same area looking in the profile so chances are the 3 accounts were created by the same person, the forum owner.

vbcustomized

01-05-2009, 04:02 AM

You also could join and contact all 3 members LOL

Nice style dude !

Lmao, wait till the domain owner looks at his site stats and sees that 90% of his traffic is coming fom this thread.

TimberFloorAu

01-05-2009, 04:05 AM

The 3 members are likely to be the same 1 person. The admin account and the member OwaisG have the same telephone/e-mail. With OwaisG having it in his signature and the forum having it resided in the footer. The 3rd account is from the same area looking in the profile so chances are the 3 accounts were created by the same person, the forum owner.

Mad huh !

DMCA is the only way to go, however.. in our experience, outside of USA, it is a nightmare to try and invoke.
A better aproach is the HOST.

The way we have got sites to bring themselves into line, is by threatening the host.

Insofaras, filing a dmca, copying the infringing domain, also naming the host as being notified. If the offending site doesnt sort itself out, within x amount of days, and the host doesnt make the site owner do it, then you will be holding the host responsible for condoning copyright infringement activity, and not acting upon it.

Ste

vbcustomized

01-05-2009, 04:06 AM

Your welcome,

It is possible they've done that, however that still doesn't mean they can use it without the original copyright. One of the reasons you should always send a friendly email first.

Most hosts won't respond to DMCA complaints unless you've used a DMCA complaint form that meets the requirements. A good free one that usually works is here: http://www.tareeinternet.com/dmca/DMCA-ISP.doc

You can also send DMCA notices to major search engines which don't take lightly with such things and have their sites compeletly removed from search results. Heres an example for a Google DMCA complaint: http://www.tareeinternet.com/dmca/DMCA-Google.doc

At any rate, good luck with getting your credits back

Thank you FRDS, good to know. The email I sent was not a dmca but I will consider sending one if it becomes necessary.

Thanks for the link.

Shelley_c

01-05-2009, 04:08 AM

A little crazy. What in hell is lollywood songs? *googles*

I'm guessing a group of people singing whilst sucking on chuppa chups (http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=chuppa+chups&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&resnum=5&ct=title)

TimberFloorAu

01-05-2009, 04:15 AM

<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lollywood" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lollywood</a>

I can see that being a busy forum LOL

vbcustomized

01-05-2009, 04:16 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lollywood

I can see that being a busy forum LOL

LMAO, im not even gonna coment on that

Shelley_c

01-05-2009, 04:20 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lollywood

I can see that being a busy forum LOL

Ah, thanks steve. Good ole wiki. Some useful information I'm most likely to forget in about 5 minutes time. Oh well, kudos to him, it's one way of boosting traffic for all the wrong reasons.

*off I go to youtube to get a taste of lollywood*

TimberFloorAu

01-05-2009, 04:23 AM

We should hold a vote for the next forum names he could use:

Bollywood
Lollywood
COPYRIGHTINFRINGEMNETWOOD-(getyaintrouble) lol

vbcustomized

01-05-2009, 04:25 AM

Wish I could do a poll on here. Thinking about registering on his forum and making a post.
would that be wrong? lol

TimberFloorAu

01-05-2009, 04:28 AM

NAH be cool.

I think more importantly we need to choose a name for you.

Such as

DMCA-1
or
TheEnforcer
or
CopyrightInfringementOfficer

LOL

vbcustomized

01-05-2009, 04:35 AM

NAH be cool.

I think more importantly we need to choose a name for you.

Such as

DMCA-1
or
TheEnforcer
or
CopyrightInfringementOfficer

LOL

LMAO, it was a fluke that I found his site at all, im proly one of one visitors untill this thread.

Shelley_c

01-05-2009, 04:39 AM

Wish I could do a poll on here. Thinking about registering on his forum and making a post.
would that be wrong? lol

I'm quite sure you can attach a poll to this thread.

vbcustomized

01-05-2009, 04:42 AM

I'm quite sure you can attach a poll to this thread.

It doesent give me the poll option. mabye the lack of post count, not sure.

Shelley_c

01-05-2009, 04:46 AM

I just looked at one of my old posts in this area and went to edit and it doesn't give the option of attaching a poll. Only when you first create a thread.

UKBusinessLive

01-05-2009, 04:58 AM

Good Luck with what you decide to do, I thought it was a bit cheeky, Mind you they did shot themselves in the foot :D

Good Luck :up:

KatieG

01-05-2009, 05:03 AM

You also could join and contact all 3 members LOL

Nice style dude !

vbcustomized as Members: 7 on his forum

This thread seems an excellent way of getting visitors to his site ;)

vbcustomized

01-05-2009, 05:05 AM

vbcustomized as Members: 7 on his forum

This thread seems an excellent way of getting visitors to his site ;)

Correct, I hired someone from pakistan to steal my work and post it on their website so I could get a few visitors from vb org. good call.

Vaupell

01-05-2009, 08:56 AM

well worst thing is still steal work, then contact the creator and call him the theif.

seen my skins changed a few times, also logos and notices
but im never contacted by the thefts :p

vbcustomized

01-05-2009, 10:14 PM

Looks like the host has taken care of the problem, The account is apparently suspended now.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

TimberFloorAu

01-05-2009, 10:20 PM

Looks like the host has taken care of the problem, The account is apparently suspended now.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

Result !

Shelley_c

01-06-2009, 03:50 AM

Great stuff. Guess I'll now have to go elsewhere for my lollywood experience.

FreshFroot

01-06-2009, 04:07 AM

You also might want to find out, WHERE and WHO else is distributing it to others.

It could possibly be down loadable on another website, which might have removed the copyright etc.. etc..

If you get a chance, maybe see where they downloaded it from.