Man this pisses me off
 

My Rural Spirit forum using a custom theme I created.

. . . and then this. . .

http://vbcustomz.com/board/index.php

Whoever runs vbcustomz was apparently hired by this guy, who wanted a theme like Rural Spirit, but said he couldn't afford what I was charging to create a similar theme for him, so went to a "designer" who would rip off my theme for cheap.

Grrr . . .

--------------- Added 12 Mar 2009 at 21:22 ---------------

vBcustomz just went down. Regardless, they were doing a 1 to 1 lifting of my theme, even hotlinking to the images on my server.

Some people will not have any morals and will steal just about anything, yet if you were to come face to face with you it would be a different kettle of fish. The luxury of being behind a screen will prompt people to do something they wouldn't do in the real word due to them lacking a backbone and a pair of balls.

I have to admit, I would be a little peeved off. That is a seriously beautiful style. I'm not sure what you could do about it, though I'm sure some other people will step in and gibe you a reply or two.

Thanks, Shelly. I've had some of my themes lifted before, but never so blatantly (usually just certain elements here and there), and never by a "design" company looking to make money off my work.

Ditto for Shelley,

Thats a really nice style, and i understand you for being mad about it.

You could try and email the guys they host with, Just do a whois on the domain name and it should give you all you need to know.

Just see what can be done there, you may be supprised.

Some people just can't come up with something original, and the fact that they feel the need to copy another design beats me??

Good luck with your quest

;)

Thanks, UKBusinessLive. A member here who has had a similar problem with the person who runs vbcustomz PMed me with some useful information.

Just to clarify, I know who hired this guy not only because I talked to him just yesterday about potentially creating a theme for him, but also because the only change they made to my theme was to use beer mugs for the status icons. lol

LOL :D

Shame they didn't pass any beer your way ;)

No worries buddy, Keep us upto speed, Its nice when we get a good ending to a problem such as this

:cool:

I can see "why" they wanted to copy your theme, its very nice.

That is a very nice theme. You did a really nice job on it.

Didn't something like this happen to someone else and so they reported it to the host for copyright violation?

Removed

You'd be within your rights to send a DMCA notice. As others have said, start with the site admin and if you don't any cooperation, then move on to the hosting provider. You'd be amazed how fast some providers respond to notices.

The X-Box style with credits to "vBWorks.co.uk" is really by vBSkinWorks. At vBWorks.co.uk/forum they have a style named BlueFox with no branding that is actually by vBStyles.

Thanks, KW802. I just contacted his hosting company, DILIGENThost.com (a Canadian hosting company, so I'm not sure of the laws). I also emailed the person for whom he is ripping the theme.

Thanks everyone for all the help and support. This is so aggravating, and it's nice to have a sympathetic crowd to complain to. lol

Some people have no shame...or sense lol. best of luck Winterfell...I seconded your site in the BOTM over at vb.com...love the skin :)

Agreed, fantastic job on that man.

Edit: You also get points in my book for having a GRRM inspired screen name. :D

What a douchebag... Glad his site went down.

Nice skin btw.

a DMCA is effective only if you have proofs that you are the author of a piece of work. if you are just a client who paid for a style, which can be a situation, you can report the thief, but no legal action can be taken in your name, because you have to be the owner of the copyright... and actually, in the next weeks/months, the legislation in the US and Canada are about to change because a lot of supposed owners are reporting copyright infrigements that are not even related to them, they are suspicion facts which cause legal problems more than anything... in Canada, you will now have to proove your ownership before taking any action... (that's what occured with me last autumn when someone sued me for copyright infrigements on something i was the right owner...)

Just a quick update. His host is giving him 12 hours to remove the content or they're shutting him down. They promised to monitor his accounts even after removal, so good news there.

No doubt I'm not the first person he's ripped off. He scours legitimate design sites clean, I'm sure.

Thanks, smacklan! I had forgotten I posted it for consideration.

Thanks, Chris. Always great to mean another ASoIaF fan!

Thanks, Magnumutz. :)

Thanks for the plethora of info, nexialys. Fortunately, all the proof I needed was right there; he was even using my logo with the site name in it. He also directly ripped my footer with links from my site. A thief and an idiot.

Yup you do get them. They are so busy stealing they forget about copyright and changing the logo text.

I'm betting he never had the source file to change it and couldn't change it or crop it cleanly because of the amount of gradients and angles the images are set at. :D

Actually I don't, I sent you a PM regarding the skin. Also I decided to take it off and explained why on my pm and also what I was doing with the skin. I do apologize for any troubles this might have cause.

But the style is already available somewhere else :rolleyes:

Oh, so that excuses your thievery? :rolleyes:

As the person looking for a design, yes I initially hired Akdmks. But let me plainly state Winterfell that it was never my intention to lift and rip your design. I dont see how you could even believe those are my intentions by looking at my ad for a designer, and my forums currently. I could not use your rustic skin.

I just told the two designers I hired that I like the overall look and feel of ruralspirit, and wanted to use images and gradients instead of solid colors. Like you did with ruralspirit.

Akdmks showed me no work but an icon, ,and when I put in a request for refund with paypal he showed me his "updated design" which was an exact rip of yours. At that point I stopped working with him and continue with my request for refund.

For all who are interested, my first designer and current designer is Fewskii. and his work so far can be seen here:
http://hawns.com/index.php

I think we can alla gree that is not a rip.

I would appreciate it Winterfell if you would have taken this up with me and waited for my response before blasting me as someone who just wanted to get a designer to rip your site.

I also had recent dealings with **** but I just had my first post in this thread removed. Since I'm not supposed to leave feedback in more than one place according to the board policy, I'm sure I can at least point you to the one thread where I did leave feedback. At least I hope so, the policy isn't well explained. I'm sure the mods will clarify shortly.

Since there is a question on the clarification of leaving feedback, let me reiterate the policy.

Also, as this thread is currently becoming nonconstructive it is being closed until further notice.