Beware Web pirates arrgghh!

Hi guys, thanks to all at Kirupa for inspiration and feedback! I wanst sure where to post this thread but…

We have had a web-pirate hijack our site! Our original site is http://www.maxdefinition.net

Doing a google search we found, our EXACT site down to content, clients imagery, the lot, on another domain with someone elses logo and contact details.

It would be great if anyone can offer advice legal or otherwise of what to do about this. Your help and thoughts are appreciated. Cheers. Pixi :chinaman:

check out the pirates at … http://www.pisangmas.com

OMG!!! I’m speechless, i cant believe it. Why the hell would somebody want to do this?

And whats with that bloody banana?!

I sent them alittle message on the contact page, i urge everyone to do the same :wink:

They did a pretty good job of copying it though! pixi, I suggest writing them an email demanding that they take down the offending site or you will be forced to take legal action. Also, look up the whois on the domain and do a bit of research on the policy of the domain registrar - they may be able to help you out…you may also want to find some way to prove that it is you who created the original, and not vice versa (as they may claim).

Good luck :wink:

Insomniac

I sent them an email to take it down 3 days ago, I haven’t heard from them since, neither did they take it down. I doubt they even understand English.

heh just noticed they haven’t even changed some bits that refer to maxdefinition! there registrar is: http://www.exabytes.com/ if you find out who is hosting them too you could contact them :wink:

Thanks for the tips guys. I think they ripped the backup fla’s off the server / or used a swf compiler to rip the swfs off - anyway we have got all their details and will be pursuing it legally, but a couple of nasty emails might do the trick too I think - ( if they can read english hahha) - thanks for the diligent request to them Voets and Mooey.

Thanks all for the help. Caio Pixi.

well, www.xentrik.net has had a few problems and wrote a letter for people to change and edit with all the legal action you can take, nice and scary if your on the recieving end:

http://www.xentrik.net/website/copyright.php

just do a whois on the domain to find out the host :wink:

im sure you can

https://registrar.godaddy.com/whois.asp?isc=&se=%2B&from_app=&mscssid=&pl_id=1&prog_id=GoDaddy&domain=PISANGMAS.com

Domain servers in listed order:
NS5.MSCHOSTING.COM 202.75.42.35
NS6.MSCHOSTING.COM 202.75.42.36

so host should be www.mschosting.com

oh and i butchered up a letter for you:

Dear Pisangmas.com owners and staff,

It has come to my attention that you have made an unauthorized use of my layout at www.maxdefinition.net in the preparation of a work derived therefrom.

Your website is essentially identical to the Work and clearly used the Work as its basis. You have clearly used a type of .swf decompiler to gain access to my .flas.

Therefore, I believe you have willfully infringed my rights under 17 USC §101, et seq. and could be liable for statutory damages as high as $150,000 as set forth in Section 504©(2) therein.

I demand that you immediately cease the use and all copies of it, and that you deliver to me all unused, undistributed copies of it, or destroy such copies immediately, and that you desist from this or any other infringement of my rights in the future. If I have not received an affirmative response from you by August 10th, 2004 indicating that you have fully complied with these requirements, I shall consider taking the full legal remedies available to rectify this situation.

This email has been sent to the infringer, and Bcc’d to the administrative contact for the domain name “pisanmas”, and if I do not hear back by the aforementioned date, it will be forwarded to the abuse department of the host of the domain “mschosting” who will be obliged to suspend and perhaps terminate the account for this domain.

I thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Sincerely,
your nice little pretty name here that your parents gave you when you were born and that you still have today and that you will put here to identify yourself got it?

What rip? I see no rip :wink:

O no they’re on to me! lol

What a horses arse that person is.

**Tucker You Beauty ** .
Thanks for your time and effort man. them be swarthy cut-throats, and shall pay or shiver-me-timbers I am not the old sea-dog I once was…har-har :pirate3:

feels special

no problem, grrrrrr they deserver to walk the plank :slight_smile:

oooo canadianguy o.o

oh ahve you registered a copyright? it might be a good idea to, and include it in the letter, assuming u havent already sent it, if not they will still be scared and should take it down, if not, well then, we will see now wont we?

Don’t think they’ll care about it since the company based in malaysia. You know malaysia is the home of the pirated software and such and it’ll be hard to make them take down their site cause I don’t think there’s any copyright law about website in malaysia.

ninjas r better than pirates!

Axel—>not funny by the way
use a bit of your brain before posting pls

I’m not sure about malaysian copyright laws, but WOW, they are really bad at ripping, you’d think they’d at least change SOME of the images, that’s like, identical!

that email will get them down, and if not, you’re gonna have some difficulties doing it

Well the best thing to do is just hit the host. Hosts don’t like pirated anything on their servers, and it’s stated so in the contracts they sign. Just make a note of what company name they are using, and keep lookin for them on the net.

Tucker, thanks for the tip. I’m going to get a copyright on that before pixi does. lol

Bombing, I think I did a pretty good job ripping that site. After all, I had to decompile the swf and put all the tweens and images back together. j/k

i think he was joking around…

of course he is ;), but it’s funny…