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Lately I’ve been getting pretty used to having my designs ripped. Doesn’t mean I dislike it any less.
—Published 10 April, 2009
But looking back at my reaction to the very first rip back in November, today I’d probably just be glad they didn’t take my images / portfolio work too.
If you’re following me on Twitter, you’d probably be used to the weekly links I post of the latest copycat sites. After the fourth or fifth rip in as many weeks, I’d actually decided I’d stop polluting my twitter feed with all that negativity.
This week the plagiarism / ripping debate seemed to get a bit of airplay. Jon Engle had his sorry story of plagiarism picked up and supported then dissected and possibly disproven (you couldn’t write this shit).
Around the same time I was alerted to a rip of this site that was on a whole other level to anything I’d ever seen. I’ll spare you the details, and just say the guy had taken absolutely everything on my site and replaced every occurrence of my name or connection to me with his own (images included). You can read the highly amusing commentary on Reddit and Digg.
Copycats
Todd Picquelle’s case was so bizarre and pathological that I found myself swept up like everyone else with the sheer audacity of it. I had to agree, this was funny stuff.
And while Reddit made really quick work of tearing poor Todd to pieces, the whole mob justice thing is really only extended to the very worst cases (probably a good thing). The rest, I’ve got to deal with on my own.
Dealing with rips
You’d think having a sister who’s a lawyer at Google would help me get some insider knowledge on some secret way to fight these copycats.
These are the current avenues available:
- Direct contact with the perpetrator via email / written letter (tactfully)
- Direct contact with their employer, boss, clients, parents
- Public shaming (which will probably result in a lot of hate mail from people)
- Get the offending site removed from Google search results:
- Get the offending site removed altogether:
- Take them to court
You can use Whois to find the domain registrar and then find the registry details of the offending domain.
One last thing: If you see a site that you think may be a rip, don’t be afraid to email the original site and let them know. Believe me—you may be delivering bad news, but they’ll really want to hear from you.
Who are these people!?