I'd stop worrying about it and concentrated your energies elsewhere. By thinking about stuff like this you're focussing less on your own product, which is the important thing. If people are copying you, then you're most likely ahead of the competition anyway.
Ask HN: How to deal with someone ripping off your design?
11–20 of 71 posts
Re: Ask HN: How to deal with someone ripping off your design?
#12Send them a cease and desist letter - you can find free templates online ( http://www.free-legal-document.com/copyright-cease-and-desis... is one I just found). The more professional you can make it look the better chance you won't have to resort to a solicitor.
You don't have to necessarily resort to a solicitor/lawyer in this scenario. If they are using your exact HTML/CSS/JavaScript and don't quickly respond and/or comply, you can always file a DMCA takedown notice: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/12/18/my-website-design... Most hosts will quickly take down the website, giving you a cost-effective way to stop the issue. However I'd strongly encourage you to pursue a…
I'll add that if they're a legitimate site they'll be mortified but if they're an illegitimate site, they'll quickly move to open up shop somewhere else.
That said, if they're costing you money because of your sentry issues or causing you support issues that you can document, you have just cause for a lot of actions.
Re: Ask HN: How to deal with someone ripping off your design?
#13There is something fishy here. The Secure Broker Online company is not registered with Companies House in the UK. The Kensington Gardens Square street address is that of a hotel and the CA address looks fake too from StreetView. I would guess somebody's nicked your design to create a fake portfolio for a CV, or it's being used for fraud.
It appears the phone number they use is also the number for the Phoenix Hotel that uses that address.
Re: Ask HN: How to deal with someone ripping off your design?
#14You can prevent hotlinking of your JS and CSS files using your server config (for instance, in .htaccess on Apache). That will make it harder but it won't stop them copying the files locally. Lots of tutorials to prevent this are a quick Google away. You could even serve up an alternate CSS file for offenders that warns them from hotlinking your resources by prepending something to the body tag that is styled like a massive warning box and hiding everything else.
Re: Ask HN: How to deal with someone ripping off your design?
#15I notice they're using eBay, AutoTrader and Gumtree logos. Don't know about the other two, but have known AutoTrader come down like a ton of bricks on muppets who abuse their brand - dob 'em in!
(Although if they are as shady as they look, there may not be an entity to come down like a ton of bricks on - this looks like fraud to me)
Re: Ask HN: How to deal with someone ripping off your design?
#16I wonder if Ebay, Autotrader and Gumtree might also be interested in throwing some weight behind this given how prominently their brands are featured on the landing page.
Re: Ask HN: How to deal with someone ripping off your design?
#17It's actually quite easy: Find their host and, if they're in the US, issue a DMCA notification:
$ dig resinternationalgroup.com
;; ANSWER SECTION:
resinternationalgroup.com. 18788 IN A 66.206.15.100
$ dig -x 66.206.15.100
;; ANSWER SECTION:
100.15.206.66.in-addr.arpa. 3600 IN PTR cpanel.siteplot.com.
$ whois 66.206.15.100
...
OrgAbuseHandle: NETWO5887-ARIN
OrgAbuseName: Network Admin
OrgAbusePhone: +1-509-209-8000
OrgAbuseEmail: network@cyber-world.com
OrgAbuseRef: http://whois.arin.net/rest/poc/NETWO5887-ARIN
...
Here's a good template from Scribd: http://support.scribd.com/entries/22980-DMCA-copyright-infri...
Re: Ask HN: How to deal with someone ripping off your design?
#18I notice they're using eBay, AutoTrader and Gumtree logos. Don't know about the other two, but have known AutoTrader come down like a ton of bricks on muppets who abuse their brand - dob 'em in! (Although if they are as shady as they look, there may not be an entity to come down like a ton of bricks on - this looks like fraud to me)
More brand abuse here: http://secure-broker-online.eu/company
The FSA, RBS and Wells Fargo might want to be aware of this, too.
Re: Ask HN: How to deal with someone ripping off your design?
#19The other comments already indicate it's a fake, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. I myself would have some fun with the Javascript files that they're hotlinking; have it break the website or do something funny (cornify). They have no reason to complain. And I'd ask them if they could stop copying my website (perhaps propose a reasonable time, like a month, but do nothing afterwards). Then I'd let it be.
Re: Ask HN: How to deal with someone ripping off your design?
#20Just add this to your JavaScript onload (and replace "yourdomain", of course):
if(window.location.origin.indexOf("yourdomain.com")