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Ask HN: How to deal with someone ripping off your design?

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Re: Ask HN: How to deal with someone ripping off your design?

#21

Post by Mahn »

charliepark wrote: post #20

Just add this to your JavaScript onload (and replace "yourdomain", of course): if(window.location.origin.indexOf("yourdomain.com")

...unless they copied the JS files instead of linking to them directly, of course. Note to self: add remote self-destruct function within any JS I ship.

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with someone ripping off your design?

#24

Post by kls »

charliepark wrote: post #20

Just add this to your JavaScript onload (and replace "yourdomain", of course): if(window.location.origin.indexOf("yourdomain.com")

The question would be if they just grabbed a static snapshot of the site and are using that or if they are actually still pointing back to some of the stolen sites files. If they are pointing back to the stolen sites JavaScript files then yes it would be very easy to redirect the traffic back to their site. Given that the code resides on their server they are completely within their rights to do so as well. I would also minify the JavaScript file as well, so the change is not immediately apparent to them. Make them work to figure out why the code they have stolen is not working.

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with someone ripping off your design?

#25

Post by escaped_hn »

timdorr wrote: post #17

It'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. Send the email over to support@siteplot.com. If that doesn't work, go up to their datacenter: $ whois 66.206.15.100 ..…

That would be an abuse of the DMCA since its just a design (see Flat-Ui).

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with someone ripping off your design?

#26

Post by rorrr »

escaped_hn wrote: post #25
timdorr wrote: post #17

It'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. Send the email over to support@siteplot.com. If that doesn't work, go up to their datacenter: $ whois 66.206.15.100 ..…

That would be an abuse of the DMCA since its just a design (see Flat-Ui).

Why? They are stealing OP's copyrighted works and posting them on their website.

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with someone ripping off your design?

#28

Post by okamiueru »

escaped_hn wrote: post #25
timdorr wrote: post #17

It'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. Send the email over to support@siteplot.com. If that doesn't work, go up to their datacenter: $ whois 66.206.15.100 ..…

That would be an abuse of the DMCA since its just a design (see Flat-Ui).

Not sure if you read the description provided. They ripped the source code as well, not just the design. That goes under copyright, as would copying someones graphic assets. If it were using similar graphics or design, then yes, it isn't a copyright issue.

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with someone ripping off your design?

#29

Post by DanBC »

escaped_hn wrote: post #25
timdorr wrote: post #17

It'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. Send the email over to support@siteplot.com. If that doesn't work, go up to their datacenter: $ whois 66.206.15.100 ..…

That would be an abuse of the DMCA since its just a design (see Flat-Ui).

No.

This is directly using (even hotlinking some assets) the OPs copyrighted materials.

FlatUI had 3 icons that were "similar"[1] to icons in LayerVault. There wasn't any clear copying of assets.

[1] for some values of similar, including "not similar".

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with someone ripping off your design?

#30

Post by huhtenberg »

I'm going to bet that this is a setup for the phishing scam. Random addresses and phone numbers, fake endorsements, blatant design rip-off - it all points rather unambiguously at a quick-and-dirty attempt at creating a believable online presence. It could've been just a designer's "sketch" or a proof of concept for a client if it weren't for two clones. This indicates that this is a redundant setup, with possibly more clones floating around, but with the JS files fixed.

Your best bet would be to contact the hosting providers and say just that.

If this is indeed a part of the scam operation, you should also prepare yourselves for a website redesign, because if the scam gets on its way, then your visuals may end up being associated with the scammy websites rather than with your genuine business.

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