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I’m Tired Of Companies Ripping off our site, So I’m Calling Them Out

andresmax.com

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Re: I’m Tired Of Companies Ripping off our site, So I’m Calling Them Out

#162

Post by wilhow »

We really can't prevent anyone from copying a design. It might not be the ethical thing to do, but there no real way of stopping someone if that's their goal. However I still wouldn't shame them. I would call them out in a more gracious manner. Something like a list of those companies and title it "Copying is the sincerest form of flattery" or along the same line.

Why not use them to your advantage, use them as marketing tool and if they refuse then force them to remove the design. Maybe only then, at that point it is ok to call them out and shame them.

Shaming someone just created an adversarial effect and it brings some negative publicity too. If you can show that you are gracious and is able to manage and find a middle ground in such a situation, it'll show a better you. I rather work with a company that I can always negotiate with than one who always take the hard line.

Re: I’m Tired Of Companies Ripping off our site, So I’m Calling Them Out

#163

Post by tehwebguy »

shoxty wrote: post #135
deathfrag wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I completely agree to this method. Break their site with your js.

Adding this to your JS could be fun... if(document.location.hostname !== 'ideaware.co') {alert('Do not trust these thieves. They stole this design from ideaware.co');}

Better yet:

1. Phone home to a server they won't easily cmd+f find, with several backups

2. Allow the script to execute arbitrary javascript from said server

3. Store a list of requests and referrers

4. Alert, shame and redirect at your leisure

Obviously this will only work for future copiers that copy from your site.

Re: I’m Tired Of Companies Ripping off our site, So I’m Calling Them Out

#164

Post by coderdude »

clicks wrote: post #95
andresmax wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I might actually do this, we were just discussing this at the office!

I probably won't be interested in a Wordpress theme, but if you make a Bootstrap theme quite like this layout I'd definitely buy it.

In the mean time, either of these might be a good starting point for you:

http://wrapbootstrap.com/preview/WB0D8R213

http://wrapbootstrap.com/preview/WB0459130

(disclosure: my site)

Re: I’m Tired Of Companies Ripping off our site, So I’m Calling Them Out

#165

Post by mijustin »

sherjilozair wrote: post #109

Isn't your design inspired from http://www.spotify.com/se/ ?

These two sites looks completely different to me:

Spotify: https://www.evernote.com/shard/s3/sh/dca1e28e-c43e-4c93-84cf...

OP: https://www.evernote.com/shard/s3/sh/846bba48-7b78-4040-9f18...

Re: I’m Tired Of Companies Ripping off our site, So I’m Calling Them Out

#167

Post by CanSpice »

methodin wrote: post #60

You could easily use this to your advantage: 1. Your portfolio is now larger (my designs + people who ripped off my designs) 2. You could create a "Submit sites that ripped off our design" for your customers and create a conversation around it 3. Ask the sites to reference yours in their footer 4. Modify the ripped off source files to display modified header/footer on external sites You should be thanking them for cr…

"Our designs are so awesome we have a bunch of imitators ( ) but we think you'll agree that our original designs are better! Often imitated, never duplicated."

Re: I’m Tired Of Companies Ripping off our site, So I’m Calling Them Out

#168

Post by robomartin »

mijustin wrote: post #136
robomartin wrote: post #99

I think you might just be taking the wrong approach. Shaming them is a bad idea, at least as a first move. Seek-out and contact the owners of these businesses. Point out what you have discovered. There's an outside possibility that they have no clue that their web designers have done this. They might actually feel rather embarrassed to learn so. If I couldn't code my own sites and had to rely on designers who took th…

Wow. I don't agree with this response at all. "Allow them to use the design for a small fee"? The original site design was the product of careful branding, long hours of coding, and probably countless revisions: the point of all this work is to create something that uniquely represents the company. Responding to piracy by "homogenizing" an original design isn't the answer. The rest of the business world is definitely…

The OP is a design house. Is this particular design the last drop of creative juice they have? I would think they can certainly evolve their site into another equally interesting design.

It's almost like what happens to Mercedes Benz. Companies like Mitsubishi shamelessly copy MBZ designs. They've been doing it for years. MBZ's answer is to continuously innovate.

Obsolete you own product.

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