Stolen Websites - Can you Believe this?

[RoguesHollow]

This just keeps getting better folks. Today I received an email from Sunset (THE COMPANY THAT STOLE ALL THE ARTWORK AND PAGE DESIGNS) from another person in the organization that actually has the guts to challenge me that I did all the artwork and that my clients hold copyrights for the artwork that has appeared on their sites. I just love this! On top of it the image they stole from Terrortest.com of the girl and the needle is my sister! I cannot get over the nerve of this company. This could get pretty ugly. I'll keep everyone up to date on whats happening and if anyone sees this art pop up somewhere else please let us all know where.

[ldiliberto]

That's Crazy, hope you can get their site blocked

[shawnc]

They are probably thinking all they have to do is stall until Nov. 1 and they win. Worry about next year next year.

[RoguesHollow]

The Drama continues. I'm shocked at how long this sunset entertainment company is willing to drag this out. Its clear what they did and yet they continue sending me these slightly threatening emails demanding I prove they stole the graphics. I basically have left it now at simply they can stop using the artwork (which the have as far as I can tell) and let this issue drop, hire a new designer to do the site. Or they can continue to push this issue and face more trouble.

What's crazy about this is that they are not just messing with me at this point. They took art from my clients and they are the legal copyright holders on that artwork since I sign it over to them as part of their design contract. They own it and they can go after any company that is using it illegally.

Its just insane that this company wants to possibly involve themselves in a lawsuit rather that suck it up and pay to get new graphics.

[craigsrobotics]

easy to prove

you owned / designed the artwork first...simply check out the file date/time stamp on the webserver for when it was uploaded / created...the earliest date/time WINS!!! Keep all correspondance, and print out a file listing of the documents and graphics from your webserver...keep fighting...they'll back down...especially when all of the negative publicity hits the fan!

[RoguesHollow]

In my last email to the infringers this is basically what I did. I told them I have dated records for the creation of all the images, source files, server upload records etc etc. They have basically finally backed off and are now admitting that their "designer" stole the graphics from my portfolio and that they will cease using the images and hire a new designer. They still tried to tell me I've been threatening with my emails. Gee ! I wonder why I would be threatening with my emails since they stole my, and my clients, property?

It just goes to show that there are a lot of stupid people out there that have no business owning or operating a company if that can't understand a simple concept such as "Don't steal from others."

[berniehaunter]

Day Job and Night Job Collide

This is from the "I can't leave my day job behind" category.

My name is Jonathan Bailey and I work as a plagiarism and copyright consultant, I write at plagiarismtoday.com.

I'm glad that the situation was resolved. But I wanted to extend an offer to anyone in the forums that, if you see your content being ripped off elsewhere, feel free to shoot me a PM or an email. I'm happy to help, especially fellow haunters.

One thing that I would like to discourage though is the posting of personal information or links to plagiarizing sites. The reason is this. Sometimes these things get out of hand. I don't think that happened here, but I've seen it many times before. The pitchforks come out and people go a wee bit overboard. That can cause legal trouble for the person who posted it as well as this forum itself depending on how serious things get.

Also, it is worth noting that linking to a plagiarist helps them out as they get search engine juice from pretty much all links, even nofollowed ones.

If you see your content being misused, the best thing you can do is file a DMCA notice. If you want, I can help. Just PM me or email me, for my fellow haunters, I'll gladly help for free as much as I can.

We're all in this together. I want to do my part for the community.

[AtmosFEAR!]

Hi Fellow USA Haunters!

I just wanted to add a little note from our side of the pond (UK), as Creative Producer for AtmosFEAR! Scare Attractions Ltd., a company that has been trading succesfully since 2002, and now one of only three independent attraction producers in England, we were amazed when Chris (Rogues Hollow) told us about this blatant copyright infringement. We have been trading as a haunted/scare attraction company for years under the name AtmosFEAR! and to have a group of newcomers try and 'pass off' as us is incredible! We have been in contact with them and they have agreed to remove all mention of the name 'AtmosFEAR!' in relation to their intended 'attraction' and will be re-naming it. We gave them until this coming Monday (w/c 24th November 08) to do this or we will sue them for 'passing off' as us. Having taken legal advice they would not stand a chance in trying to argue their case. Let's hope that is an end to it!

Jason Karl
Creative Producer
AtmosFEAR! Scare Attractions Ltd.
www.atmosfearuk.com