Best of the ISP-Lists

They Took it All

Members of the ISP-Webhosting list discuss a common problem. What should you do when someone takes your website's code, claims it's theirs, and plasters their logo all over it?

[April 30, 2001]

On the ISP-Webhosting list in April, GM queried,

"A competitor of ours ripped off our logo and information for their site. How do you deal with people that copy your website content to offer hosting? Other than sending them nasty legal letters, any suggestions?"

SS contended that it really isn't that big a deal:

"There are millions of web sites out there, and they all rip each other off and copy each other. This happens in real life too. A lot of companies use the exact same font or design for their logo or products. If they all took each other to court over it, then no one would ever get any work done."

Many others disagreed:

[RB countered] "The problem comes in branding. The purpose of a trademark is to have a right to that name, symbol, phrase, etc., so that you can brand it into your customers' heads. Nobody in their right mind would use a slightly altered version of Pepsi's logo to try to sell a soft drink: they'd be sued out of business.

Trademarks allow you protection from even remotely similar knock-offs of your marks for the sole purpose of protecting your company's identity so that you can grow. These logos take a lot of time and energy, so if it was yours to begin with, I'd fight to protect your asset."

[JB agreed] "If you have it trademarked, then you must defend it, or your trademark is useless."

Others offered suggestions on how to take action:

[MS suggested] "Check with your graphic designer. Did they design it custom for you from scratch, or did they use some stock graphics? If they designed it custom for you and can attest to it or prove it, you have a potential case."

[RK added] "Is there any text on their web site that they stole verbatim? If so, I'd contact their upstream ISP and tell them that they are hosting a web site with your copyrighted material on it, and demand that their Internet connection be terminated until the violation is corrected."

[BP recalled] "We had a similar situation happen to us. The thief actually stole our site, code and all; they just changed the logo and the colors. We tried to get their host to take them down, but they dragged their feet so long that it wasn't worth it. A certified letter from our attorney is what did the trick."

—End