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The e-commerce.

Copyright Infringement


benoutram

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Hi guys

 

I recently discovered that someone has copied all of the categories,products, and descriptions on my e-commerce website. They have also copied the small modifications that I made to the open source e-commerce software. With my keywords, categories, products and descriptions they will soon be close to my top position in Google. :(

 

I'm wondering if this could be grounds for copyright infringement? It would be great to hear from anyone who has been in a similar situation.

Thanks.

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Hi guys

 

I recently discovered that someone has copied all of the categories,products, and descriptions on my e-commerce website. They have also copied the small modifications that I made to the open source e-commerce software. With my keywords, categories, products and descriptions they will soon be close to my top position in Google.  :(

 

I'm wondering if this could be grounds for copyright infringement? It would be great to hear from anyone who has been in a similar situation.

Thanks.

 

Hmmm, I'm not a legal expert however I am thinking that it might be difficult for you. We were just talking about patents in one of my classes the other night. I was always under the impression they were something iron clad, however they are not. Given the open source nature of OSC, I would think that part of it would be difficult for you. The wording of your descriptions however might be a copyright infringement. Although other than perhaps sending them a request to decist (sp?) and hoping they comply, I'm not sure what else you could do.

 

Sorry you are in this situation, it sounds like a real bummer :(

 

Be well,

 

Tina

If you're not having fun you're not doing it right

 

Teach a person to fish rather than give them a loaf of bread or however that saying goes.

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pretty tough, especially if they are selling the same products as you. they could be getting them from the same vendor as you. did you come up with the wording or did you yourself copy from your vendor?

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pretty tough, especially if they are selling the same products as you.  they could be getting them from the same vendor as you.  did you come up with the wording or did you yourself copy from your vendor?

 

Well the descriptions are from a bit of both so its a grey area. Its definitely not a coincidence as the entire site content has been lifted in almost its entirety. The e-commerce software is of course OSCommerce which gives both sites the same look and feel, but they have also tried to copy my customisations.

 

They even have the cheek to buy stuff from my site when their suppliers are out of stock. :o

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I am not a lawyer, but I believe the short answer is that descriptions and images are applicable under copyright laws. Categories and products, no.

 

But since litigating copyright infringement takes far more resources and commitment than most people have, your best bet is probably to focus on defeating your competition through strong business practices. Stay ahead of them with new product offerings and excellent service. If you are the leader and they are simply copying, you will win in the long run.

"Buy the ticket, take the ride..." -HST

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Hmmm, I'm not a legal expert however I am thinking that it might be difficult for you. We were just talking about patents in one of my classes the other night. I was always under the impression they were something iron clad, however they are not. Given the open source nature of OSC, I would think that part of it would be difficult for you. The wording of your descriptions however might be a copyright infringement. Although other than perhaps sending them a request to decist (sp?) and hoping they comply, I'm not sure what else you could do.

 

Sorry you are in this situation, it sounds like a real bummer :(

 

Be well,

 

Tina

 

Thanks for your advice, I have also studied a course like yours, Proffesional Issues in I.T.

 

I will be going back over some of the cases I studied in a while to see if any of them are similar.

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Hopefully nobody will practice law without a license in the process of giving you advice about possible copyright infringement issues. My advice (yes, I'm a lawyer - and no, this is not legal advice) is to consult a lawyer if you think you might have a case, but be prepared to pay legal fees.

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OSC and contributions are free and have their own copyrights listed and that means that they have to follow the osc copyright, not yours.

 

If you sell items that come from a distributer that sells to many people and supplies the images and pictures, then you can not do anything about that.

 

The only thing you could do something about is the layout (if you have changed it extensively and made it original) and any original images you made, or any descriptions you wrote yourself.

 

As most have said though it can cost you more to get a layer involved than you may be willing to pay or can afford.

 

This is advice coming from a lawyer I contacted be cause I had been in this situation with a website I had... I know you should start by contacting them and letting them know you are aware they have taken your site and asking them to take it down. You can also contact their hosting company (you can find out who that is by doing a WHOis on the domain name) and let them know what is going on. Most hosts will not keep a site up if they site has been copied. Taking it down until they have done their own investigating, or leaving it up but if they find the sites the same they have the rights to remove it whether the person wants them to or not. All before even talking to a lawyer.

 

With that said though, my site was NOT an osc site. It was an HTML based site (and believe it or not if you write the code you own it) and it was all original images (for the layout) that I had made... which by making them means you also own them. It had nothing to do with selling particular items, it was actually a web design site offering my services... and the morons even forgot to take my meta tags out of the code which said I had made it, and left in my resume portion. Not the brightest people in the world. Needless to say after a few emails with big words they took the site down.

 

Good luck with whatever you do, it can be very frustrating.

Wendy James

 

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.

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It probably might help if everyone actually saw the sites in question.

 

Unless he's hacked your site and stolen your code, best just to forget about it. Competition is kinda dirty, but problem is doesn't really get out of being a community thing until you've got the cash to pursue legal matters.

 

If you do push forward only go for a C&D Order. They're quite easy to obtain and will force your competitor to redesign.

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