

Ask HN: How should I deal with a clone of my site? - podman

I happened across a site that did a terrible job of cloning my site, http://sproutvideo.com . I tried sending an email to the contact listed in their whois. Does anyone have any ideas about how I should deal with this?<p>http://sproutvideo.com -&#62; http://www.ogle-tm.com/<p>http://sproutvideo.com/features -&#62; http://www.ogle-tm.com/Pages/Security.aspx<p>http://sproutvideo.com/contact -&#62; http://www.ogle-tm.com/Pages/contactus.aspx<p>http://blog.sproutvideo.com -&#62; http://www.ogle-tm.com/Pages/Blog.aspx
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jack-r-abbit
They seem to be hot linking your images. Do something so that the hot linked
images they get served up are all about how they are goat raping thieves.

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veyron
If the images themselves are direct (png, jpg, etc) how would you set this up?
Would you just change your site to use different images (and change those at
the existing addresses) or is there some sort of way to get apache or whatever
server to do this for you?

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jfc
This online tool will generate the .htaccess rules for you based on your
inputs (URLs, etc.) - <http://www.htaccesstools.com/hotlink-protection/>

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podman
Clickable links:

<http://sproutvideo.com> -> <http://www.ogle-tm.com>

<http://sproutvideo.com/features> -> <http://www.ogle-
tm.com/Pages/Security.aspx>

<http://sproutvideo.com/contact> -> <http://www.ogle-
tm.com/Pages/contactus.aspx>

<http://blog.sproutvideo.com> -> <http://www.ogle-tm.com/Pages/Blog.aspx>

~~~
fuzzythinker
They look very different now, so if this got them to C&D, congrats on the
effort!

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dgabriel
They look different, but much of the content is an exact duplicate of the
sprout video site.

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mikeratcliffe
If you call 1and1 they can take it down very quickly:

    
    
      tech-c-firstname:                Hostmaster
      tech-c-lastname:                 ONEANDONE
      tech-c-organization:             1&1 Internet Ltd.
      tech-c-street1:                  10-14 Bath Road
      tech-c-street2:                  Aquasulis House
      tech-c-pcode:                    SL1 3SA
      tech-c-state:                    BRK
      tech-c-city:                     Slough
      tech-c-ccode:                    GB
      tech-c-phone:                    +44.8716412121
      tech-c-fax:                      +49.72191374215
      tech-c-email:                    hostmaster at 1and1.co.uk

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veyron
C&D. I'd also reach out to those companies listed at the bottom:

IBM, eBay, Cadbury, ToysRUs, getty images, Budweiser

Give them a heads up. It's strange to see those company marks used on this
site.

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anujkk
They are so lame that they don't even know how to copy properly. Check their
blog page - <http://www.ogle-tm.com/Pages/Blog.aspx> . That isn't even a blog.
It is a static page. Their comment system is not working like in the real site
- <http://blog.sproutvideo.com/>

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ecdobry
On a side note, you have a very nice website.

~~~
podman
Thanks!

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Killswitch
Cease and Desist letter.

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podman
Is this something I can do on my own or would I need to get a lawyer involved?

~~~
Killswitch
Lawyer would be the best bet.

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staunch
Another option is that if there is _copyright_ infringement (copied
images/code) you can send their hosting company a DMCA notice.

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CoachSeven
After careful analysis, it looks more like they've cloned your product rather
than your site. Do you know the site owner?

