A competitor is copying my website.... what to do?

[Russ in Vancouver]

Hi all,

I started a new small business in 2012 and it has been doing as well as the efforts I put into it over the last 3 years. It has been on and off in 1st place on google serps. I have not ever paid for advertising other than the associated costs involved with hosting, domain name and adwords here and there. It is a small business that is at a point where I incorporated and am looking at hiring an assistant manager.

A direct competitor popped up about 2 years ago and has methodically copied my website, copy, adwords, second website, google + page etc.

What can I do to mitigate the damage he is doing to this sector?
He charges 2/5 of what I charge.
I believe that he has no business licence or insurance.
He changed or added a secondary yelp page so that the address shows to be in the city my business is located at. The address does not even exist in the city GIS map. The municipality confirmed it.

I understand that the people that choose to hire him are probably not the type of people I would like to work for and I am not fretting about that other than all the quotes I spew out and never hear back from them........ its been going on for a few years now and we have decided to investigate if there is anything we can do legally to get him to back off and stop being such a blatant cheese&^%$ With the 2/5 that he charges, he could at least think to charge them a little bit more??

Thanks for any suggestions....... your thoughts are appreciated!

[nealrm]

If he is coping your website and copy, then you can file a notice with his web provider. Technically, you can sue him for copyright infringement, however unless you have formally applied for a copyright on the site, any damages will be very limited and few lawyers would take the case. If this is ongoing, you could try and trap him by dramatically changing your site, filing for a formal copyright, and then if he copies it going after him full barrel.

If he is copying you too closely, you may also look at trademark infringement. But you would have to show that customers are confused the two business being separate companies.

You may also check if using a fraudulent address amounts to legal fraud. If so, you can have a criminal complaint filed.

As for the adwords - there is nothing you can do there. You don't own those words.

[Harold Mansfield]

You could also throw a few monkey wrenches in his program depending on how he's copying you, what kind of site he has, and what information he's portraying as truth. There are ways you can thwart a cheesed*ck. Website scrapping used to be a really big thing a few years back and the people who do it aren't typically very smart.

I agree with Nealrm you do have a few legal resources, but odds are it will take more time and money than it's worth. Another way to handle it is to hire a knowledgeable web person to look for holes in what he's doing that can be turned into things you can get immediate action on including getting his site shut down, de-indexed, reported as spam, or flagged...all of which is legal. But you probably want to have someone else who knows what they're doing, do it for you to keep your hands clean. It doesn't take much to prove to a host or to Google that you've been pirated.

You also may want to take a deeper look at the security on your own site if he's copying specific source code or is scrapping your content.

[Freelancier]

Start here: The DMCA take-down notice explained (http://www.sfwa.org/2013/03/the-dmca-takedown-notice-demystified/)

And if that doesn't work, get an attorney to write a threatening letter about his use of your copyrights. You don't have to register your copyright for that, but often a letter from an attorney spelling out the potential costs involved with losing a copyright suit are enough to get local pirates to back off. But if the pirate is really overseas, then you have fewer available tools to scare them, so you might as well use your web site to attack the problem ("Don't be fooled by overseas competitors posing as locals companies!").

[Harold Mansfield]

If you know where he is you may also be able to track down his IP address and block him altogether from being able to access your website. It's not full proof and you also run the risk of blocking others on the same IP address, but I've used that method on crappy hackers before. I've even blocked the IP addresses of entire countries. You can really have some fun and redirect them to other websites like the FBI, or other international security sites like Interpol, or Chinese government websites.


Although savvy and determined hackers bounce around and use different IP addresses, but it doesn't sound like you're dealing with a rocket scientist.

[DeniseTaylor]

You can report the site here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Pw1KVOVRyr4a7ezj_6SHghnX1Y6bp1SOVmy60QjkF0Y/viewform

As outlined in the article here: Someone Outranking You With Your Own Content? Use The New Google Scraper Report (http://searchengineland.com/google-scraper-tool-185532)

Edited to add:

You can also report the site to Adsense, if there are Adsense ads on the site: https://support.google.com/adsense/troubleshooter/1190500 . Doing this, you can hit them where it counts. In the pocketbook!

Good luck!

[BizAdvisor]

Before you jump into any unnecessary litigation, it's always a good practice to send a take down notice, in which you give the plagiarist opportunity to take down the content before facing any potential litigation. (Be sure to attach screenshots of web pages that contain plagiarized content). This usually does the trick.

If the content is not taken down, the fact that you sent a take down notice will actually help you in court, if you do decide to litigate. You also do not have to register a copyright in order to litigate for damages. The only restriction you have by not registering a copyright is the inability to litigate in a federal court... Which probably wasn't an option you were considering anyway.

[nealrm]

You also do not have to register a copyright in order to litigate for damages. The only restriction you have by not registering a copyright is the inability to litigate in a federal court... Which probably wasn't an option you were considering anyway.

Good point on the take down notice. Always best to take that route first.

However there is more of a difference than you stated for a registered vs non-registered copyright. The big difference is in getting a lawyer to take the case and in damages that can be awarded. You an non-registered copyright you will most likely end up representing yourself and you will be lucky to get anything but a take-down order from the court.

[Russ in Vancouver]

Wow!! thank you all for this discussion. It has shed some light on more valuable options that are available to me.
I am saving a copy of his site and taking some screenies right now.

This Google scraper report is interesting. I will try it.

This guy lives within 20 miles of me so I am not sure if its worth it to pour gas on the fire, especially if my family has even a slight chance of getting burned. I want to remain invisible.
I don't have time to waste as well. Maybe I will just take it as a lesson and try harder, keep adding good content and be more SEO minded at least twice a month.

Thank you all again for giving me some insight from your perspectives

[HooktoWin]

Hi Russ,

All of the advice I've seen so far is top notch. I thought I'd chime in with a parallel angle.

Believe it or not, there are quite a few very good opportunities here.

1. If he's copying you he's always, always, always going to be behind you.

2. Create measurable uniqueness. You know, the one (quantifiable) thing that makes you absolutely unique. Do this and you have something you can use intellectual property law to protect.

3. do things for your customers that he can't (or won't) do. If you create the components you need to protect your business (e.g. uniqueness, risk reversals, triggers) and he copies you without understanding, he'll ruin his business. If doesn't you can differentiate yourself, either way you win.

4. You can use him (without naming him) as a cautionary tale for your customer's benefit. Teach your customers about the dangers of copycats and knockoff artists. Talk about what they need and the consequences that come with going cheap. He'll become the case study of what NOT to do. Plant these seeds in your customer's head and they'll automatically begin to see him for who (and what) he is.

Force his hand by creating uniqueness and risk reversals.

Good luck!

Andrew