US Copyright Group Caught Red Handed Copying Competitor's Website
from the photo-hunt dept
Why is it that the biggest "defenders" of copyright are always the ones caught infringing on others' copyrights? As a whole bunch of you have been submitting, US Copyright Group -- the publicity seeking effort from DC law firm Dunlap, Grubb & Weaver that is suing tens of thousands of people for alleged copyright infringement in an effort to get them to pay up via "pre-settlement" letters -- appears to have a bit of a problem with understanding copyright itself. TorrentFreak is showing how USCG appears to have blatantly copied the full HTML for its "settlements" website from a competing operation called Copyright Enforcement Group. USCG had set up a site at CopyrightSettlement.info that had code that was so obviously copied from CEG that it included CEG's copyright statement, images and phone number for some of the time. Since then, much of the code has been "scrubbed," but plenty of CEG's code was still there. Here's the image TorrentFreak put together noting the... uh... obvious similarities (you can click for a larger view):"Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We are not associated with the US Copyright Group and they are not authorized to use Copyright Enforcement Group materials."Someone else was told that Dunlap, Grubb & Weaver will be receiving a cease & desist shortly. I wonder what sort of "pre-settlement" option will come with that letter.
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Filed Under: copying, images, websites
Companies: copyright enforcement group, dunlap grubb & weaver, us copyright group
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LOL LOL LMAO!
LOL LOL LOL.
Ahhhhhh!
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Intentional Streisanding?
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Re: Intentional Streisanding?
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better call
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Scapegoat
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Re: Scapegoat
That's true and that reasoning would probably hold up in a court of law. But in order to get content taken down that you don't like -- or in this case, copied "without your knowledge" -- you don't need to take someone to court. All it takes is a DMCA takedown notice and some bullying.
How funny would it be if each group sent a takedown notice to each other's ISP and both sites were shut down?! (Hmmm, is there such a thing as an amicus brief but for DMCA takedowns?)
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Re: Scapegoat
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Re: Scapegoat
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Re: Scapegoat
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Re: Scapegoat
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Most companies don't have in-house web designers
1) USCG hired the same web design company as CEG (and that company decided they could get paid twice for the same work)
or
2) USCG hired a very amateur/shady web designer and told them "make it like this web site" and they took it very literally.
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Re: Most companies don't have in-house web designers
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Why am I not suprised
1) Do as I say, not as I do
2) We have done nothing wrong
3) Someone else is responsible, not us
4) PROFIT !!!
Obviously, they see themselves as above the law.
Nothing will come of this and they will continue to send out their letters of extortion to dead people, childeren and laser printers.
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US Copyright Group Caught ...
Unfortunately, everyone is out to make a fast buck.
nice that, in a way, these copyright trolls were hoist by their own petard!
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Re: US Copyright Group Caught ...
I love that expression. I need to find more ways to work it into everyday conversation.
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I'll answer that one. To the copyright industry, copyright is not about protecting the work of authors, artists, musicians or coders. It's about eliminating competition and maintaining the status quo through the use of their government granted monopolies.
Big players can and do infringe copyrights all they want. They can do that because they're big. At the worst even if they're sued they have the money to quickly settle.
What the big players like about copyright is keeping the little guys from upsetting their gravy train. When the little guy infringes, the big guys can sue the little guy into oblivion.
So, with our current copyright system, the big guys can do whatever they want and infringe whatever they want. While the little guys and consumers are forced to comply.
As an example, you had a posting a short while ago about a fashion designer, who on one hand "stole" his designs and on the other hand, wanted strict copyright protection for his designs.
As I explained above, there's no contradiction in that. With a strong copyright, he'd still be free to "steal" any designs he wants and then drag it out in court and settle if he has too. However, any upcoming designer would be shut out. It's a win/win for the status quo designer because it eliminates competition. Which is the real purpose of copyright.
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Re:
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Re: Biggest Defenders? What about the "Little Guy"?
It's a damn shame that parents haven't taught their kids that just because it's on the web doesn't mean that it's actually free.
What really needs to happen is to reduce the cost of taking some-one to court so that the little guy can actually defend their copyrights and I'll bet that it wouldn't take long before people figured out that stealing doesn't pay.
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They simply mimeographed the web site.
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Copyright is a GREAT thing...
It's been shown to be the case with politicians, acitvist groups... and now... apparently, copyright organizations.
However, that said... it's fairly likely they bought the same website template somewhere, which is why the sites look so similiar.
Cheap start-ups and knock offs of each other.
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Re: Copyright is a GREAT thing...
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Class-action for copyright thugs?
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They both have the same phone number!
DOH
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Re: Gorilla
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Although, for right or for wrong, none of this changes the cases USCG has brought against alleged infringers.
For USCG haters, this is an empty victory... feels good for a second, but ultimately changes nothing in the underlying battle.
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Re:
Yep, I dont see the leeches changing their attitiude at all.
They will continue to accuse without evidence and make demands without reason.
Meh - just another day ...
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Re:
More hypocrisy, more lies and more BS.
Just another day in paradise.
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Also this is a business to business transaction solicitation. So no consumer protection laws or such to protect or limit liability.
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And they get a bonus for leaving the word 'Placeholder' where I suppose they want a title to point out one more time that the defendant record ID goes in the box.
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this is the internet there is no copyright on html
/troll
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The devil's in the Details...???
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Re: The devil's in the Details...???
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Just goes to show..
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Force.com
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They didnt even change the phone number.
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Web Designer
That said, no web designer is ever going to put a site out live without getting the expressed permission from the client. They are getting paid whether it goes live or not so their, "but it was the web designer's fault", excuse isn't going to cut it. They are the ones who decided to put it live, not the web designer. Its their responsibility as the client to go through the pages to be sure the content is correct, not the web designer. And if they did give the web designer complete and unchecked authority on what content gets put up then they are even more so responsible for the content of the pages than if they designer had gone rogue.
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Site is Down
I find it ironic that this came from torrentfreak, the epitomy of copyright infringement
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