Copyright Infringement

boomer_ie

Hi folks

Has anyone an experience in chasing up another company for copying a brochure thats on your website, changing a few pictures and bits of text then passing it off as their own?

I have a brochure on one of my websites that i have been told is very similar to that on another website and want to basically tell the other company to go and do their own work.

Shane

ShooterSF

Hmm I haven't any experience in it. How sure are you that they copied your material? Might be pretty hard to prove. Can you prove for example that your's was up first?
You might know it but proving it could be a different story.

I think you're first contact with them should be civil. Maybe a little sabre-rattling (e.g saying you don't want to have to take legal action but...) maybe even try and guilt them a little (how disappointed you were to come across material blatently copied from your site)
Hopefully a mixture of conscience, fear,guilt and embarrassment might get them to take it down.

tricky D

You could invoice them for unsolicited use of copyrighted materials. Invoice them again after 2/4 weeks with warning of legal action if non-payment. Then solicitor's letter and then legal action.

You need to be very sure that you can prove it.

Feel free to PM me the original and offending material if you want another opinion.

YellowSheep

Hi Shane
Its a tricky mine field and usually the one with the money wins, but i would sent them a strong letter telling them exactly what you want them to do. And if nothing happen follow up with a TradeMark Solicitor. If you need one I can recommend a company. cheers Oliver

narkymarky

Boomer,
Maybe a bit of an obvious question but was you work copyright protected to begin with? Also, did your brochure consist of entirely original image and text or did you photoshop etc..?
ShooterSF may be on the money - whose work was up first. In addition, where is this website/company registered? Might influence governing law.

information

narkymarky wrote: »

Boomer,
Maybe a bit of an obvious question but was you work copyright protected to begin with?

once you write something its protected by copyright. proving it is a different matter.

If they changed the text and images, what exactly did they copy ?, the layout colour scheme, very difficult to prove.

Did they produce the brochure ?, maybe they payed someone to do it for them and they copied it from you. In which case they would like to know that someone they payed to do work just copied something off you.

mneylon

I've had content stolen on more than occasion. If it's online you can email them demanding they remove and issue a DMCA as well, which hits them where it really hurts

tricky D

OK, I've compared the 2

The only graphical copying is the vertical text with similar colors - no biggy.

They have 4 pages of text content, the last 3 are basically their list of services and benefits - no issue there.

However, the Introduction page is a straight lift, change a few words and drop a sentence. They are well over 90% the exact same once the dropped sentence is considered.

e.g.
v1
Our aim has always been to set the benchmark for the industry providing the ,
highest standards of care We have worked extensively with our clients to .
continually update and improve the manner in which we deliver our services

v2
Our aim has been to set the goal by which all other companies try to reach.
We have worked extensively with our clients to continually update and
improve the manner in which we deliver our services.

That's only one poor 'use a thesaurus' change.

The 'The pre-hospital emergency' para is the exact same.

The other 5 paragraphs are similarly similar!

I'd advise you to get in touch with them and if they don't do anything staisfactory, get onto the law ppl about this especially as they are direct competition in your market.

hth
\r

information

tricky D wrote: »

I'd advise you to get in touch with them and if they don't do anything staisfactory, get onto the law ppl about this especially as they are direct competition in your market.

hth
\r

You can trying getting touch with them, but I've looked at the two brochures and they have done enough not to breech any copyright laws.
You are in the same sector so they can use the same content.
But reading the text, it is clear they used yours to write theirs, but not legal recourse I'm afriad.

tricky D

information wrote: »

You can trying getting touch with them, but I've looked at the two brochures and they have done enough not to breech any copyright laws.
You are in the same sector so they can use the same content.
But reading the text, it is clear they used yours to write theirs, but not legal recourse I'm afriad.

Gotta disagree with your take. I just don't think they have made enough 'substantial' changes. Too much of the stuff is exactly the same. While plagiarism isn't illegal, they have certainly saved themselves money by not having to hire an original writer of copy or do most of the work themselves, so economic rights can be argued.

In this case, I'd only get in touch with them. On second thoughts, I'd not be a fan of spending on solicitors over something of this magnitude (~200 words). It's not worth the time, money or the head wreckage. It does have certain anecdotal value.

fyi from http://www.cai.ie/faq/index.htm

Legal rights of copyright owners

Economic rights

Copyright gives the creator the right to prevent others from exploiting the work in various ways, without permission. The form of restricted exploitation include: copying the work; making the work available to the public; distributing the work; renting or lending it (excluding public lending); and translating, arranging or adapting the work. It is these restrictions which enable the creator to charge a fee, or royalty for the reproduction of the work.

8<

Insubstantial copying

In order to infringe the author's copyright, a "substantial" part of the work must have been copied. Insubstantial copying is therefore permitted. Because it is impossible to say with certainty what is meant by "substantial" in any given situation, users are often reluctant to rely on this exemption. Equally however, authors litigate at some risk.

CptSternn

It all comes down to how much its worth and how much they have. Its like this -

If they are a small company with little or no assets, its not worth suing them, but you can pay a solicitor to send a letter and take them to court if necessary, but it will cost you personally a few bob.

If they have a business in place thats making money, well then, you usually can find a solicitor who will take the case on contingency, meaning they will take their fee from the court winnings. That also means solicitors won't touch it unless they think its a sure thing.

I have a mate who right now is suing the government for exactly this. He had a brochure for his services, which of all people the Irish government took, copied, and reproduced with his wording on them word for word, page for page. He of course went directly to a solicitor and they took his case right away, no charge.

It all depends on if they have money you could go after, which would force them to stop or if its worth paying to have them forcefully stopped.

A side note - did you design your brochures or did a third party? You want to make sure some college designer didn't just sell off the same design he sold ye, which would invalidate your case.

Dabko

good to see the hard hitting recession has us all running to the courts to "sue, sue, sue"

Americanisation of the nation :mad:

narkymarky

Told you before - this recession delusion thing is all in your head. Things are fine and dandy, we're all on the up, keep spending.
Don't try and tell me that if you broke you balls on marketing material that was 100% your own blood, sweat and tears you wouldn't feel somewhat put out if someone lifted it and used it to their own competitive advantage!

Flyboy!!!

You know both sides could end up seriously out of pocket over this. You may be willing to go all the way with this but do you have the money to spare on legal fees. The other side may feel the same. A safer route may be to hit them for a nuisance fee. Ask yourself seriously how much can you accept without your ego hurting too much. It'd probably be an idea to ask a Solicitor or a good Accountant how much he thinks the other side would be willing to pay. I don't know about Solicitors but I do know a good Accountant versed in Buisness law I could recommend. He lectures for BPP and has lectured for UCD in the past.

sh_o

There may be a number of legal issues at play here - potentially passing off, copyright infringment plus a few others. I would recommend you contact your solicitor who should be able to tell you relativly quickly what course of action you can or should take.

If there is blatent infringment, then generally a letter would be sufficient to have them take the offending content down - provided they are based in the same jurisdiction. Otherwise, there are multiple avenues that could be taken.

Note that depending on how good the brochure is, potential customers could go to this competitor rather than you etc..

I know that it may be cheaper not to go to a solicitor, but sometimes they do have their uses!