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Nest O' Rattlesnakes [Sad Ending, sorry...]
Bit O Background: One thing I do is sell premade site templates for dirt cheap. A big part of the cheap deal is because I require a link back to my site, I figure it helps drum up business that way. They get their site for SUPER cheap, I get promoted. Sweet.
Well this one guy bought a premade, seems normal enough at first. Definitely didn't show up on my SCdar....must've put extra points into Stealth. He pays up willingly, was very nice and sweet when we installed it and made it all live.
A week or so later we get notified that said client had put new images up on his homepage. No biggie....expect they were images from one of my other sites. He'd edited out the site's name, put his in, and changed the color of two of the "bullet" images.
So I of course, sent him a cease and desist for that.
He. Flipped. His. Poop.
I got a HUGE email full of various obscenities, telling me "you can't copyright a rectangle!", and all sorts of BS. I calmly inform his hosting service about the images, and that if they aren't removed within 24 hours, his site needs to go down. They agree, and notify him of what they will do.
He proceeds to send me instant messages, hopping from one account to another, cursing me out. But, he takes down the image.
Within three days, he has a copied version up. New background images, same theme for the icons, and almost the exact same text as mine. Just different enough though, that I decide to let it go.
Two weeks after THAT, I notice that he's removed his backlink to our site. I inform him that he needs to put it back up...cue same behavior as before, minus the "you can't copyright rectangles". His hosting company at this point lets him know in no uncertain terms they are sick and tired of his crud, and that they are on their way to pull the plug on his site. Link goes back up instantly. I inform him that if there is ONE more violation, I am pulling his template, and there will be no refund. No response from him.
Well, here comes the bad part. Apparently he was so furious about all of this, that he went out and hired a new design company for a second website he was opening.
Seriously fudging complicated story I don't want to go into short: I got a leaked version of his website, and found out it was a rip of one of mine. I notified his hosting company that this was the last straw....and he started a smear campaign against me. He told lots of lies, I lost a few contracts to people who believed him, even though I had proof to otherwise. Oh well. I told the hosting company to wait until he made the site live to see what happens.
Site goes live.
It was MUCH worse than I thought. Literally, 90% of the site is comprised of bits and pieces hacked off from my best designs. Kinda had to laugh, a few people who backed him on his little smear campaign threw a FIT because they saw parts of their sites. He even told one of them, that he'd directly stolen their site feature.
I wish this had a happy ending, but it doesn't. There's no pwnage. I was infuriated by what he did, but due to copyright laws, since he stole from so many sources....I don't think I can do anything about it.
Even worse, I received an anonymous email from "someone who had tangled with him before". Turns out, said client is a bad hacker. Not like "lolscriptkiddie"....like...this guy has stolen identities, hacked PayPal accounts and drained them dry. His side business? Scamming people out of their World of Warcraft accounts and selling them on Ebay. So yeah, quite frankly, I've accidentally fallen into a nest of rattlesnakes, and I'm praying to God I don't get bitten.
I wish, I wish soooo much that I could get him for his new site. Its sickening seeing so many parts of MY designs being stolen, and claimed as someone else's work.
But...can't do anything about it... Money's tight as it is, and I am working my tail end off just to pay off some of our bills. I don't have to time to research this and give the scumball the ravaging mandibles of pain that he deserves.
Well this one guy bought a premade, seems normal enough at first. Definitely didn't show up on my SCdar....must've put extra points into Stealth. He pays up willingly, was very nice and sweet when we installed it and made it all live.
A week or so later we get notified that said client had put new images up on his homepage. No biggie....expect they were images from one of my other sites. He'd edited out the site's name, put his in, and changed the color of two of the "bullet" images.
So I of course, sent him a cease and desist for that.
He. Flipped. His. Poop.
I got a HUGE email full of various obscenities, telling me "you can't copyright a rectangle!", and all sorts of BS. I calmly inform his hosting service about the images, and that if they aren't removed within 24 hours, his site needs to go down. They agree, and notify him of what they will do.
He proceeds to send me instant messages, hopping from one account to another, cursing me out. But, he takes down the image.
Within three days, he has a copied version up. New background images, same theme for the icons, and almost the exact same text as mine. Just different enough though, that I decide to let it go.
Two weeks after THAT, I notice that he's removed his backlink to our site. I inform him that he needs to put it back up...cue same behavior as before, minus the "you can't copyright rectangles". His hosting company at this point lets him know in no uncertain terms they are sick and tired of his crud, and that they are on their way to pull the plug on his site. Link goes back up instantly. I inform him that if there is ONE more violation, I am pulling his template, and there will be no refund. No response from him.
Well, here comes the bad part. Apparently he was so furious about all of this, that he went out and hired a new design company for a second website he was opening.
Seriously fudging complicated story I don't want to go into short: I got a leaked version of his website, and found out it was a rip of one of mine. I notified his hosting company that this was the last straw....and he started a smear campaign against me. He told lots of lies, I lost a few contracts to people who believed him, even though I had proof to otherwise. Oh well. I told the hosting company to wait until he made the site live to see what happens.
Site goes live.
It was MUCH worse than I thought. Literally, 90% of the site is comprised of bits and pieces hacked off from my best designs. Kinda had to laugh, a few people who backed him on his little smear campaign threw a FIT because they saw parts of their sites. He even told one of them, that he'd directly stolen their site feature.
I wish this had a happy ending, but it doesn't. There's no pwnage. I was infuriated by what he did, but due to copyright laws, since he stole from so many sources....I don't think I can do anything about it.
Even worse, I received an anonymous email from "someone who had tangled with him before". Turns out, said client is a bad hacker. Not like "lolscriptkiddie"....like...this guy has stolen identities, hacked PayPal accounts and drained them dry. His side business? Scamming people out of their World of Warcraft accounts and selling them on Ebay. So yeah, quite frankly, I've accidentally fallen into a nest of rattlesnakes, and I'm praying to God I don't get bitten.
I wish, I wish soooo much that I could get him for his new site. Its sickening seeing so many parts of MY designs being stolen, and claimed as someone else's work.
But...can't do anything about it... Money's tight as it is, and I am working my tail end off just to pay off some of our bills. I don't have to time to research this and give the scumball the ravaging mandibles of pain that he deserves.
I AM the evil bastard!
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