Having your brand and content replicated by another website can be an ordeal. After all the hard work you put in to produce high quality material for an audience who respect and value your output it’s so frustrating to see someone just rip it off and benefit from the fruits of your labour.
Don’t despair! In this blog post we’ll provide step-by-step instructions on how you can get a website shut down that has stolen your materials without permission. So if you’re feeling violated take heart – there is still hope yet!
1. Understand the legality of your claim
One of the vital steps towards safeguarding your digital properties involves understanding the legality of your claim. This understanding is essential, especially when you’re considering shutting down a website due to copyright or trademark infringement. Let’s delve deeper into the intricate aspects of this process.
- Owning the Rights to Your Brand and Content The initial step towards protecting your brand and content involves establishing your legal rights over them. A copyright protects the original work of authorship, including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works. In contrast, a trademark protects words, names, symbols, sounds, or colours that distinguish goods and services.
- Copyright and Trademark Protection Across Different Territories It is crucial to note that copyright and trademark protections may vary across different territories. Therefore, before initiating a takedown process, it is recommended to conduct thorough research to understand the scope of trademark and copyright protection in each specific territory where you believe an infringement has occurred.
- Filing a Takedown Request Once you have established your rights and understood the territorial legalities, you can consider filing a takedown request if you believe your rights have been infringed upon. A takedown request is a formal request to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) or a web host to remove certain content or a website due to copyright or trademark infringement.
- Checking Legal Boxes Before you begin the takedown process, you must ensure that all legal boxes are checked. This involves confirming the validity of your claim, ensuring your trademark or copyright is registered and active, and that the alleged infringement falls under the jurisdiction of the territory you are claiming.
Key Points to Remember
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Establishing Your Rights | Ensure you own the rights to your brand and content. This involves getting your content and brand name trademarked or copyrighted. |
| Understanding Territorial Legalities | Research and understand the scope of copyright and trademark protections in the specific territories where you believe your rights have been infringed upon. |
| Filing a Takedown Request | If your rights have been infringed upon, consider filing a takedown request with the appropriate ISP or web host. |
| Checking Legal Boxes | Before initiating the takedown process, check all legal aspects, including the validity of your claim, the status of your trademark or copyright, and the jurisdiction of the alleged infringement. |
2. Monitor your content across Google
Staying on top of content across Google can be a challenging task, but it’s an important one. Regularly compare search results to your original work, documenting any differences you find including the date and the source with which they compare. Keep track of the amount of time spent completing these searches, and make sure to monitor them regularly – it will help you in the process of taking the copycat website down!
3. Find out who copied or used your brand without permission
If you think someone has copied or used your brand without permission, the first step is to find who is responsible. Whois search and public records can help you identify who owns any website domain you’re concerned about. If your investigation reveals a brand infringer, contact their hosting company who then can shut down the site based off their terms of service agreement. While this process may be daunting at first, a little investigative work will help you get the justice deserved. Hosting cost is an important consideration, and having to move it might deter the party from repeating the offence.
4. Gather and include any evidence that you have of the infringement
If someone has plagiarized your brand, content or images from your website, you should start by gathering any evidence to help prove that such incident occurred and is unlawful. Start by identifying the incident timeline – when it happened; what was taken; and the source of illegal use. Additionally, collect screenshots, recordings or documents as these can serve as additional evidence to present. You may also need evidence showing any losses (possible traffic or revenue losses caused by this) which you have experienced due to the breach of copyright law. Compare what it was like before the infringement incident vs. after in order to further determine potential impact on your business.
5. Contact payment processors (Ecommerce or Transactional sites only)
Worried about someone copying your brand or content? If we’re talking about an ecommerce site or any site that takes payment. Don’t let it stay online for long – take action and start by contacting payment processors or bank. Do your research and reach out to payment gateways, banks, PayPal and Stripe straight directly. Many payment processors have an abuse procedure which you can fill out to get the website shut down quickly.
6. Run ads to direct temporarily direct traffic to real website
To temporarily direct traffic away from the offending website, you may consider running ads to point customers to your real website instead. This solution can be expensive depending on how long it runs, but it can be an effective way to provide a temporary mitigation while more permanent solutions are being discussed and enacted. It’s important to keep in mind that this is still a short-term solution and should not be taken lightly – running ads for a longer period means higher costs, so make sure you evaluate the situation carefully before moving forward if this ends up being your approach.
7. Use social media to reach out and raise awareness
If you suspect someone has copied your brand and content, try to reach out first. Depending on the circumstances, it may be prudent and easier to reach out diplomatically instead of rushing to take legal action. Utilizing professional networks like LinkedIn or Twitter can be a great way to raise awareness to your situation, but remember that formality is key. Being polite and professional should always be a priority.
8. File a complaint with the site’s host
If you come across a particularly pesky website that has copied your brand and content, one way to get it shut down is by filing a report of abuse with the site’s host. If you need to find out who is hosting the site, use services like https://hostingchecker.com/. Most hosting providers have a team whose job is to review these types of reports and take them seriously, as well as provide assistance every step of the way. So if you find a site that is infringing on your intellectual property rights, don’t hesitate to report it directly to the hosting provider’s support department!
9. Send a cease and desist letter
Sending a cease and desist letter is the first step towards getting a website shut down if someone is copying your brand and content. The templates available online are a good starting point, however for maximum impact it’s wise to get professional legal advice from a solicitor and send the letter through them. Doing so is likely to work better than if you were to go it alone, so it pays off in the long run.
10. Report a website infringing your IP
If you need to report a website infringing on your intellectual property (IP) in the UK, follow these steps:
- Identify Infringement: Determine if your IP (patent, copyright, design, or trademark) is being used without permission.
- Seek Resolution: Contact the infringing party to stop using your IP or negotiate a licensing agreement. Consider mediation as an alternative dispute resolution method.
- Take Legal Action: If other means fail, legal action may be necessary.
- Report IP Crime: For criminal offences related to IP (like unauthorised use of copyrighted material or registered trademarks), contact Trading Standards via Citizens Advice (Citizens Advice) or report anonymously through Crimestoppers (Crimestoppers) and Action Fraud (Action Fraud).
For more detailed guidance, visit GOV.UK.
11. File a DMCA takedown notice
Filing a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notice could be the best way to take swift action against someone who has copied your brand or content. The process for filing one is surprisingly straightforward, and it just might be the best line of defence to protect your valuable intellectual property rights. Plus, it’s free! So why not make use of it? Your business deserves legal protection, and you can use this simple but effective method to get the website taken down in no time.
12. Send a cease and desist letter to Google
If you discover someone copying your brand and content, the first step to getting a website shut down is to send a cease and desist letter directly to Google. This search engine specific letter will inform them of the situation, ensuring they are aware that unauthorized use of your intellectual property is taking place. Notifying Google is a necessary action as not only could their search engine be helping to facilitate an infringement, but in some cases, Google may also be providing additional support to the infringing website’s activities. Sending a cease and desist quickly and clearly will help you get closer to reclaiming what’s rightfully yours in no time!
13. Check your trademark status
If you’re concerned about someone copying your trademarked brand and content, the first step is to validate that you actually trademarked your name. Fortunately, trademark lookup tools are available (like https://www.gov.uk/search-for-trademark for UK) to do a quick search for trademark records in different classes and territories. This effort can save time and frustration if your trademark application is found to be valid. So protect your intellectual property, check your trademark status today!
14. Seek legal advise
If someone has copied your brand and content, your immediate action should be to seek legal advice straight away. You need to work with a solicitor or an agent who specialises in these kinds of situations to get the issue resolved quickly and legally. Don’t wait around – take action as soon as possible to protect your brand.
15. Consider legal action
When it comes to getting a counterfeit website shut down, you could consider legal action. However, this could be quite expensive and there is no guarantee that the outcome will be positive. With a court case, there could also be more legal fees to come if the person responsible doesn’t have the funds to pay you back, meaning you may struggle to get your money.
Protecting your brand is an essential piece to maintaining a successful business and managing it in the age of the internet can be difficult. Taking the right steps when faced with an infringing website or content should not be taken lightly. Having the proper understanding of your legalities, taking proactive steps to monitor online activity, finding out the author responsible for content use and reporting promptly, gathering evidence for backup for written allegations or charges are all imperative measures to consider when trying to shut down a website that has copied your content or brand illegally. Depending on your case it can also be advantageous to run ads, utilize social media platforms as well as send cease and desist letters to both Google and site hosting companies. If applicable you should also seek legal advisement regarding any potential trademarks before moving forward with any lawsuits. With these measures marketers have a higher chance of protecting their work from stolen material. If handled quickly and correctly these efforts will lead to more tangible solutions than had they been handled leisurely. Ultimately having several routes at one’s disposal puts them at an advantage if their request is ever challenged or denied. If you find yourself in the position where you need help getting a website shut down then make sure you contact EXPRE so that we can offer our professional advice on how best to handle your case properly and effectively. Call today!
