M.R. Mold &
Engineering Corp., Brea, CA, recently fell victim to a different type of cyber
crime: website piracy. While surfing the internet for images, M.R. Mold Owner
Rick Finnie came across an image that he recognized as his own, and hovered over
the image with his mouse to track the source. To his surprise, M.R. Mold’s
website did not appear but instead, a company from China by the name of Mold
Sourcing China. The website was an exact copy of M.R. Mold’s site, from
categories and tabs to all verbiage and images. M.R. Mold’s website had been
pirated – copied to the T.
Taking immediate
action, M.R. Mold contacted AMBA’s partner law firm Ice Miller to see what could
be done. According to M.R. Mold Marketing Director Geri Anderson, its website
administrator was a great help and immediately identified the host of the
pirated website. “Ice Miller sent out a letter to the host company to cease and
desist, accompanied by a 40-page document proving the website was pirated,” said
Anderson. “It was a long, arduous process putting together the documentation,
but it was necessary to prove the theft.” It also cost the company almost $8,000 to claim what was their own.
The process took
about a month and on January 10, 2014, the pirated site was taken down.
Unfortunately, on January 13, 2014, just three days later, the site reappeared
using a new host, and the process started all over again. “We went after the
hosts instead of the Chinese company because the hosts were in the US and
provided a route that was much easier and quicker,” said Anderson. “Going after
the registrar would have taken too long and cost too much
money.”
Today, M.R. Mold
continues its struggle, as the stolen site still contains two categories copied
off of its website. To help combat future theft, M.R. Mold recommends taking the
following precautions:
- Watermark all images with company
name and/or website. These watermarks cannot be removed and help to protect your
property.
-
Register your
contact information with Google. Google then checks content information and the
author to ensure its validity. If Google finds it is not valid, it penalizes the
fake author via Google rankings. This doesn't prevent others from using your
content, but it is a deterrent.
- Conduct periodic searches through
your web browser to ensure the integrity of your website.
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