12 replies to this topic

[erik]

Today i was looking to my web statistics. I have published my new web site just some week ago and i check often details of my visitors. The web site was an hard job for me, choosing best colors, layouts and graphics.
When finished i published a post here to receive your impression, and thanks again for appreciations.
In my web statistics today i found a strange link, and open it and wath i found? A copy of my web site. Someone took my web site, change just some thinks (photos and texts) and publish it on line.
I don't no why but is a very bad idea.
I write this post for all member because i'm very disappointed about this and maybe the owner of the copied web site is a wetpixel member, i said this because my web site for the moment was published only in wetpixel forum.

My web site: www.erikhenchoz.com
publischeda 08/11/2006

The illegally copied web site: http://laurentkbaier...fr/acceuil.html

I hope that the owner of the web site understand how important is to not copy works maked but others.
Web sites are hard to do like UW photos and is illegal and not educated to make actions like this one.
I hope that he could change is graphic that is 100% copied (also with a lot of error and bugs) from mine.
I use my web site also fro job and this think could give me also some problems, so i'm also ready to do legal actions.

Sorry for my poor english.

POST SCRIPTUM:
looking and his web pages i read the is the winner of the Antibes festival 2006!
Very good, maybe he do the same think with uw photos like my web site?
Really a very bad think i hope that the wetpixel community could make somethink.
http://laurentkbaier...uteur.html?ID=2
Thank you Laurent Kbaier, is really nice to copy! But you can make a better job.
I hope you will change your pages very quick.

ERIK

Edited by erik, 23 December 2006 - 10:15 AM.

[Rocha]

Hi Erik,

While I completely understand your frustration, I don't think it is ilegal to copy website designs in most countries, unless you specifically registered your design in the copyright office. I don't know about specific laws in Italy, but here is some info about it from the UK:

http://www.copyright...esign_copyright

Websites are not like photographs. The minute that photos are created, the copyright belongs to the photographer, but you actually have to register your design in order for it to be copyright protected. It is the same as other designs, for example, if you build a new house that looks great but don't register the plans in a copyright office, anybody (even your neighboor) can build an identical one. Now, if he copied any of the photos or text from your site, that's another case completely.

In summary, if you registered your website in an Italian copyright office, than you can take legal measures, if not I don't think there is anything you can do (unless he copied photos from your site too). If the site is registered, here is what you can do (again UK laws):

http://www.copyright...ht_infringement

Note that simply writing a copyright notice in the bottom of the page doesn't automatically protect it, you have to register it in the copyright office to opbtain protection.

Again, I am not trying to say that you are wrong or anything, it is just that the internet is a very open space and everyone is inspired by somebody else (to some extent). If I were you I would simply relax and take this as a compliment! Nobody ever copied my site, but yours looks a lot better than mine...

Luiz

[erik]

Hi Luiz thank you for posting, yes your arguments are resonnables i know wery well these thinks. My interest is not in legal action, i don't need it in any case and i don't have time to waist in stupid questions, but really this think demonstrate a very bad attidude specially for someone that is usefull to partecipate in uw photos competitions and would be a famous photographer.
I makes web sites for job, i have a web agency www.webnetstudio.it and the asp application with the graphic used for my web site is registered an copyrighted here in italy, i sell it to my customers.
Writing the post my interest was to inform wetpixel members and photographer about a very bad action. If you like a web site certainly you could make inspiration from it and use some ideas (in my job is normal and i don't have any problem when i found some web site using my ideas or when i use some good ideas too) and maybe more, but in this case web site is totally copied and just some very littles changemets was maked from my original.
For job we use also templates that you can buy on the web (www.boxedart.com, www.designload.net). Also in this cases (paying for use) the vendors ask for contract to make substantials changements to the templates.
Differently, in my case, the owner of the web site has totally copied my site and make very little changement....and if you check also colors for the 90% are unchenged, layout is 100% the same. This could make some confusions because web site are very similars, for me is a respect lack and we can argument a lot about but the the true is that he copied the web site in a very brutal mode with not intelligence. With a little work is possible to use a similar layout and graphic making a very different web site...
My intentions are very differents from legal actions: i think is very important a forum like this one. It give the possibility to know members and photographer non very clear and professional because this action for me is just this a respect lack.
For me in life and in my job the respect is the fondamental think, differently today i can use your graphic for my web site, tomorrow your photos for make money and next week maybe more. Law can do very small think in this case the best is to use our community and to give informations about bad actions. Fondamental is people education.
Is important in our little world of uw photographer to have respect between us and to announce publicly when some member don't respect others banning this actions. Differently i don't think the we would like to have an UW phorography world populated by this kind of people, copying photos, web sites and more.
Sure it can be a compliment, some companies have copied some graphics that i maked in my job but making whit a little bit of intelligence and in some cases they asked me permissions with a simple email, it was a pleasure from me to give it.
For example i love Eric's Cheng web site but i'll never use the same graphic of this web site for 2 reasons: to respect the photographer and also because i would like to have a unique web page. I think that Eric, like you, will be disappointed to find on web his site totally copied.
Differently this guy present is work and his palmares...mybe it would be present his web site in some competition? Very simple to make thinks, when you need you totally copy.... and after that? Where is your professionalty? Next time you present some think ...will be your or a copied work?
Your web site is very good! I like it and i always read your posts to learn more :-).
Finally, i'm very relaxed i'm just returning for a beautifull dive trip with very good photos .... ;.))) maybe i will send to Laurent some of this images he could use one of theses in Antibes 2007 :-) ...you know i don't like UW photos competitions and if winners are guy like this ... i'm right :-). I make photos for passions like my scuba instructor job any i don't need more but i don't like this king of guys especially in our uw world.
Thank you for your answer and links ...very interesting :-)
MERRY CHRISTMAS :-)

PS: sorry for my poor and very bad english

ERIK

Edited by erik, 25 December 2006 - 11:05 AM.

[Cerianthus]

Did you contact the person in question directly? There is an email at his site (or rather Erik's site 1.1 )

[erik]

Did you contact the person in question directly? There is an email at his site (or rather Erik's site 1.1 )

Yes sended an email, but no news for the moment, in any case we are working hard for Erik's 1.2 revision B :-) :-). I'm joking, i will work on new photos and prepare the Digital Workshop for March.

ERIK

[erik]

Good news. Lauren decide to change his web site. A very good and professional decision. I hope to see soon as possible his new web site with very good photos.
Thank you and a Happy new year to all wetpixel members

ERIK

[Rocha]

Glad to see that everything was solved Erik. Happy new year,

Luiz

[davichin]

Laurent you are a naughty boy...
I think that you can win Antibes or whatever but this is extremely embarassing...
Congratulations Erik!

[Hazel15]

In the UK there is an expression that goes something like this; "Copying is the most sincere form of flattery”

I have worked as a web developer for over 10 years and have found this to be true. Most people have the decency to use my designs as inspiration rather than directly copying, but it does happen and can be very frustrating when people take my hard work and experience and rip it off. I have usually solved this with a few polite emails and as you found most people are quite reasonable about it once they realise they have been caught in the act. I have found the website http://www.archive.org very useful for illustrating how long my designs have been in existence.

Liked your site. B)

Hazel

[erik]

In the UK there is an expression that goes something like this; "Copying is the most sincere form of flattery”

I have worked as a web developer for over 10 years and have found this to be true. Most people have the decency to use my designs as inspiration rather than directly copying, but it does happen and can be very frustrating when people take my hard work and experience and rip it off. I have usually solved this with a few polite emails and as you found most people are quite reasonable about it once they realise they have been caught in the act. I have found the website http://www.archive.org very useful for illustrating how long my designs have been in existence.

Liked your site. B)

Hazel

Yes it could be a flattery, the problem was he copy directly the web site, i was able to discover the copy because it also no modify the javascript that i use for collect data about web visits. Infacts in my web statistics i was reading about a new website...and was my web pages copied :-) with counter that was adding vistis to my website statistics.
A very poor job, it would be a flattery if he was using my idea, my layout for a new web site (and making better maybe), but i makes more: he takes my pages with css (the same just changed a color), changed photos and some text (most are very similar) and putted on the web.
I make web sites for job and often i use great ideas from other people and sometimes some webmasters use my ideas with no problems. In this case the situation was totally different :-).
In any case from the moment that i put something on web and i publish it, i knows that it could be copied... but the are different king of method to copy... and this one is very........ i leave you place to find an adjective.
In any case this is an old think. Laurent changed (no to much...) the site after i wrote him....

Bye

[ScubaSapiens]

You know, one of these days we're gonna run out of web designs... Then what?

[herbko]

You know, one of these days we're gonna run out of web designs... Then what?

I wouldn't worry about that. I think there's more ways to do a web site than sewing a shirt together, and fashion designers are still in business.

[rtrski]

You know, one of these days we're gonna run out of web designs... Then what?

That's already happened. And the result is the abomination called "MySpace."

Sorry, couldn't resist....