15 replies to this topic

[Stew]

I run a site with cheats for an online game called Whyville. A bunch of dumb kids have the nerve to go on my news system and post comments advertising their own sites.  So I check out these competition sites.  I found one that copied and paste my exact content on his site.  Giving no credit.  Even using my I'mages.

I was mad.

I filed copyright infringement with Freewebs, his host. 
For you info, his site is at http://www.freewebs.com/whycheat/

My complaint
Name: Stewart *****
Phone Number: **********
URL: http://www.freewebs.com/whycheat/
Type of Abuse: Copyright Infringement

# The name of the page(s) that contains the content in question: Whyville Cheats
# A description of the content: Cheats for gaming site Whyville
# Location of your site from which the content has been stolen: http://www.whyville.tk
# Method of violation (hotlinked content, copied content, altered content): Direct copying and pasting of large amounts of text, and various I'mages.
# Date of creation of original content: December 2003

Their Response
Dear FreeWebs User,

The page you have specified is not hosted with FreeWebs. Please contact the proper host regarding any such violations.

Best Regards,
FreeWebs

Okay.  First of all, I'm not a "FreeWebs User".  Second of all:  How the heck can a site be hosted on freewebs.com and not be hosted by freewebs.com?!?!

So I sent them another email.

Hi,

Aren't all pages on www.freewebs.com hosted by you?  The following
site is violating my copyright, and it is on freewebs.com so you are
responsible.
http://www.freewebs.com/whycheat/
Please reply,
Stewart

The response.
Dear FreeWebs User,

No, that page is linked to elsewhere and is not hosted by us. If you look at the bottom of the page, you will notice it is hosted by another host.

Me
Hi,

The bottom of the page says, " This site built and hosted for free by
FreeWebs.com."  Does that not mean that you host it?

Stewart

Them
Dear FreeWebs User,

Go to the link which you are complaint about, hot the homepage. Then go to the bottom of THAT page. THAT page is NOT hosted by us.

Pretty sure that's the same page, dude.

By this point, I'm pretty fed up.  So here's the latest email I sent them:

Which page are you referring to?  The page I complained about
(http://www.freewebs.com/whycheat/) says "site built and hosted for
free by FreeWebs.com".  If you cannot confirm this, then who does the
site belong to, and what do you clai'm it says at the bottom of the
page?  The URL is on freewebs.com therefore it does belong to you and
is hosted by you.  You are responsible for hosting copyright-violating
material at the web address noted.  If you have a manager or
supervisor, I would like to contact hi'm or her please.

Stewart


I cannot believe these people....

[xx_WLT_xx]

They're dumb I believe that emailer of theirs is a computer

[Chris]

did you have it copyrighted in the first place? or have proof that you wrote it first

and I read that whole email.. they are pretty dumb

[Cipher]

I can't beleive they can be that dumb! HOW In the world can freewebs have their logo and not say it wasn't hosted by them. IDIOTS!

[Mumei]

did you have it copyrighted in the first place? or have proof that you wrote it first

and I read that whole email.. they are pretty dumb

copyright doesn't work like that, by default the author had intelectiual property rights even if a patent/copyright has not been filed

[Chris]

copyright doesn't work like that, by default the author had intelectiual property rights even if a patent/copyright has not been filed

yes.. but how do they know if he made the idea or if someone else gave it to hi'm?

[Darkness]

they aren't dumb, just damn lazy, they don't want to deal with it I bet

[penguin313]

SOOOO stupid

[Arkidas]

That is a bit dumb. But I think they mean YOUR site isn't hosted at freewebs so FREEWEBS STAFF don't care about YOUR SITE. Of course it's wrong of them to do that but they can't do anything else unless you prove you had it first. Thanks for reading.

[Stew]

I finally got an investigation, w00t. 

I sent them a parallel list of my pages, and the copies on their server.  Now they're taking a look. 

But still.  horrible grammar, and horrible unprofessional service.  on their Abuse page, they spelled Violation wrong.

[redlion]

The site you said stole property has things like 'sorry, but I have to shut the site down' posted all over it. I think you won.

[Stew]

ugh it's about ti'me!

[Sean]

Good! I hope they get sued and whatnot! Freewebs is freaken stupid -_-

[Funnlecake]

when you goto the cheats it says this \:

We are sorry, this site is currently frozen for a potential violation of our Terms.
FreeWebs offers free websites and web hosting to millions of web users.
Get your own FREE website now!



ACCOUNT FROZEN.
ACCESS DENIED

[SiLeNTScReAM]

Nope, now on his site he just links to his other site, saying his original one is getting shut down. His new site (click)

He obviously doesn't want to give up. It's bad enough you don't take legal action over this, but he is just aggrivating, isn't he?