site theft
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- willhaven
ok, need help on this one fast. I am contracted by client to build 2 websites, not terribly big ones but 2 sites none the less. The project grows and eventaully incudes print ads, a flash animation for the xmas party, billboard ads, xmas cards, and party invites . We have sent 2 bills for work to date but they havent payed 1 cent towards it always giving excuses. eventually after a few emails and phone calls i stopped doing any creative for them until services were paid for. week goes by and i get no answer. monday i get an email saying they no longer need my services. The sites that I had built for them were loaded on my web server and were never given to them in any format aside from printouts during meetings. I took all the online work down after getting th email. 2 hrs later another agency emails me asking for the 3 remaining files that are no longer there so they can load the site. I ask how they got the files and they respond we downloaded them off your web site. As of tonight they have loaded the site to their own server and it is live to the public.
WHO HAS INFO ON THEFT AND COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT TYPE LAWS AND WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE?
please guys help me out!
R2
- -scarabin-0
that's fucking shady
- lvl_130
are you fucking serious!
damn man, i have been in your shoes (almost) and was able to get about 3/4 of the overall bill just with simple phone / mail negotiation. do you have a contract? some sort of signed document about what you will provide to them and what they are paying you for it? anything with legal bind? keep in mind all email and documentation between you and said company constitutes legal bind to an extent.
- willhaven0
yes i have written,email and contract docs with it documented.
Plus the dumb ass left our site credit link and html tags with our name in it online.
thought- what if I log into the site theirs thats holding my work and delete it? is that shitty to do or would it have reprocussions- i mean they did give me admin acces....total bill comes out to just over $8200 USD.
my biggest concern now is when the site was built and on MY server - I had put "all rights reserved by client name" on the credits page. So now that they stole it , it does leaglly cover them from what I read. But it was stolen you know?
legal help anybody?
-thanks for responses so far 8)
- fresnobob0
Don't know how to help you, but that really blows.
- VectorMasked0
wow. that sucks. Sorry to hear the bad news.
I was also gonna ask if you had a contract or a signed document. As we all know without one of these is like going to war without a weapon. You just can't do much.
I personaly haven't gone thru something like this (yet), but I did once do some work, got paid and have not been asked to give them the designs in 16 months.haha!! I know it has nothing to do with this but I just wanted to mention it :o)
Hope everything works out well for ya. I really hate to see another fellow designer get screwed. Good luck.
- dbloc0
let's see the site.....
- VectorMasked0
Yeah! Show us the logo!!!
oops!!
sorry. Wrong thread. I just got used to say that to that other dude who never showed a rip of a logo.
anyway, yeah show us the site.
- dbloc0
just found this...might help. Good Luck! I hope the fucker gets his ass handed to him.
If you are an Internet business, or a business with an Internet legal problem, we offer a free initial consultation to you.
- g3kk0k1d0
seriously just ring a lawyer
- auxillary0
I don't know where you are but this can't be legal anywhere? Ring that lawyer or get any legal consulting going on.
- anon0
call a lawyer? where are the days you just fucking suckerpunched an asshole for being an asshole? i'd definitely kill everything on that server and put up an image of some gays snowballin' each other or something. how the hell would they know it's you anyways? fuck 'em and fuck 'em hard. revenge is sweet you know.
- monkeyshine0
revenge is well and good but be a professional and do not shoot yourself in the foot. Call an attorney; maybe they can send a letter on your behalf.
- tkmeister0
i'd upload the latest file with bugs hidden in mutliple locations to trigger complete shut down on the site. well, that's if the site is designed in flash...
but i am sure you can do that in html too with javascript.
- anon0
being professional makes sense, seriously, if everyone involved is being professional that is. which in this situation is not the case. you have a bunch of assholes fucking you over big time, and probably have a great time doing so, and as a reaction you go see a lawyer? i don't know about that though.
- Rushmore0
that really sucks
AKA
Welcome to the industry.
- imakedesign0
this is why you should always have multipe signoffs
- anon0
multiple signoffs and/or a couple of russian "friends". :P
- BonRickles0
hit the client in the face with a brick
- willhaven0
thanks to all that responed, all are good ideas to be honest.
I'd show the site but I'm so embarrased by it. I made three designs and the client picked the one I spent zero time on. it was different then any other Realty Company Website.
I think I will contact a lawyer and send thema letter. I'll let all know how it turns out.
Thanks again!
R2