Competition is Good, Copying is Bad

I've always been of the opinion that competition is a good thing. It encourages all of us to be better and make better products. While it might be true that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, copying someone else's work is simply wrong.

We recently came across a competitor using our sales copy. The competitor was using a web graph showing the traffic on one of our sites, along with our sales copy to promote their competing application. Digging a little further, I realized that their competing application was, in both form and function, identical to our application. The competing program contained identical screenshots, custom program icons and our help documentation. While the code of the program was, in fact, different, it was clear that our copyright had been violated.

We are not the first company to have our copyright violated and once the initial emotional reaction passed, we took action.

Dealing With Copyright or Trademark Violations:

Who, What and Where
Before reacting, it is important to do homework and research the alleged content violator. Arm yourself with information. Determining the who, what and where will guide you in taking the appropriate steps.

Determine WHO is violating your copyright
Research the website: do a Whois lookup to determine the site's owner. The domain owner can be found by entering the domain into http://www.whois.com and clicking on the link that says "Whois Lookup". If the copyright on software has been violated, check the PAD file for the author and release date.

Determine WHERE the website hosting is located
Determine where the website is hosted. Web hosts located in progressive countries will be more cooperative in addressing copyright violations. After determining the webhost's location, check the host's Terms of Service (TOS) and Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) to determine the level of cooperation you will likely receive. More often than not, a physical address and detailed information on how to report an abuse claim will be found in the webhost's terms of service.

Determine exactly WHAT violations have occurred.
When determining if a copyright violation has occurred, it is important to go back to the question of what constitutes a copyright violation.

Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) to the authors of