Web Design Forums

waynem80 · 09-04-2008, 01:07

Hmmm.. lets see, I guess a Billion dollar business needs to rip off a little guys site design cause they can't afford their own...

Hi, I dunno where to start.. but I've decided to turn to my fellow design community for help..

The Golf Channel, Stole and Ripped Off Our Site Design! » NCGolfers.com

Considering the Resources the Golf Channel would have.. This is totally unacceptable..

A fellow member posted it to Reddit saying "Any redditors can go vote for it to get some more attention on the situation. The more attention the story gets, the more likely the offending party will have to answer for it."

I hope this is true, I dunno any other way to approach them, I tried emailing, they just ignored me!

Please help me fight this huge company and blog about this on your own site if you agree..

Thanks,
Wayne

illvibe · 09-04-2008, 01:12

The Golf Channel, Stole and Ripped Off Our Site Design! » NCGolfers.com

Looks like they took your background.

waynem80 · 09-04-2008, 01:21

Well, basically they took the whole structure of my site.. Obviously we both can change our back ground pictures..

There are suddle differences, like colors, and hue's, but they event used my gradients, exact "margins, paddings"

Point being, it's obvious to me they used my works to derive of their own.. which is plain out wrong!

I just hope this can help get some attention drawn to this, cause it hurt pretty bad to see them steal that from me..

Let it also be well known, that they knew of me before their "redesign" and then cut off any affiliation with me once I wrote them about it..

illvibe · 09-04-2008, 01:22

Hmmm. Suddle you say...

waynem80 · 09-04-2008, 01:27

Is it just me, or do you see it from a non bias perspective...

Shiro · 09-04-2008, 01:44

I don't know just how alike sites need to be before it can be considered plagiarism, but the sites definitely do have a very similar feel to them. You should talk to a copyright lawyer.

waynem80 · 09-04-2008, 01:48

Quote:

You should talk to a copyright lawyer

Problem is, i think they're just to big of a company to do anything about. I feel the closest shot i got is getting the design community behind me, and blog about it to help make them change their design..

illvibe · 09-04-2008, 02:06

Nah I'm with you, it's definitely been ripped. But perhaps they don't look enough alike to warrant getting too worked up. Personally I've had people rip my site and cheekily use images from it in their version. But they never look better than the original and cheats never prosper, so try to take it as flattery.

I feel your pain though.

waynem80 · 09-04-2008, 02:12

Cheat never prosper.. but, this company has a 40 million follower base, with 10's of millions of views a month... so ... that doesn't apply here, haha

illvibe · 09-04-2008, 02:21

Yeah. Usually it's the bottom-feeders that do the ripping. Maybe there's some compensation in it for you. Or maybe it's worth campaigning to make them change. But remember that you might end up expending more effort than simply redesigning an even better site for yourself.

waynem80 · 09-04-2008, 02:24

True, but I love my design.. it took me almost a year to get it right.. Don't necessarily want compensation. just want them to change their design, cause potential clients could think i'm sketchy for, what they would assume ripping thegolfchannel off.. since i'm the smaller guy, people who don't know the situation will think this..

niggle · 09-04-2008, 04:18

They look very, very similar and since the two companies seem to be in almost exactly the same line of work my guess would be that there's definitely some infringement of intellectual property to answer for.

As you say though, legal action could be very expensive and your competitors are likely to have the kind of flesh-eating lawyers you won't want to deal with.

Legal action isn't the only way forward though - have you thought about getting your users to sign some sort of petition in addition to leaving comments? If you get enough people behind you, there's every chance that one or more of the golfing magazines would be interested in running a story about this - mags have a lot of space to fill and everyone loves a little guy vs big business story. Your competitor isn't likely to want that sort of exposure and customer pressure can be very powerful!

Good luck whatever you do!

jg9 · 09-04-2008, 04:46

Quote:

Who says the Big Guys can't still the layout and designs from the smaller golf sites. Why not steal our design? It's better, maybe they were jealous... Whatever the reason, They took it without our authorization.

There's a typo in your first sentence.

illvibe · 09-04-2008, 05:12

And there's one in yours. ^^^

waynem80 · 09-04-2008, 10:57

Thanks for the typo correction, I fixed it.. It's the least of my worries though, haha

waynem80 · 09-04-2008, 10:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by niggle

They look very, very similar and since the two companies seem to be in almost exactly the same line of work my guess would be that there's definitely some infringement of intellectual property to answer for.

As you say though, legal action could be very expensive and your competitors are likely to have the kind of flesh-eating lawyers you won't want to deal with.

Legal action isn't the only way forward though - have you thought about getting your users to sign some sort of petition in addition to leaving comments? If you get enough people behind you, there's every chance that one or more of the golfing magazines would be interested in running a story about this - mags have a lot of space to fill and everyone loves a little guy vs big business story. Your competitor isn't likely to want that sort of exposure and customer pressure can be very powerful!

Good luck whatever you do!

That's what i'm trying to do here... I need designers behind me though.. cause golfers aren't always designers, and they'll think so what... "they both got the same template" which is a joke, cause i custom designed my site... and i know a billion dollar business doesn't use templates..

waynem80 · 09-04-2008, 11:53

My biggest concern is that they are a competitor of ours, They're in the exact same industry... It could be a little different if they weren't...

waynem80 · 09-04-2008, 12:27

Uploaded pics above for your viewing pleasure

freelancr · 09-04-2008, 12:37

Definitely a rip, not quite sure what you can do about it though.

waynem80 · 09-04-2008, 22:29

others that agree, so this is not just me by any means.. here at cssbeauty.com

SkillShare Forum - CSS Beauty - The Golf Channel.com, claims "New Site Redesign" Rips off it's design from my smaller golf site..

09-04-2008, 01:07	#1 (permalink)
waynem80 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 18	The Golf Channel.com, claims "New Site Redesign" Rips it's design off my golf site.. Hmmm.. lets see, I guess a Billion dollar business needs to rip off a little guys site design cause they can't afford their own... Hi, I dunno where to start.. but I've decided to turn to my fellow design community for help.. The Golf Channel, Stole and Ripped Off Our Site Design! » NCGolfers.com Considering the Resources the Golf Channel would have.. This is totally unacceptable.. A fellow member posted it to Reddit saying "Any redditors can go vote for it to get some more attention on the situation. The more attention the story gets, the more likely the offending party will have to answer for it." I hope this is true, I dunno any other way to approach them, I tried emailing, they just ignored me! Please help me fight this huge company and blog about this on your own site if you agree.. Thanks, Wayne Last edited by waynem80 : 09-04-2008 at 22:44.

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09-04-2008, 01:12	#2 (permalink)
illvibe say werd. Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Japan Posts: 1,382	The Golf Channel, Stole and Ripped Off Our Site Design! » NCGolfers.com Looks like they took your background.

09-04-2008, 01:21	#3 (permalink)
waynem80 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 18	Well, basically they took the whole structure of my site.. Obviously we both can change our back ground pictures.. There are suddle differences, like colors, and hue's, but they event used my gradients, exact "margins, paddings" Point being, it's obvious to me they used my works to derive of their own.. which is plain out wrong! I just hope this can help get some attention drawn to this, cause it hurt pretty bad to see them steal that from me.. Let it also be well known, that they knew of me before their "redesign" and then cut off any affiliation with me once I wrote them about it..

09-04-2008, 01:22	#4 (permalink)
illvibe say werd. Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Japan Posts: 1,382	Hmmm. Suddle you say...

09-04-2008, 01:27	#5 (permalink)
waynem80 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 18	Is it just me, or do you see it from a non bias perspective...

09-04-2008, 01:44	#6 (permalink)
Shiro Whitey Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Yokohama, Japan Posts: 7,263	I don't know just how alike sites need to be before it can be considered plagiarism, but the sites definitely do have a very similar feel to them. You should talk to a copyright lawyer.

09-04-2008, 02:06	#8 (permalink)
illvibe say werd. Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Japan Posts: 1,382	Nah I'm with you, it's definitely been ripped. But perhaps they don't look enough alike to warrant getting too worked up. Personally I've had people rip my site and cheekily use images from it in their version. But they never look better than the original and cheats never prosper, so try to take it as flattery. I feel your pain though.

09-04-2008, 02:12	#9 (permalink)
waynem80 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 18	Cheat never prosper.. but, this company has a 40 million follower base, with 10's of millions of views a month... so ... that doesn't apply here, haha

09-04-2008, 02:21	#10 (permalink)
illvibe say werd. Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Japan Posts: 1,382	Yeah. Usually it's the bottom-feeders that do the ripping. Maybe there's some compensation in it for you. Or maybe it's worth campaigning to make them change. But remember that you might end up expending more effort than simply redesigning an even better site for yourself.

09-04-2008, 02:24	#11 (permalink)
waynem80 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 18	True, but I love my design.. it took me almost a year to get it right.. Don't necessarily want compensation. just want them to change their design, cause potential clients could think i'm sketchy for, what they would assume ripping thegolfchannel off.. since i'm the smaller guy, people who don't know the situation will think this..

09-04-2008, 04:18	#12 (permalink)
niggle Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 510	They look very, very similar and since the two companies seem to be in almost exactly the same line of work my guess would be that there's definitely some infringement of intellectual property to answer for. As you say though, legal action could be very expensive and your competitors are likely to have the kind of flesh-eating lawyers you won't want to deal with. Legal action isn't the only way forward though - have you thought about getting your users to sign some sort of petition in addition to leaving comments? If you get enough people behind you, there's every chance that one or more of the golfing magazines would be interested in running a story about this - mags have a lot of space to fill and everyone loves a little guy vs big business story. Your competitor isn't likely to want that sort of exposure and customer pressure can be very powerful! Good luck whatever you do!

09-04-2008, 05:12	#14 (permalink)
illvibe say werd. Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Japan Posts: 1,382	And there's one in yours. ^^^

09-04-2008, 10:57	#15 (permalink)
waynem80 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 18	Thanks for the typo correction, I fixed it.. It's the least of my worries though, haha

09-04-2008, 11:53	#17 (permalink)
waynem80 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 18	My biggest concern is that they are a competitor of ours, They're in the exact same industry... It could be a little different if they weren't...

09-04-2008, 12:27	#18 (permalink)
waynem80 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 18	Uploaded pics above for your viewing pleasure

09-04-2008, 12:37	#19 (permalink)
freelancr Web Developer Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 3,737	Definitely a rip, not quite sure what you can do about it though.

09-04-2008, 22:29	#20 (permalink)
waynem80 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 18	others that agree, so this is not just me by any means.. here at cssbeauty.com SkillShare Forum - CSS Beauty - The Golf Channel.com, claims "New Site Redesign" Rips off it's design from my smaller golf site..

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