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 p.4 #9 · This Guy Completely Stole My Website! | |
First off, let me say that I am an occasional visitor/lurker of this site, and never had an account, but I felt my background in programming could help weigh in on this, so I hope this is useful. Everything I say in this matter is on neutral grounds, coming from a "website forensics" attitude.
I took the time to analyze the coding from both sites, here is what I found.
First off, let me say that I have personally developed sites with this same typical layout for many clients, all in the photography business. This layout is very popular in this market. There are also many free and paid templates for photography sites that replicate this same type of layout.
Similarities.
Yes, this is a clone if you want to call it that. The content height on the site, the similar navigation, the photogallery, the video page, etc..That's about where the similarities end.
Differences.
A few observations from the get go, yours is a basic html site, utilizing SHTML, probably to include the navigation, or some content on the site. His site utilizes PHP and I'm guessing a MySQL database. If you aren't familiar with website coding, PHP is a dynamic language where the code is processed on the server, and then sent to the browser. PHP is far more advanced than regular HTML.
Now lets look at the index page. Besides the obvious difference in the display of images, lets look at the coding. From comparing the two sites, we can see that although the design of the page is similar, the backend coding is completely different. His programming is very structured and clean. Yours is very chaotic and quite honestly.. a mess. Your index page also has a lot of extra content below, which I believe are testimonials. His does not have this "feature". Your site is based heavily on tables, and his while using some tables, is mainly CSS. You did say that you created your site through Dreamweaver, so judging by that and the quality of the coding, you are in no means a programmer. If you look at the source code of his site, you can see that it was done by a programmer and done for the most part, correctly.
The next big difference is the Photography page. This also has quite a few similarities in design, but once we look at the coding, we can see that the the differences end there. Your site is as mentioned, just HTML. The pages seem to all be created manually (or static). Some categories have 30+ pages. I'm assuming that you manually created each of those pages, with the numbering at the bottom. Probably takes quite a long time to do. His site is completely dynamic. You can tell by the URL and page links. I'm not sure if this is database driven or dynamically pulled off the server, but doing it that way will allow you multiple benefits. One being that you only need to upload the image(s) and the script will automatically create the links and show the images. This will save enormous time especially if you upload a lot of files. The back and next links and numbers are also different. His is easier to use, where yours is a bit harder to follow (adding an underline or bold on the active number will help this, like on his site).
On that note, another difference is that on his site everything seems to be controlled via CSS, you have some on yours as well, but it's very messy and does not flow well. His site uses this to let the end user know exactly where they are on the site at all times. Your site is a bit confusing in this manner.
I was also able to see his online store, but it seems to be disabled right now. I don't know if you got a chance to view it but it was rather nice actually. I don't think I saw a store on your site, so there is another difference.
On your contact page you have a direct link to your email. Do you get a lot of spam on that account? His site is laid out a lot more user friendly with an online contact form.
Not to mention that his web programer doesn't exactly have the best eye. Probably the reason he had to resort to stealing my layout to begin with.
Well, the world of programming and designing in the website business is pretty divided. You will not find many good programmers who are just as good at design, same as good designers who are good at programming. Programmers generally code what they are given, regardless of the design. I know that is how I work as well. If a client of mine wants a site coded and gives me a template or custom design, I will code for that. I do not care about the design or where he got it from. My only concern would be the programming involved. Any designs used would be provided by the client. Most of the programmers I know work in the same fashion. And once again, there was no layout that was stolen. The guy used your site as a model for his, but there was nothing (at least in its current form) that shows it was stolen from your site.
Conclusion
There are a few similarities with the overall design, but when you compare the foundation of the two, they are completely 100% different. I do not know how it looked before you say he started changing things, but I am thinking they have just been cosmetic. Are the two sites similar by coincidence? I doubt it, I'm sure he used your site as a model for his. But after going through the code of both sites, I can assure you that the similarities end there. Your site may look nicer, or maybe more professional, but as a coding aspect, his site was coded on a more professional level, and just looking at the code you can tell they are in no way comparable.
I do not see any of the images being used on his site that were yours, which if they were there would be a definite copyright concern. This is not the case. Even copy/text if similar, is not the same. Structure and design, similar, but not the same.
Even if he did have an exact copy of your site, and you somehow made a screenshot, or downloaded the code, I don't think it would matter. I can doctor an image that makes LAPhotoPro.com a beastiality porno site. Even if it was submissive in legal actions, he changed his site once you contacted him about it. You admit this even here, so I do not think you have any case in the matter. As others have mentioned, you should feel honored that someone liked your design enough to emulate it.
As far as the legal issue, as mentioned numerous times, I think the chances of you suing or taking this to court and winning is slim to none. There is no proof that his site has in any way damaged you, made you lose money, or misrepresented you by false advertising/spoofing. His coding is 100% different than yours, the only thing remotely similar is the visual structure of the site, even then, not much. There is also no proof that you did not steal this layout from him, or that it was a free or paid layout you available on the internet. Do you have proof that you created the site from scratch? There are also no photography or text/copy infringements as (at least from what I saw) all the copy is different. The copy structure may be the same, but how can you sue someone for a sentence or text layout?
So in short.....
Just because a something looks the same, doesn't mean it is. If this was the case, you will have hundreds of companies suing each other for this, everything from houses, automobiles, tv's, to books, to websites.
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This is probably the main thing eases my mind. Not to mention that his web programer doesn't exactly have the best eye. Probably the reason he had to resort to stealing my layout to begin with.
