Hank Fletcher

I'm most impressed by your site, ikalogic. It's unfortunate that a small number of unscrupulous people will always try to take undue credit for the hard work of other people. Those people are parasites, and quite frankly, are beneath you to the point of not even being worth your trouble to engage even if only to dissuade them from ripping you off.

Hopefully the following might be some advice you'll find either comforting or useful. First, recognize what the ripping-off represents. Your work is so good that even stupid people stealing from you are capable of seeing that it's a potential money-maker for them. They're stupid, and you're not. It's just a matter of time before you're able to effectively put an end to them interfering with your efforts, so be patient, and be clever. You've got something people want, and some of them want it so badly they're willing to steal to get it. Strange as it may seem, that should make you feel very good about yourself indeed, because as long as what you have is so good some people are willing to try to steal to get it, there will always be a much larger majority of people willing to get what you have by honest means.

Second, now that it's obvious (for instance, based on the support you're receiving from members on this forum) that you're a dedicated professional, remember that it will always behoove you to act accordingly. What does that mean? For one thing, it means that you don't have to engage thieves directly in order to get them to stop stealing. As a professional, you're above that now. Bringing your issue to this forum was a good idea, but posting a negative comment on the thief's website wasn't. It doesn't matter that you were right. What matters is this: does doing that make things better for you? I'm sorry to say that I don't think it does. Unfortunately, it brings you down to his level (not quite so low, but close), because now you're no longer just a victim. Think of it from the point of view of an outsider (e.g. a surfing robot enthusiast, a university professor, your next employer, your next customer, a police officer or some other arbitrator): by engaging the thief directly, but in the court of public opinion, it now looks like a battle over intellectual content, and that will only lend itself to confusing your audience. As the battle rages its purpose will become obscure, and the initial righteousness of the mistreated party (you) will be forgotten. Your rule of thumb as a clever businessman is to do your best to resolve your problems outside of any court, whether that be a court of law or a court of public opinion. The idea is that any arbitration by a third party will inherently involve a compromise to some extent, but as the wholly righteous party you are, you don't deserve to have to compromise. Remember that: to keep compromise low, you must do your best to master and implement the solution yourself. Don't wait for, or even expect, a higher authority will be able to interfere with a solution that is 100% favourable towards you.

Third, now that you've realized that the best solution for you will be to take matters into your own hands (to the farthest extent the law will permit), start getting that clever brain of yours working for you. Whatever the thieves prove can be money-makers from your efforts, make sure you're implementing those ideas yourself. That's not stealing an idea from the thief, that's being a savvy businessman who stays in touch with the nuances of his market. Have no remorse for the thieves: do what they're doing, only better, and by doing so you'll eliminate any cause they have to continue stealing. Only while it's profitable for them to do so will they continue to take advantage of you, and it seems to me that you're in an ideal position to undercut your enemies.

Fourth, start thinking outside the box it terms of security and marketing of your ideas. I think this is largely what you've been looking for here. Maybe you could consider having a two-tier website? The first tier would consist of just enough material to engage your audience. The first tier doesn't have to be securely protected, in fact, you might consider making it "stealable" or at least quite readily and easily available to help get the word out. As such, the first tier content is merely an advertisement for the rest of your site, and for that reason you'll want to make sure references to your site are well embedded into the first-tier content. Use everything that's been suggested here (watermarks, hidden text) as it's reasonable for you to do so, but you could also include content that explicitly refers to essential, complimentary content which is only available in the second tier portion of your website. This will render any distribution of your first-tier content effectively useless (or just seemingly incomplete), even though it will contain enough of a hook to get the robot enthusiasts over to the real-deal website (yours!). In order to gain access to the second-tier portion of your website, you could require that users sign up as members and log in. This will help to protect the more valuable content of your website, especially if by becoming a member users must acknowledge your terms of usage over the second-tier's content (like a user agreement). Not only will this deter more criminals, but in the fewer, unfortunate instances where it actually is necessary to go to third-party arbitration, you'll be able to say, "Look, this person explicitly agreed not to use my content in this way." An explicit agreement is much more powerful than an implicit reference to what may or may not be the law. And don't worry: you can still hide interesting keywords that can be picked up by Google searches in your first-tier, even if the keywords might only be intelligibly used in the second-tier.

Use those and any other ideas that make you a smarter, more professional robot enthusiast. The righteous always persevere, it's doing it with dignity and good health that's important! Best wishes.

ikalogic

Wow! Hank.. i am very grateful for your insignhts and advices.. it helped me a lot to see things from another, better point of view..

however there is this samll part i didn't understand...?


I know you've written a lot! excuse but i am curious to understand what you mean in that part! give an example..

thanks you very much

__________________
Ibrahim Kamal
check my electronics and robotics page: http://www.ikalogic.com/

Hank Fletcher

For example, you might happen to notice that someone's stolen your content and posted it as their own, and then they've gone and found a sponsor for their site. In that case, I'd contact the sponsor directly and discretely with a polite message along the lines of:

"I regret to inform you that the site you are sponsoring is mainly comprised of my own intellectual property, without my permission. Please contact me at once so that we might rectify this matter in an amicable fashion. Given that you appear to be a legitimate business with a genuine interest in marketing to enthusiastic robot hobbyists, perhaps we ought to discuss the opportunities I can make available to you as a reputable and well-established leader in this field."

bryan1

I just checked out that ripoff post and sure enough when you put ya mouse over any image the link goes back to ikalogic. Simple solution rename the webpage on your site along with all the images and with the original image file names do a graphic like 'this curry muncher is nothing better than a thief ' So when anybody veiws his site the only graphic they will see is the ones you made especially for the ripoff sites.

__________________
" The only way to avoid human error is to avoid the use of humans"

Gayan Soyza

Hi ikalogic
I’m really sorry after hearing this incident. If I were you I’m also getting into the same situation.

Now I’m scared to publish my site as well. Because don’t know will the same thing happens to my site as well. Anyway I’m not going to put the complete projects so thief’s like Dhaval, Sachin nothing can do with circuit diagrams.

So what is the latest news ikalogic?

__________________
Gayan
Forum Supporter

ikalogic

Well.. i'll tell you.. you get frustrated at the begining, but after a while, you notice thay are just parasites, and quite unharmful.. actually, i can stop this anytime by sending a letter or a fax to google, but i wait to find the third thieve, to send only one fax for both the 3 sites to be shut down (since they are hosted by google)..

I said to myself, i have to relax, continue working on the site with my same target....

But i want to say that i only came to those conclusions due to your support.. at least it would have taken much more time..

thx to all !

__________________
Ibrahim Kamal
check my electronics and robotics page: http://www.ikalogic.com/

Hero999

I noticed the copyright notice at the bottom but it could be more prominent. There could also be a threatening message warning people that you'll sue if they steal your work.

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jpanhalt

Tell us you are joking. John

Hero999

I'm serious, most software EULAs (End User License Agreements) contain implied threats of litigation if the conditions are not adhered to so I don't see why you can't do the same.

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Get Opera it's simply a superb browser.

jpanhalt

My comment was related to the realistic (some would say outrageous) costs, both financial and time, of litigation. First, the offender is very likely in another country. In most instances, you would have to bring your case in that country. Second, the monetary costs can be very high In the US, a civil lawsuit is likely to cost $70,000 to $100,000 just to get ready for trial, and maybe a lot more. Third, even if one wins on the merits, if you want anything more than an order to stop, you need to prove damages. Fourth, assume you win and get damages awarded, you still have to collect. Collection itself can cost as much as going to court in the first place. And finally, depending on where you are, none of your legal expenses may be recaptured from the offender. Or, again depending on where you are, if you happen to lose at some stage, you may end up having to pay for the other party's expenses.

A civil lawsuit is simply not a realistic or practical solution for an individual to pursue. John

Hero999

Ever heard on no win no fee?

Even if litigation isn't a viable option, it would certainly act as a deterrent.

__________________
What's so bad about Microsoft?

Get Opera it's simply a superb browser.

jpanhalt

Admittedly, my perspective is from the USA, so that experience may not be applicable. No win,no fee (called contingency fees here) is really an arrangement used almost solely for personal injury and similar (e.g., discrimination) lawsuits. It probably does not exist in the area of typical business litigation.

As for being a deterrent, one need not providing a warning. In fact, the presence of a warning such as suggested indicates inexperience and an amateurish approach to IP protection that may be more an invitation than a deterrent to abuse. John

Hank Fletcher

I'm gonna have to side with jpanhalt on this one. Yeah, I've heard of "no win no fee," but it's the same as hearing about the Tooth Fairy. The reality in my experience has been that even in instances where legal aid has informed, and paid for the court costs, of someone with a completely righteous claim, that the same person is largely only rewarded with an acknowledgement that they were in the right. If you compare what they "win" as a result of their involvement in court with what they could have accomplished instead of wasting their time and money in litigation, I think you'd realize that arguing in court is no money-maker. And that's presuming that you win - no matter how righteous you may be, the outcome of court proceedings are largely influenced by your ability to articulate your case, and the whims of the judge.

You're better off just being smarter than the criminals in the first place. That takes less energy than flexing your proverbial muscles, spouting off what you'll do to anyone who attempts to wrong you. The flaw with that is similar to the flaw of a parent saying, "Don't do that, or you'll be punished." As soon as the child realizes it's unlikely that the parent will be able to follow-through with the punishment, the door is open for re-offenders.

Civil courts are, perhaps ironically, mostly designed to protect larger society from two parties that are incapable (i.e. too stupid) to resolve their differences in a civilized manner themselves. I would expect, even though copyright infringement is considered a crime in many nations, that even those nations would in actuality consider copyright infringement a civil matter, especially on smaller scale occurences.

jpanhalt

Hank, I agree completely, but accessibility to the courts for civil matters has become so lopsided and expensive that for ordinary individuals (excepting small claims), they are essentially not accessible.

Let's say you have a piece of land in the US, some attorney wants it, and figures out some frivolous way to sue you for it. Your choices are very limited, and unless it is worth millions, you are probably better off selling it for whatever the attorney is willing to offer. As we say in the US, bullets are cheaper, which is why the first sentence in your last paragraph is so ironic. John

Ambient

If any of those sites (I noticed one google ad) make any money from adds on those sights, you can definitely go after them! The RIAA is using that tactic on isohunt at the moment I believe.

You have a great site with some really nice info. Don't let these tards get away!