EddieLeon Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 They say that imitation is the best form of flattery, but I think this is ridiculous: http://vfxdirect.com How should I respond to this? Should I kindly ask that they take down their website? Should I immediately contact my attorney? Or, should I just accept it and ignore it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
innerdream Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 They say that imitation is the best form of flattery, but I think this is ridiculous: http://vfxdirect.com How should I respond to this? Should I kindly ask that they take down their website? Should I immediately contact my attorney? Or, should I just accept it and ignore it? Well, their work is crap so? In all seriousness if you paid for the web design at Spine then you or the designer own the copyright to that design. You can send them a letter requesting they pay you a fee for the design, take it down or get attorneys involved (not a good idea.) If I were you I'd write them a little letter if it bothers you, if not leave it alone. Life is short this won't impact your business imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STRAT Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 is it not that you've coincidently used the same web site creation software with similar templates? whichever, the content is different, and there is a significant layout difference even though the similarities are there. i personally wouldn't make the effort to complain. it's not like the 'other' site is taking potential revenue from you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nic H Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 looks like a commercial template? they dont 'seem' to be the kind of company that would knowingly rip off another studios web design. ask them who did it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 Well seeing as they're based in the US, I'd say you have a claim against them. They even very carefully lifted some of your code. Its been edited, but its the same code. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddieLeon Posted October 23, 2008 Author Share Posted October 23, 2008 looks like a commercial template? they dont 'seem' to be the kind of company that would knowingly rip off another studios web design. ask them who did it? Nope. It's not a template. We designed it in-house and had a company called Mobius Interactive put it together for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy L Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 Maybe Mobius sold the design on something like monstertemplates.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
innerdream Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 Nope. It's not a template. We designed it in-house and had a company called Mobius Interactive put it together for us. Yep. I would contact Mobius first and see if you own the exclusive rights to the design. That should have been spelled out in the contract with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alias_marks Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 I like how their background doesn't scroll with the rest of the page, but the vines around the main box do. Maybe you could use this as a opportunity to see what works well about theirs and maybe incorporate into spine's! huh huh, how bout that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SandmanNinja Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 I had a software copyright issue in the US some time ago. Back then, the source code had to be 90% identical. Use it as a rule-of-thumb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddieLeon Posted October 23, 2008 Author Share Posted October 23, 2008 Maybe Mobius sold the design on something like monstertemplates.com I'll check with Mobius, but the guy is a former employee and a good friend. I kinda doubt he would do that to me... I like how their background doesn't scroll with the rest of the page, but the vines around the main box do. Maybe you could use this as a opportunity to see what works well about theirs and maybe incorporate into spine's! Lol...that's good idea I had a software copyright issue in the US some time ago. Back then, the source code had to be 90% identical. Good point, although I'm not sure how percentages can be calculated in this case. But, I think it is similar enough to cause a problem... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Denby Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 Has it been taken down?..the link doesn't take me to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
innerdream Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 Has it been taken down?..the link doesn't take me to it. MIA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vizspecs Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 tangsemtech.co m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddieLeon Posted October 23, 2008 Author Share Posted October 23, 2008 Has it been taken down?..the link doesn't take me to it. Yes. It seems like they took it down. But, I was able to get a screen capture before they got wise... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddieLeon Posted October 23, 2008 Author Share Posted October 23, 2008 tangsemtech.com Cory, you just became a member to make your first post to this thread? What is TangsemTech? Are they selling a template of my site? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inxa Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 The site says website coming soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Mottle Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 Cory, you just became a member to make your first post to this thread? What is TangsemTech? Are they selling a template of my site? Hey Eddie, Check out their logo section. http://tangsemtech.com/portfolio/logo_design.aspx It looks like they designed their logo. Seems reasonable to assume they also designed the website template...or stolen it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddieLeon Posted October 24, 2008 Author Share Posted October 24, 2008 Seems reasonable to assume they also designed the website template...or stolen it. That's a reasonable assumption, but considering the fact that I have met Jody LaRue before at DMVC, I find it highly unlikely that he had not seen my website before. I just think he made a bad choice. As a general rule of thumb, I think we all need to respect each others work and business. This type of activity causes unnecessary confusion and mistrust in our industry which is something we all do not need. I prefer that we all act as grown-ups and help each other when possible. Fortunately, Jody quickly took the website down and sent me an email apologizing for what happened. I accepted his apology under the condition that he adjusts his website so that it is not so similar to mine. I don't expect him to have to pay for a whole new design. I am somewhat "flattered" that his site was similar to mine and I will gladly offer him some advice/suggestions on his new one. I look forward to seeing it. Thanks to everyone that gave their input! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 Wow. I didn't think you would have so much luck resolving this. Its nice to see that a resolution was possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddieLeon Posted October 24, 2008 Author Share Posted October 24, 2008 Its nice to see that a resolution was possible. Yes. It's great that we were able to resolve this quickly and politely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kippu Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 i have actually seen lots of similar joomla templates like your site though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddieLeon Posted October 24, 2008 Author Share Posted October 24, 2008 i have actually seen lots of similar joomla templates like your site though I will admit that our current website design isn't too creative and flashy. It does have more of a corporate feel than our previous designs. The reason we did this is to make things a little more clear and obvious to some of our older clients. As a result, I think the basic layout can be seen as generic. I wouldn't be surprised if there are other templates that are similar. But, the choice of layout on VFXDirect was a little too similar for comfort. A few basic changes to their background patterns, choice of words, placement of categories will do the trick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Smith Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 I will admit that our current website design isn't too creative and flashy. It does have more of a corporate feel than our previous designs. The reason we did this is to make things a little more clear and obvious to some of our older clients. As a result, I think the basic layout can be seen as generic. I wouldn't be surprised if there are other templates that are similar. But, the choice of layout on VFXDirect was a little too similar for comfort. A few basic changes to their background patterns, choice of words, placement of categories will do the trick. what you just said makes me wonder if it would be worth having more than 1 version of a site...1 for the old fogies that dont like seeing glamor and glitz and 1 for those that expect it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
innerdream Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 what you just said makes me wonder if it would be worth having more than 1 version of a site...1 for the old fogies that dont like seeing glamor and glitz and 1 for those that expect it. Why would you do that? Web sites are for the user to get in and get out with what need, all the rest is just ego for the owner of the site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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