It might be true that there is no such thing as an original idea. Everything, at one point or another, is copied from something else. Some call this inspiration, others, copyright infringement. I call it a fact of life. Yes, it completely and utterly sucks. No one likes to see their blood, sweat and tears earn others business or praise. It’s like seeing someone else take credit for your children, unconscionable.

But what is one to do?

This happened to me a couple years ago. I was going through my web logs and noticed some disproportionally high activity from one particular domain. When I visited it, to my shock, I saw my entire site, photos and all, copied by someone in the US. Not only did he steal my look and feel, CSS and Javascript, the perpetrator had the gall to hotlink to my images. You can see a side-by-side comparison of the two sites here [250K]. See if you can which one is the copy. Hint: I’m not a Mystic Warrior of Rage.

It wasn’t the first time this has happened, but it was the first time I saw my entire site lifted. Granted my site was in a web designer inspiration book, but come on!

So I did what every rational guy in my situation would do, I called him right away (long distance charges be damned, this was my baby we were talking about!). Of course, no reply. Then I e-mailed him a stern message about his violating my copyright. His reply? The site was merely an interpretation of mine, he overhauled all my “bad code” and all the images were “rightfully” obtained through Google’s image search. A few gentlemanly emails later, he agreed to take down my photos, but he wouldn’t change his code.

So, once again I did what every rational guy in my situation would do, I broke his site [220K] (scroll down for the full effect). Unfortunately, the screenshot doesn’t capture the blinking effect I placed on the image, but you get the point.

Did doing this make me feel better? Of course it did. Was it the right thing to do? I’m not certain. Am I proud of my pettiness and actions? Not particularly, but what’s done is done.

Perhaps I could of gotten the law involved. I could of Google bombed him. I could of just been flattered that he copied my work. But in the end, there’s the right thing to do, and there’s the practical thing to do. Was hiring a lawyer worth it in this case? Not really, the guy was obviously small potatoes, and wasn’t getting much business anyways - as exhibited by his lack-lustre portfolio [250K]. Was I losing revenue because of his site? No, as he was in another country altogether. Was he going to gain business from copying my site? Perhaps he could attract some interest, but he definitely lacked the talent to back it up. So I left it at that. I left his blinking, broken site as is, and moved on.

How to avoid being ripped-off

In short, you can’t. You can set up all sorts of mechanisms to protect your work. But unless you’re a large company, with an army of copyright lawyers, there’s not a whole lot you can do to avoid being ripped-off. But if you’re a small enough operation, and agile enough, there is one thing you can do:

One-up yourself regularly


Redesign your site regularly. New CSS and Javascript techniques are created every day, why not use your redesigns as platforms to display and hone your pixel-prowess? Use your redesigns to create an awareness of your talent and your ability to regularly renew yourself. By doing so, not only will you will benefit by staying at the forefront of web design, you help keep yourself relevant. Just remember this:

Talent will outpace the hacks every time.

Have you ever been ripped off? What did do about it?

Special thanks to those who helped me think about this post: Cameron Campbell, Nicolas Roberge, Kirsten Cameron, Anna Gunaratnam, Ara Pehlivanian and Debbie Rouleau