Welcome back to Flying Start Online!
Last month We Scaled A Shopify Business To $1,000 Per Day.
If you’re new to FSO we build businesses from scratch every 30 days…
This month we’ll document our journey to sustaining $30k a month.
Enjoy the video as Rito reveals the steps to take if your brand is ripped off:
We have an interesting story to share with you today.
Somebody copied our CommonPanda brand.
Literally stole the colors, logo, and even the copy.
They also copied our Facebook page down to our cover photo.
Believe it or not they were even generating sales.
This is wrong and completely unacceptable on many levels.
For starters, it’s dishonest and unethical to steal and mislead people.
The bigger problem here, is they’re convincing people it’s our brand.
If and when they decide to run with the money they’re making without fulfilling orders, it actually makes us look bad.
This is bad business practice, annoying and just a really dumb move.
If you’re watching our videos and reading these posts, but decide to steal in order to implement what you’re “learning” you’re completely missing the point.
Not to mention, it’s a short term plan at best – one you won’t see success with.
So what do you do if you see a website violating your copyright?
Identify Their CMS & Report Them
It’s actually quite easy to identify which CMS a website is using.
CMS refers to Content Management System.
For instance, the CMS on our website that was ripped off, is Shopify.
The CMS here on FlyingStartOnline is WordPress.
Get it?
Once you identify the CMS, report them to that particular company.
Simply use WhatCMS.org to reveal what CMS any website is using.
Look Up The Domain Registrar & Report It
After reporting to the CMS, report the domain to the registar it was created with.
You can use a tool like the ICANN WHOIS Search.
Provide proof of the copyright violations and any additional details.
If you have a trademarked filed on your brand, even better.
Have your lawyers send a cease and desist.
Reveal The Web Host & Report Them
Look up the website host (the servers connecting the website to the interwebz).
In most cases, hosting companies don’t want to support stolen or unethical content.
If you want to look up a websites host, visit WhoIsHostingThis.com
Report Them To Facebook
The first place to check for copyright fraud is Facebook.
Scammers are often bold, and will create FB pages to imply legitimacy.
If this is the case, simple contact Facebook and report the page immediately.
Again, be as detailed and specific as possible.
Provide screenshots and proof to help your case.
Here’s exactly what to include in your copyright report.
How To Find Your Stolen Content
Now you know what to do if you discover somebody ripped off your brand.
But how do you find out in the first place?
There a few easy and effective ways:
- Create Google Alerts
- Use Copyscape
- File Google DMCA Complaint
- Assign Google Search Authorship
That’ll do it for Episode 14 – Great work!
Questions, comments or just want to say hi?
We love hearing from you in the comments below!
Success by choice, not by chance,
-David Aston
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