I am constantly amazed at how STUPID people are.

Geez....  I've had my voice stolen by a guy in Florida (yes...  he took my narration and put it on HIS video and slowed it down - I sounded like Darth Vader!).....   I've had my website ripped off countless times....  BUT...   this one takes the cake. I'm pissed and I'm dumbfounded!

http://walkingvideotours.com

Steve Godlewski of Bloomington, IL

This dude not only stole my ENTIRE website, word for word....

He even says he submits his (Illinois) videos to our MLS services in New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts, because he didn't even BOTHER to read the copy and maybe change it..... for Illinois??? Where he's based!  IDIOT.

He puts up some wonderful video samples on his website...  I should know... because they're all mine.  You would never know though, because he put HIS watermark in the upper right hand corner of each video.  Why he wants to claim New England videos as his own in Illinois is beyond me.  IDIOT.

He copied his site literally word for word from my site (except he did spell one word wrong...)  IDIOT

I am constantly amazed at the stupidity of some people.  Seriously.

And as many of my enemies will tell you (fortunately I don't have that many).... you really DON'T want to piss me off because you WILL regret it.

Contemplating next move....    

Grrrrrrrrrrr...

Wow Fred that is probably the most blatant example of ripping somebody off that I have seen. 

Let us know how you handle it.....I suspect this will become a regular occurrence for many of us throughout 2010.

 that's terrible!

bloomington is about 45 minutes from me. i did not even know anyone else offered video tours in this area.

i have used your website of bostonvideotours as an example to introduce the concept of the video tour and what a tour should look like but i would never take credit for someone else's work.

i always wonder what happens when someone passes off another's work as their own and then have to produce that same quality of work. if they could do the work why do they steal?

if i can be of any assistance let me know.

 LOL... even the "testimonials" - they're all MY customers....  and their real names!!! Is this guy on crack????

Fred,

        I found this guys info, and you can send him a comment through his facebook account.  If you log-in to facebook, copy paste this link, it'll take you to his profile,

Or if you'd prefer to call him, here's he apparently has two lines:

(708) 687-3171, or (708) 687-5720

You could pretend to be a Realtor inquiring about his video service.

Oh, I already found him.  I'm a good detective!  :)  Just trying to figure out the best thing to do.  Probably have a LAWYER contact him...   LOL

I'd suggest contacting a copyright lawyer, a letter demanding immediate removal of content should do.  If not, you could send a DMCA/Copyright Infringement Notice to their webhost.  I'd also suggest getting screenshots of the violation, and especially the video part.  Depending how you have it set up with your customers, whether they own the video you create or you retain ownership.  He could be in violation of both you and some of your customers.

 David: I've downloaded the entire site and have full screen shots of every page...  (sadly, I've been down this road before.  Sued a guy in CA on a trademark violation many years ago).

I got all that stuff downloaded before I even posted here in case he quickly removed it. 

Here's a company that offers a free solution to protect your website information.  Each time someone copies information from your site, they also are taking something else that they will notice when they paste it to anywhere else on the internet.  When they paste it on their site, or blog, the information will automatically be as a link back to your site where the original content came from.  Check it out at www.tynt.com/

We used to have fun with content stealers at the boat dealership  I worked for.  People would copy our ebay listings, and pretend to be selling our boats.  It was funny having a guy tell me that the boat I'm looking at outside my window in NY, was in Florida.  We'd contact ebay, and they would remove the listing.

 Wow...  never heard of that company before!  Thanks!  I just installed it on all of my pages...!

A trick I played on a guy last year worked like a charm.  He had a photo on his site as a sample, but it was linked to the actual photo on MY server.  So I changed the name of the photo on MY website, and replaced the original file name with a photo of a naked 800 pound woman, which is what then appeared on HIS site.

It took about 4 weeks for him to be notified by someone.

OMG, this really angers me.. it is soo blatant.

Now that one takes the cake!  You really have an awesome website with great information (and good videos).  The stupidity and DISHONESTY of people really disgusts me (not that it's new, just that's it's stupid!).

I don't need to wish you luck as he has most definitely incriminated himself!  I recognized those videos instantly (and they're all in New England... duh!).  Some of the videos seemed like they were squeezed to fit the players as well...

The testimonials that have any sort of location all say 'NH' or 'MA'... and one of the testimonials even mentions your name!

Well, I wish a speedy resolution!

To quote Mark above ... "Wow!"   And as Aaron said, "it is so blatant."

RE: (708) area code phone numbers posted by David, 708 is not a Bloomington, IL area code; that's 309.  708 is an area code reserved for the near western suburbs of Chicago.  (which his website says they will serve the Chicago market as well)

One of your videos on his site with his watermark still has the Nashua closing credit / title slide in the video.

RE: www.tynt.com ... I too have never heard of them; I'll have to check them out.

 Yup.  All those testimonials are word for word, including the real names of MY CUSTOMERS!!!  What is he thinking?

He was smart though... each page at the bottom says:  Walking Video Tours © 2009

Good thing he's copyrighting the thing in case someone decides to STEAL IT AGAIN!

You might find some interesting information here: http://www.reelseo.com/video-marketing-law/ 

The guy, or should I say Pee Pee Boy at "WalkingVideoTurds" has just walked right into his on pile, that's for sure! Whether he is in MA, IL, or BFE, I can smell his mess all the way down here in SC. Perhaps his next walk will be into a court of law...

Regardless, it sucks to be him now!

Lee.. .Funny, I had read that just two days ago myself...  didn't even make the connection.  I actually just wrote him for advice as to how to proceed....  Thanks!

WoW Fred, I'm amazed, the Internet is such a small world. I'm interested to hear how this pans out. Sorry I can not give you any legal advice/help, but you do have my support. Keep us posted.

Cheers scon.

 That is truly unbelievable.  Well, you know what they say, copying is the most sincere form of flattery!  Except for the blatant stealing, that would be true.  Let me pick my jaw up off the floor. 

 Thanks for that article, Lee!  I was very surprised by one line.....

"Preliminarily, in almost all cases, using video images copied from YouTube...."

I thought the whole premise of YouTube was to copy the YouTube videos and paste them everywhere.  How can someone post a video that has an embed code, and then claim copyright?  I understand if they claim it as their own work, or modify it, but copying it??

 His next move might be to place the phrase "This is good stuff" at the end of each page and claim fair use :)

I don't think using the embed code is considered copying... copying would include downloading the file and re-uploading it with their own user account/profile and taking credit for the video (or NOT giving credit).

I don't remember exactly, but I think it specifies rights on embedded videos in the Youtube Terms/Conditions.  Also, all users on Youtube have the option of NOT allowing someone to embed their videos -- I see it as free advertising, so I always allow it!

THIS guy was very illegal, because he downloaded Fred's videos, clipped off Fred's branding at the end (though he missed at least 1 of them), and then re-uploaded them as 'his own.'

I think Dustin's answer is spot on.  YouTube's upload video page has explicit language in bold type that videos "consist entirely of content you created yourself".  And by default, the uploader acknowledges that the uploader:

• "represents that the video does not violate YT's Terms of Use", and
• "that you own all copyrights or have authorization to upload it".

 

Embedding a video hosted at & streamed from YT servers ... a functionality that YT built (default = embed allowed) and which the user implicitly agrees to allow ... into your own site or blog doesn't strike me as "copying" either.  I agree that it's the download / re-upload of another user's content and / or including another's video and claiming it as yours (or not giving credit) is what's wrong.

I also saw at least one of Fred's videos there where the NashuaVideoTours credit slide remained intact.  i.e. the "Deluxe" video in the multi-track player on http://www.walkingvideotour.com/library.  It's interesting, but not suprising under the circumstances, to note that he used the same video in the "Video Tour" choice within the same multi-track player.

What was done wasn't just wrong, but shows sloppy "site proofing"; it's still amazing to realize he did.  And now that I'm thinking about it, is it not also interesting / amazing that the whole site is still up today?  (Jan. 18, 2010)

 I don't think it's an active business.  It's been a dead end trying to figure out his contact info, where the site is hosted, etc.  I set up a "user" account called "You are Scum" or something like that... it's still there.

I tried uploading a video (found some nasty porn I was going to upload), and got an error message....  so I'm not thinking it's an active site.

Spoke to an attorney, and basically it was $1000 minimum to "write a letter" and/ or followups...    I'm not going down that road again. (had a trademark issue with a guy about 20 years ago... it cost me $30K in attorney's fees, and all I got out of it was that he changed his name (he had no $$$)... 

So I'm watching it, but I don't think it's a real site.

 I would at a minimum contact the hosting company if the hosting company is even moderately legit they will look into it and more than likely pull the content.  

Mark

 Can't figure out who is hosting it...  it LOOKS like he's hosting it on his own server with his other business PillFreeVitamins.com - of course, nobody answers their phone as I've called a half dozen times.  

 File a complaint with ICANN http://reports.internic.net/cgi/registrars/problem-report.cgi  i.e. there are many reasons you can check i.e. Whois is hidden or Trademark infringement or website content i.e. it is all stolen.  ICANN from what I understand usually acts fast as well.  

 Or go after the registrar see this recent victory for us all http://www.domainnamestrategy.com/2009/09/02/verizons-victory  so perhaps you can find the registrar and file a complaint with them as well.  Judging from this case above I would say they may listen :)

 The registrar is Godaddy, and all they said they could do is give me the hosting domains (the vitamin joint).  I filled out the complaint form, but it seems that mostly for domain name issues, not copyright or content issues.  But we'll see what happens!  Thanks!

 That was fast!  Here is the response:

Thank you for your inquiry concerning the content of a website. Although we
appreciate your concern, ICANN does not have contractual authority to address
complaints about website content.

ICANN is not a government agency. ICANN is a private sector, not-for-profit
organization with limited technical responsibility for coordinating the unique
assignment of Internet domain names and IP addresses.
Therefore, ICANN cannot address consumer complaints regarding the following
matters:

   1.  Spam complaints
   2.  Website content complaints
   3.  Failure to answer phones promptly
   4.  Failure to respond to e-mail messages promptly
   5.  Overbilling/Multiple billing
   6.  Computer viruses

These types of consumer complaints are not addressed in the Registrar
Accreditation Agreement (RAA) and are therefore not a violation of the RAA.
Please see, http://www.icann.org/registrars/ra-agreement-17may01.htm.

If you believe the website content refers to anything illegal, your best
course of action is to contact a law enforcement agency in your jurisdiction
or to seek legal advice from an attorney.

If you are concerned about the content of an email message or a web page, you
should contact the domain name holder or the applicable Internet Service
Provider.

Best regards,

ICANN Services

There may be other ways....I emailed a couple friends who might have some advise.  Hopefully hear back from them soon.

**Basically it looks like if this guy was overseas then the little guys recourse in these types of theft would be nill. 

Mark

 I don't think this guy is overseas, but you never know.  I tracked down a blog of his where he quit his job and traveled with his family across the country in an RV, videotaping his 'adventures'.  (sounds like the responsible thing to do when you have kids!).  But other than that, I don't know anything about him.  He is on Facebook... I was going to try and "friend" him and see if he accepts.  Probably stupid enough to do it.

OMG Fred, just found this - what an IDIOOOOOTTTTTT.  I'm sure we all look at other web sites for ideas but to copy a complete website and claim it is yours with all the video and testimonials from New England in IL?????????

Is there someway we can blackball him on Face Book.  I loved your previous solution of putting an 800 lb. naked woman on their page.

Fred,  I just posted your entire first comment to a new blog on my website, then put a link to it on my FB.

Hope we warn a few people about this idiot.

Fred, this guy sounds like pond scum.  Exactly what does he have to gain if he's not in business for himself?  If he is trying to drum up video business..let me know.  I'd love to pose as a potential client and see what information he gives me.    WOW!  Amazing!

 And it continues.....

Another company has ripped off every single @#$@# word of my website!  Word for word.  Now he's blogging it on RealTown....  TJ Studio Productions. They're even here on WellcomeMat!

Unbelievable that people feel it's just fine to completely steal someone else's material.  

Well, you know the highest form of flattery is imitation... haha!  Then again, this isn't really imitation-- it's flat out forgery. :/  That's amazing they'd have the gall to be on a smallerish community site like WellcomeMat.