Unsure of what to do.......

[GrahamH]

Wife came home from netball tonight where she had been talking to a friend there who had been quoted for a disco for her wedding next year. Wife out of curiousity asked who had quoted and what price she had been quoted.
Friend replys Unlimited Sounds quoted me £??? to which the wife replies oh really thats my husbands business. Friend quotes a name she had been dealing with and wife tells her that thats not me.
I then get directed to the following website where a video and several pictures of parties i had done are posted
Links removed to cover the forum's back legally, just in case
Now do i go to my solicitor and get a letter sent to this guy or email him first. Have never been in this situation so am unsure which route to take. Help on this would be very much appreciated.

Regards

Graham

[SPJ]

Graham,

I would look at it like this. If some big corporate found you were trying to rip off their business, you wouldn't get an email or phone call from them first.
I'd suggest the first point of contact should be a letter from yourself explaining that if references to your business are not removed from the website, etc, you will be taking legal action.Send it recorded delivery.

Although the address does not appear to be on the site, perhaps your wife's contact can get hold of that via the booking enquiry?

Suppose it depends on how forceful you want to be from the outset, but I'd make it look like you mean business from the word go, but give them the opportunity to sort it before you get into legal expenses.

Wonder what others think?

Good Luck

Cheers
Steve

[spin mobile disco]

I would say go soilcitor, may cost a bit but will scare hime off with any luck and if not you can take him to small claims court. Imitating a business to gain work is illigal and is punishable by unlimited fine and prison sentence.

[jamesh]

If it was me here's how i'd handle it. I wouldn't bother with solicitors or anything to begin with.

First thing I'd do is ring the guy and get a quote from him - ask him all sorts of questions about you've been on the site seen the disco pictures / videos etc and ask him more details about them. What functions they are, where they were etc... basic stuff most clients usually ask... PLI, PAT type of kit he uses / previous functions.... and then finally get a quote - possibly have him email a booking form to see what name he uses. Without doing this you don't really know to the extent he's using your name... might just be same name and pics... he might be trying to say he really is unlimited sounds and quote dates and names of your bookings etc...

Then once you have the quote or if while on the phone you've heard enough from him (and van't be bothered getting the quote) kindly inform him of who you in fact are and where you KNOW the pictures/videos are from as they are yours - and you can prove they are.

Then tell him he has 24 hours to remove them before you will report him to his ISP / hosting company and have his whole website removed from the internet and also take legal advice on the fraudulent use of your publicity material. Tell him you are also going to email him all the details of the phone conversation so that there is documented details of the conversation and of your requests.

Tell him you are a professional DJ and take picture / video / website plagiarism VERY seriously and you've worked hard to build up a reputation and don't like it being stolen and your reputation possibly blackened by someone who has nothing to do with your company.

If it's not done within 24 hours you can contact his ISP / Hosting company and have the site took down.

And just to help you the whois look up reveals his domain and hosting are with and American company called blue host - Sadly it doesn't give his contact details as it only gives blue hosts as the owner and admin... But that can work in your advantage when getting the domain taken off the net as the hosting company have overall admin control of the domain and hosting space looking at the whois - rather than him having admin control and them just billing control.

[DMX Will]

If it was me here's how i'd handle it. I wouldn't bother with solicitors or anything to begin with.

First thing I'd do is ring the guy and get a quote from him - ask him all sorts of questions about you've been on the site seen the disco pictures / videos etc and ask him more details about them. What functions they are, where they were etc... basic stuff most clients usually ask... PLI, PAT type of kit he uses / previous functions.... and then finally get a quote - possibly have him email a booking form to see what name he uses.

Then once you have the quote or if while on the phone you've heard enough from him (and van't be bothered getting the quote) kindly inform him of who you in fact are and where you KNOW the pictures/videos are from as they are yours - and you can prove they are.

Then tell him he has 24 hours to remove them before you will report him to his ISP / hosting company and have his whole website removed from the internet and also take legal advice on the fraudulent use of your publicity material. Tell him you are also going to email him all the details of the phone conversation so that there is documented details of the conversation and of your requests.

Tell him you are a professional DJ and take picture / video / website plagiarism VERY seriously and you've worked hard to build up a reputation and don't like it being stolen and your reputation possibly blackened by someone who has nothing to do with your company.

If it's not done within 24 hours you can contact his ISP / Hosting company and have the site took down.

And just to help you the whois look up reveals his domain and hosting are with and American company called blue host - Sadly it doesn't give his contact details as it only gives blue hosts as the owner and admin... But that can work in your advantage when getting the domain taken off the net as the hosting company have overall admin control of the domain and hosting space looking at the whois - rather than him having admin control and them just billing control.

Sounds like a plan.

[Penfold42]

Wife came home from netball tonight where she had been talking to a friend there who had been quoted for a disco for her wedding next year. Wife out of curiousity asked who had quoted and what price she had been quoted.
Friend replys Unlimited Sounds quoted me £??? to which the wife replies oh really thats my husbands business. Friend quotes a name she had been dealing with and wife tells her that thats not me.
I then get directed to the following website where a video and several pictures of parties i had done are posted MUPPETS WEB SITE and MUPPETS WEB SITE
Now do i go to my solicitor and get a letter sent to this guy or email him first. Have never been in this situation so am unsure which route to take. Help on this would be very much appreciated.

Regards

Graham

It seems you might have a plan.....:)
I would lose the links now before he get's suspicious.....only a thought as he may wonder why he has had so many hits.

[rob1963]

I'd suggest the first point of contact should be a letter from yourself explaining that if references to your business are not removed from the website, etc, you will be taking legal action. Send it recorded delivery.

Completely agree...and make sure your letter states he has 7 days to comply before you commence legal action.

I think the mere threat of legal action will be more than enough to scare him into removing all references to you.

I remember something similar recently with a disco nicking a pic from the website of a MDD member, and when it was brought to their attention in an entertaining way, their website was soon amended to "currently being updated"

Good luck. :)

[PropellerHeadCase]

Interesting that the copy on his site says "used to" with reference to the 'Unlimited Sounds' name. When did you register that company name?

[Shaun]

Completely agree...and make sure your letter states he has 7 days to comply before you commence legal action.

I think the mere threat of legal action will be more than enough to scare him into removing all references to you.

I remember something similar recently with a disco nicking a pic from the website of a MDD member, and when it was brought to their attention in an entertaining way, their website was soon amended to "currently being updated"

Good luck. :)


I recently had someone steal one of the images I designed from my website, then not too long after I was informed that someone different had stolen my whole site design...

In the latter case a quick calll to the culprit to inform him that legal action will be forthcoming was enough to have the situation resolved.

I'd gladly spend a small fortune on lawyers fee's as a matter of principle.



There's been a lot of good advice already in this topic. Contact the culprit and give him 7 days to resolve the matter. If you still have no joy then I'd definitely consider hiring a lawyer that specialises in IT Law.

Good luck, and keep us posted.

[Ricesnaps]

I have to say this all seems very odd. If it was simply a case of someone taking pictures and using them without permission things may be slightly different. What's happened here is a complete identity theft. Are you completely sure you don't know this person at all? The text does suggest that they have had something to do with you (but I'm sure you really really don't).

To be honest it does all sound a little sinister. I couldn't actually find anywhere on the site that suggested you could book a disco, just that he used to do them. However you wife has found someone who has booked him to do there wedding. Unfortunately I have a feeling the bride won't acually get a disco.

I've looked the domain up and interestingly it is registered through the domain host - so no real person listed, but the domain is in America. Seems like a huge scam to me.

Think I might call him later and see if he's free for a last minute gig on Saturday!

Seriously though, some good advice, but I would suggest this is something a little more than simply a picture thief. Book, pay the money but no disco turns up sound more likely. I would tread a little more carefully, involve the police and get this sorted. I would worry that an email or a letter threatening him would simply prompt him to move on and do it with another disco. Get it right and you could prevent him doing this again!

[Dragonfly]

I would give him a ring ........ tell him hes's been rumbled and as said tell him the site gets removed within 24 hours or you will take it to a solicitor and the police ...... and remind him just how much of a big deal identity theft is at the moment. Tell him to do some work and get his own material together...

to this day someone has got one of my images on their site .......despite emails they have doctored the image to look like their own and what really annoys me is the image on this site ranks higher on a google image search.... than any of the images on my site???

[Ricesnaps]

I would give him a ring ........ tell him hes's been rumbled and as said tell him the site gets removed within 24 hours or you will take it to a solicitor and the police ...... and remind him just how much of a big deal identity theft is at the moment. Tell him to do some work and get his own material together...

to this day someone has got one of my images on their site .......despite emails they have doctored the image to look like their own and what really annoys me is the image on this site ranks higher on a google image search.... than any of the images on my site???

While I apreciate what you are saying Dragon, I think treading carefully here is the key. Identity theft is exactly what seems to have happened here and there would be nothing stopping this chap from simply moving on the the next disco and doing it all over again. By calling and "rumbling" him, I would worry that it wouldn't actually prevent him from doing this again.

Sound like the police would be the best move as he is quite openly taking bookings under your name!

[Corabar Steve]

Sound like the police would be the best move as he is quite openly taking bookings under your name!

Which is fraud, plain & simple. The police like fraud cases :sj:

[Tony Scott]

Cheeky monkey deserves a slap!

[spin mobile disco]

If you look at his contact us page, he lists a mobile type number but says office hours GMT who in the uk puts gmt time on anything we have no time zones to change so dont bother. I agree its probably a foreigner maybe american or similar runnning the scam.

[colinm345]

Which is fraud, plain & simple. The police like fraud cases :sj:

Spot on plus the fact that it may infringe Intellectual Property
Have found this that may help in the future

http://www.html-protector.com/encrypt/?pu=false&srec=true:)

[Dragonfly]

just a thought and really a bit of a question thrown in...... is there anything to stop someone starting up a business with the same name as you have .... if you havent trademarked/copyrighted it???

this guy isnt pretending to be you is he ? not telling clients your name when they book ?

sure he has nicked your videos and images which is website plagorism and theft but just trying to get to the nitty gritty of this and understand it better....

eg. there must be loads of "night fever discos/roadshows" or "beatmix discos" you know the type of name.

also just a thought could it be another local disco taking bookings in your name and not showing up etc. an elaborate plan to discredit you sure but maybe possible ....


let us know what you do.

[PropellerHeadCase]

If you are a registered company with that name then you can send a 'cease and desist' letter to the person using your registered name. This, however, seems more serious, given the use of the name, pictures and video, and everything.

[GrahamH]

Guys... many thanks for all the comments and advice, very much appreciated and makes me glad that i joined this site.
I have been down to my solicitor this morning and basically he told me what you guys had already said. As there is no contact address, email him very politely stating a few facts and quoting a few facts of law which my solicitor has supplied me with and giving him 24 hours to remove the video and pictures and giving him 7 days to reword/rewrite his disco page.
If he fails to do this then its on to the next stage.

Have been in touch with the woman that was going to book him/ me for her wedding and im going round to see her tonight to discuss matters further with regards to her wedding. Luckily she had not given him a deposit yet.

cheers everyone

Graham

[Shaun]

Seeking the advice of a Solicitor was a good move. Good luck, and let us know if there's any developments.

[soundscapes]

anyone got a copy of the link to the spoof website ?

[Shaun]

anyone got a copy of the link to the spoof website ?

If anyone can provide it, please do so by PM rather than on the open forum. Thanks.

[Dillmiester]

Also if you can, make an audio recording of any conversations you have with the person (if you decide to call).
Make a copy of the website for your records.
And of course print out any emails you recieve including the extended header information.
If you need any help with this just ask.

Good luck!

Dillmiester

[Have a disco]

I would give him a ring ........ tell him hes's been rumbled and as said tell him the site gets removed within 24 hours or you will take it to a solicitor and the police ...... and remind him just how much of a big deal identity theft is at the moment. Tell him to do some work and get his own material together...

to this day someone has got one of my images on their site .......despite emails they have doctored the image to look like their own and what really annoys me is the image on this site ranks higher on a google image search.... than any of the images on my site???

I agree but take it to the police anyway let them do there job regardless of anything this is pure ID fraud a criminal offence, and request to see all his bookings done! Or you will seek full compensation from him for lost work via the solicitors say upto 10,000 this year alone. Get his site shut down in the process.

As for anyone else with your pictures give them 48 hours or start proceedures to shut down there site as well

in general take him to the cleaners???

[Dillmiester]

I would not bother going to the police.
ID fraud is not a criminal offence, it is the related crimes which often follow that are, such as theft and deception.
From what you have posted in this case all the police would have is the suspect disco with the same name and photos copied from your site. As far as i know neither your name or your photos are protected. If they were then this would be a civil matter.
This would not be tangable for a court case as how could the police prove that the person made money directly relating to them using your name and pictures.
Even if you could find a witness to state they have paid this person for a disco purley because they thought it was you, the crown prosecution service would not run this at court. Even if the suspect admitted he chose your name and pictures to make money the CPS would not run with it.

Stick to the advice from other members. Make contact either by solicitor or emails, record everything.

[Have a disco]

Agh do it the old fashioned way send a posse round and destroy the GUY and his gear LOL Yeehaa LOL

ID stealing is classed as an offence now but very hard to prove. It does come under the fraud section though as well You do need to get all the evidence you can web page date it was assembled against your build date etc etc. his site maybe registered later than yours that should be proof enuff

the other advice is perfectly correct, but a good smack on the snout never hurt either Not saying go and do it but worse things in life have happened in simular situations ie TOYS 'R' US they used the legal route many a time