Help.. copyright? being acused of theft...

Hi i recently made a forum and just paid for my domain and got it fully up and running.. and now some other forum seems to be accusing me of copyright theft... because the forum descriptions were similar to theirs.. (some were the same) but i had no idea of this as the other forum is about the same sort of topic (mums.. babys... etc) so it's pretty easy to get things the same when there are so many forums on this..

Could they actually sue me? for having a forum similar but not the same.. and one of my descriptions and forum rules were along the same lines.. which is what my other admin had actually sent me to put on the forum anyway... so i didnt even write it !! :|

I didn't even know about it till i got an email saying my forum had been reported to forumotion and that it had been filed with DMCA

Help?? i only made a little forum for me and my friends to talk on and it blows up into this
xxx

If you didn't got it deleated, then change it, something yours


If not, well, im sorry for your lose.

MrHeRoE wrote:If you didn't got it deleated, then change it, something yours


If not, well, im sorry for your lose.

It is all mine... NOTHING on my forum is on their forum at all.... this is why i don't understand it. Just because i acidently had a sentence on my forum that was on theirs.... i can't even post something on my forum without being on thin ice wondering if another forum somewhere has that sentence on it and is all ready to sue me... arghhh :|

Can a forum copyright descriptions? and short pieces of text? or rules... cause some of mine were like theirs apparently

Next time you get an email from Forumotion, tell them it is yours.


I dont know any way else

MrHeRoE wrote:Next time you get an email from Forumotion, tell them it is yours.


I dont know any way else

I will do...

I don't think you can copyright words like that though can you... i mean you can copyright images and logos.. etc.. but not a description.... i see so many forums who have actually copied each other word for word... mine is similar to theirs.. but not copied at all.

They even accused me of stealing their "stickies" which is rubbish as i have looked at their forum and there's none even similar to mine this other forum is BIG though... that's why im worried i guess..

I work around copyright all day as i'm a retoucher so i understand it when it comes to images.. but iv never come across someone accusing me of stealing writing before!! x

If they claim the same sticky's as yours, just go to there thread and see the date on it. If there's is probably first, what can i say?

Also, if it is similar, it's alright, at least it isn't the same.


Ignore them

MrHeRoE wrote:If they claim the same sticky's as yours, just go to there thread and see the date on it. If there's is probably first, what can i say?

Also, if it is similar, it's alright, at least it isn't the same.


Ignore them

Yeh they were very similar and i got rid of them now anyway to re-write as i cannot be bothered with any rubbish lol, i wish i could ignore them but they are having a nice chat about me on their forum acusing me of this and that ..

and because my forum name ends in "bump" aswell as theirs honestly.. some people.. argh.

do you think anything bad is going to happen? im being threatened with court and everything.... which i honestly do not need right now, i have enough on my plate and this is just messing with my head now

xx

They wont take you to court.

MrHeRoE wrote:They wont take you to court.

Phew.. why do people have to lie to scare someone.. they emailed me personally telling me i had 24 hours to take down my forum or else it would be deleted (which was 3 days ago now)... surely that's upto forumotion not them

there's no stolen copyright on my forum at all... everything is written by myself .. all graphics are ones i am allowed to use and have paid for usage or designed by myself

Glad i can help

The forum that is saying you copied do they have their forum copyright with any copyright company? The best way to do is just remove the stuff that is being so called copyright and do your own. If there is no copyright then there is nothing to be worried about because there is no proof that they had it first.

MrMario wrote:The forum that is saying you copied do they have their forum copyright with any copyright company? The best way to do is just remove the stuff that is being so called copyright and do your own. If there is no copyright then there is nothing to be worried about because there is no proof that they had it first.

yes i think they do. it wasn't copied from them anyway, just similar, but i have changed it anyway. plus it was only the little descriptions under the forums that were similar.. and the rules.. but both our forums are on the same topic.. so some of them are bound to be similar.. iv already looked at other forums on the same topic and it's all very similar on every single one.. it's bound to be lol.

Thank you

Nah, its total rubbish.

If that were the case, Forumotion could take everyone using a forum to court for using similar templates.

Dunno about a pregnancy forum, the other place needs to start one on PMT and hormone changes!

Good luck!

hannahl3 wrote:Nah, its total rubbish.

If that were the case, Forumotion could take everyone using a forum to court for using similar templates.

Dunno about a pregnancy forum, the other place needs to start one on PMT and hormone changes!

Good luck!

lol thank you
and that's true... we could all sue eachother for using the same words in our posts as one another

x

oh brother... lol
i dont know why some get so stressed out over silly things.
i would just ignore anyone that makes any such claims..

all for text.. yeah OK.. unless it was a slogan or some sort of book or something copyrighted like that.

but having similar forums with the same rules or stikies.. go tell them to jump in a lake.. Actually i would not even respond to such nonsence. they can report you all they want as long as there are no violations on your forum then you have nothing to worry about.

And if your really that concerned about it. give me the link to your forum and there forum. I'll have a look. but if this only similarities for the forums descritions,rules or stikies.. then that's just too funny that someone would even send you a message like that.. kind of immature to me.. but we have seen and heard it all.. so it's not surprising..

kirk wrote:oh brother... lol
i dont know why some get so stressed out over silly things.
i would just ignore anyone that makes any such claims..

all for text.. yeah OK.. unless it was a slogan or some sort of book or something copyrighted like that.

but having similar forums with the same rules or stikies.. go tell them to jump in a lake.. Actually i would not even respond to such nonsence. they can report you all they want as long as there are no violations on your forum then you have nothing to worry about.

And if your really that concerned about it. give me the link to your forum and there forum. I'll have a look. but if this only similarities for the forums descritions,rules or stikies.. then that's just too funny that someone would even send you a message like that.. kind of immature to me.. but we have seen and heard it all.. so it's not surprising..

lol it's weird because their forum is huge.. like the main one, so i have no idea why they are so worried

Here's my forum
http://www.mummynbump.com/

And here's theirs
http://www.babyandbump.com

Similar names but NOT the same.. (iv been accused of copyright on their domain too haha)

but no stickies have been copied. The only one which is the same is the Abbreviations which is actually from another website which allows you to post their stuff on your forum anyway..

So anyway, what they are saying is the my domain, logo, layout, descriptions and posts are 100% the same as theirs and that my whole forum is copied off of theirs lol....... unless i'm missing the point somewhere but i actually got inspired from a different website and mine is all written by myself and a friend.

Domain - different
Logo - omg don't even get me started LOL look at mine.. look at theirs.. totally different ends of the stick
Layout - maybe i missed the widgets on theirs lol
Descriptions - all different...


My forum is just a group of women having a good old chat No harm in that.



Anyway tell me if you think my forum is violating anything.... haha. Thanks x

oh and this is the message i got from them...

"DMCA notice filed with forumotion.com - This will be passed on to our solicitor with a view to filing passing off and copyright theft proceedings if the WHOLE website is not removed in it entirety within 24 hours."

:| lol. which was 3 days ago..... x

I just hope that their solicitor hasnt got a forum called lawyerbump.com

hannahl3 wrote:I just hope that their solicitor hasnt got a forum called lawyerbump.com

for pregnant solicitors x

theres is not even a forumotion forum either.
so i would not worry about it.. lots of forums are similar and i have been doing forums for close to 14 years.. so i would not even care what another forum has to say. as long as they are not coming on to my forum and causing any problems i would not even care what they are saying or doing..

just be sure that you are keeping everthing moderated and there are no violations and your fine

Although you do seem to have alot of things/categories and forums in the same order.. and whether you went by that or not it dont matter there no laws against setting categories up the same way as others.

kirk wrote:theres is not even a forumotion forum either.
so i would not worry about it.. lots of forums are similar and i have been doing forums for close to 14 years.. so i would not even care what another forum has to say. as long as they are not coming on to my forum and causing any problems i would not even care what they are saying or doing..

just be sure that you are keeping everthing moderated and there are no violations and your fine

Although you do seem to have alot of things/categories and forums in the same order.. and whether you went by that or not it dont matter there no laws against setting categories up the same way as others.

Ok great thanks!

and yeh my other admin set up all the categories but she got inspired by a tonne of other forums for that.. most mum and mum-to-be forums are laid out this way, we just have all the extra categories at the bottom

i have 5 mods already so i'm sure there will be no violations. I'm on my forum most of the day as i run businesses from home -it allows me to keep an eye on the forum most of the day i've worked so hard on it, i was worried it would get deleted. I'd be devastated lol so much free time put into it. So thank you thank you thank you

x

Your welcome.
Since the questions where answered and the thread appears to be solved.
i will now mark and lock