Help! My Website has been Copied

[zoyacollective]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone can offer some advice. I have had my shopify website completely copied. I have discovered my website has been cloned onto 4 different domains. The are exact carbon copies with shopping carts, all of my content, images, stock levels - everything. Has this happened to anyone else and how do you have the domains taken down?

Thanks,

Michelle

[Gamerseo]

From an SEO point of view, copied pages don't have much value. From a couple's point of view, try contacting the owner, if nothing works, a verbal warning is the way to go to court because it has negatively affected your income.

[Rick]

Hi @zoyacollective 

Welcome to the Shopify Community.

Thanks for reaching out here for help. I am sorry to hear about this situation, it's certainly not ideal, so I can understand how you must feel.

Firstly, I'd like to clarify that we cannot provide any legal advice - while we can provide general guidance and information here, it may be a good idea for you to consult with a legal professional who specializes in intellectual property or online copyright issues. With that said, I would like to help you here in any way I can. 

If you haven't already done so, I would encourage you to start gathering any evidence such as screenshots that clearly shows the cloned websites and their similarities to your original store. This documentation will be helpful when reporting the issue.

If you believe they are operating on Shopify, then you can report a case of intellectual property infringement to us by using this online form here. You mentioned that there were 4 different domains, so keep in mind you can report multiple stores in a single form submission. It is our policy to respond to clear notices of alleged copyright infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). We have more information on copyright and trademark on our help center here that I would suggest checking out. 

If you don't believe these domains are Shopify stores, then I would suggest trying your best to identify the domain registrar for each, and then reach out to them directly. You should provide them with the evidence you've gathered (as mentioned above) and explain the situation to them. They may have similar policies in place to handle cases of copyright infringement or fraudulent activity.

[PhilipHjelmberg]

Hi Rick!

I have found myself in the same situation. However, it's incredibly more complicated than them taking the entire website (Code, Images, Text). It is about that my business partner has done this together with another person, which is an incredibly serious crime here in Sweden (6 years in prison).

I have sent in a request to get more evidence, but your legal team could not do this without a court document or police report.

So here is my catch 22:
The police will drop the case if there is not already sufficient evidence. You are sitting on the last piece of evidence.

What I have today is the following:
Recordings of both sides showing the plagiarism.
I have proof that MY shop ID is in the files on THEIR website.

This is just a small part of their illegal activity, as they also copied all of Facebook and Instagram and stole all of our promotional material and are using it.

[PHLD]

This same thing has happened to us! We noticed it last week! It's shocking! Have you made any progress? 

[BlueB1]

Hi, Did anyone manage to do something about the website that has been copied?

Mine has been copied too and I'm afraid they are charging money and not sending products.