Need advice: Another website copied our Shopify theme.

[Sowjanya_B]

We recently discovered that another website has copied our website content (Christmas collections). We put a lot of effort into designing and customizing our website to create a unique and engaging user experience and launch unique products for big occasions like Christmas, so it's disappointing to see another website simply copying our design without permission.

I'm not sure what my options are in this situation, so I was hoping to get some advice or suggestions from the community here.

->Have any of you experienced something similar before?

->What steps can I take to protect my website now and prevent this from happening again?
->And also wanted to check does this affect the SEO score for the Christmas collections page.

The original website ( https://www.flowerchimp.com.ph/collections/christmas )
Duplicate website ( http://kriskellyfoundation.org/christmas.html )

[flareAI]

Hello @Sowjanya_B,

Good day! Gina from flareAI app helping Shopify merchants get $6Million+ in sales from Google Search, on autopilot.

It is unfortunate to hear that someone has copied your website content without permission. Here are some steps you can take to protect your website and prevent this from happening again.

1. Contact the website owner
The first step is to contact the website owner and ask them to remove the copied content from their website. You can send a polite email or message, explaining that the content is your intellectual property and asking them to take it down. If you don't receive a response or the content is not removed, you can consider taking legal action.

2. Send a DMCA takedown notice
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) provides a way for copyright owners to request the removal of copyrighted content from websites. You can send a DMCA takedown notice to the website owner or their hosting provider, requesting that the copied content be removed.

3. Protect your content
To prevent your content from being copied in the future, consider using tools such as watermarks, and copyright notices, and disabling right-clicking on your website. You can also consider registering your content with the Copyright Office to establish legal ownership.

4. Monitor your content
Regularly monitor your website content and perform periodic searches to see if your content has been copied elsewhere on the internet. You can use tools like Copyscape or Google Alerts to help you monitor your content.

Regarding your concern about the effect on your SEO score, it is possible that having duplicate content on another website can negatively affect your SEO. When search engines encounter duplicate content, they may have difficulty determining which version is the original and may penalize both websites in their search rankings. Therefore, it is important to take steps to remove the copied content as soon as possible to avoid any negative impact on your SEO.

Gina

[Sowjanya_B]

Thank You for your reply😊
Will definitely look into it.

[Skye]

Hi, @Sowjanya_B 

Thanks for posting to the community. What a frustrating situation!

The response you received from @FlareAI is spot on. To report this merchant for IP theft, please use our online form. This will allow our legal team to investigate.

Another option, which helps in the case this store is cloning your site, is to add a specific script into your store. This isn't guaranteed to work, but in situations where the store is a clone, it will automatically redirect customers from their store to your store:

<script>
if(window.location.href.indexOf("merchantdomain.com") == -1) {
window.location = 'https://merchantdomain.com'; }
</script>

If you need assistance adding this code to your theme, please contact a Shopify Expert to assist. 

 I hope this helps!