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U.S. Copyright Group caught stealing competitor's code
Image via TorrentFreak (click image for full size).
In an ironic twist, The USCG seems to have been caught quite red-handed in an attempt to lazily steal code from a competitor's website. They didn't just take bits and pieces, either; the site they had "built" was a nearly complete reproduction of the original. To further deepen the irony of the incident, it was the crew at TorrentFreak who called them out on their shenanigans by posting screenshots of both sites and their source code.
You may remember the USCG for their mass-litigation back in May of this year over infringement of The Hurt Locker -- in which they began suing thousands of file-sharers on behalf of the film's makers.
After grabbing their screenshots, and no doubt having a good laugh at the USCG's expense, TorrentFreak contacted the Copyright Enforcement Group, to let them know that their settlements site had been ripped off by the competition. The CEG promptly replied that they had never authorized anyone to use their site's code, and that the USCG would be receiving a cease and desist letter from them. It didn't take long for the doppelganger-site to begin a quick metamorphosis into a completely different, bare-bones replacement page. Needless to say, the entire ordeal is pretty embarrassing for the USCG.
Comments
11
Subscribe to commentsdevilseiJul 31st 2010 1:24PM
Well now, ain't that a definition of irony.
TravisJul 31st 2010 3:50PM
What does the United States Coast Guard have to do with this?
Matthew RogersJul 31st 2010 4:14PM
Everything!
MasonAug 2nd 2010 6:41PM
Read the article more closely. Although the acronym is the same, the meaning is different.
Normally the USCG is the United States Coast Guard. Here, it's the United States Copyright Group.
AemonyJul 31st 2010 5:12PM
What I can't understand is why their new header logo is primarily showing the European, Asian and African continents. The funniest thing about this is that Sweden, "the haven for pirates", almost seems to be in the very middle of the logo...
I thought they were operating in the U.S., or am I wrong to assume so?
ragtagJul 31st 2010 6:52PM
Aemony: Probably because they ripped the design for the globe logo from some European site. :P
DeoWulfJul 31st 2010 6:56PM
I see that some wonderful internet people have already bombed the site's Web Of Trust rating.
JoelJul 31st 2010 7:19PM
So they were even too stupid to change the phone number? Nothing like posting your competitor's phone number on your home page.
F-ZeroAug 1st 2010 1:33AM
i love how both sites are in the red for all WoT variables
aidriiyanAug 1st 2010 6:37AM
so stupid.
BernieAug 1st 2010 4:40PM
If anyone thought they had any legitimacy this sort of proves they don't. It's a money making scheme for the labels.