Design Thieves: Sometimes People Steal More Than Content

In the past, we’ve spoken about how to protect content that you post on your website, as well as methods to minimize the chance that it is stolen. Additionally, we have even spoken about what to do if your content is taken by content thieves. But sometimes, thieves go one step further. And you might find yourself with more stolen than just your content.

A rather ingenious approach to combating thievery

Recently, we came across an article by 10 Volt Media. In it, they discuss what happened when an unscrupulous thief stole the design of their website. According to the article, the thief literally copied the website to their own server — after making a few image and text changes — and passed off 10 Volt Media’s custom website as their own. The story is rather well written, and I doubt that I can do it justice by summarizing here, so I suggest that you read the original.

But long story short, 10 Volt Media tried a novel approach, that of embarrassment. They created a story summarizing the thievery and included pertinent details about the thief so that others could know.

Apparently, this tactic worked like a charm. In an update that was posted only a week after the article was published, they write:

The thief … sent a sad plea asking that his personal info be removed and that he’s deleted what was stolen.

How about that!

Wondering about the design in question?

The screenshot below shows the unique home page design. Clearly, this is very unique, and there would be no mistaking any improper use of it on another website. Whoever thought that they could get away with copying the design was clearly out of their league.

Fortunately, we haven’t had any pieces of our website stolen. But we have had code stolen, namely Javascript, on websites that we have built.

Has anything similar happened to you  or your friends? Apparently, 10 Volt Media has an open invitation for you to submit examples of your own design work being stolen. In return, they’ll expose the thief on their specially created "Design Theft Wall of Shame".