I learned a hard lesson about intellectual property protection and I hope my story will be a cautionary tale for you.
Last year, I wanted to build a new online magazine for fathers. I hired a designer to create a logo, developed content, built a following on Twitter and secured hosting. Since I didn’t have enough time to actually build the site myself, I posted the job on Elance. Several web designers submitted bids and I reviewed them each of them. I narrowed it down to two designers and sent some follow-up questions and additional specifications.
As I was considering both proposals, one of the designers sent me this message:
Hello,
Had some free time this morning so I put together a quick demo site for you. If this is close to what you would like, just let me know!
Thanks
Andrew
I thought it was odd that he went through the trouble to build a demo site before he was awarded the job. I told him that I’d review the site and make a final decision within the next few days.
After some careful analysis, I decided to hire the other designer. Although his price was a little higher, I liked his proposal and the level of customer service that he offered.
A couple of weeks later, I received another message from the first designer:
Hello again!
Just wanted to give you an FYI…after we discussed this project, another investor came along and saw the demo site and hired me to go forward with it. I developed the site out a little more for her (logo, more articles etc), but then she lost her funding and backed out. So before I auction the site off in its current form, I wanted to give you first dibs on it, to see if you want it. If we proceeded you would get instant control of the site, it’s fully ready to go.
Thanks
Andrew
I couldn’t believe what I was reading. The designer made a slight variation to my URL and created a duplicate site. I did some quick research and found out that he had purchased the domain name and hosting 2 days after our initial interaction. I did an online search for the site and discovered that the designer had placed it up for action on Flippa.
This magazine-style site offers slick design and easy to browse content pages. It also offers great niche advertising potential, as it is targeted toward the niche African American male father — offering news, sports, tech, auto content, and fatherhood advice. Excellent broad range of advertising options.
I was livid. I contacted the designer to let him know what I had discovered. He didn’t respond to any of my messages. I was forced to contact, Elance, GoDaddy, and HostGator to report his unethical and unprofessional behavior. I won’t go into the details but getting him to take down the site became a long, arduous process.
Please don’t make the same mistakes I made. Protect your intellectual property by taking the following measures:
- Purchase all variations of your URL
- When hiring contractors, review their references
- Seek trademark and/or copyright protection for your work
I’ve heard countless stories of bloggers, photographers, artists, and musicians who have had their intellectual property stolen. Most of the time, the perpetrator was not being malicious. They simply didn’t know what they were doing was illegal. If you plan to display your work on the internet, you must guard it from unapproved use.
Although I was upset about what happened, I continue to use Elance for various projects. I refuse to allow one unscrupulous designer tarnish the reputations of hard-working, reputable contractors. Next time, I’ll just be more careful.
How do you protect your intellectual property online?
photo via Stock.xchng
