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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Full On Copy of my Website? WWYD?
spinnymarie 07:17 AM 11-20-2013
Update: Thanks for all the support, she has changed her ad and *some* of her website and I've asked her to continue to do so. Thanks!

There is a new listing on craigslist this morning for a new daycare. I opened it, and was I ever surprised to read my OWN words on the page. I guess I can understand a cut and paste of a craigslist ad, no big deal.
So I click on the website... to find that it is MY website, cut and pasted. Our same pages, our same exact words, our same exact EV.ER.Y.TH.I.NG. Even how I have set up the school year schedule vs full-time schedule. Even my DAILY routine! Literally, every single thing.
So the question here is, what would you do?
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spinnymarie 07:20 AM 11-20-2013
Thanks for the support.
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kelsey's kids 07:22 AM 11-20-2013
I would report it. That is illegal
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Sugar Magnolia 07:22 AM 11-20-2013
Call her. Ask why she did that.
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mrsnj 07:26 AM 11-20-2013
I had someone steal my ad and sent them a message. They never replied but took it down. I never had someone duplicate everything though Thats not cool!
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momofsix 07:28 AM 11-20-2013
Wow! Crazy We could all contact her through her link and tell her how wrong she is!
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countrymom 07:34 AM 11-20-2013
I would flag it, and call her on it. Thats not cool. I understand bits and pieces but entire things, thats so not cool
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Unregistered 07:36 AM 11-20-2013
Oh that would make my blood boil! We spend a ton of time making our ads and website unique and to have someone copy it is completely wrong! I would call or email her!
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Blackcat31 07:37 AM 11-20-2013
Screen shot ALL the pages now so you can prove it. The second she gets wind of the fact that you are on to her, she will more than likely take it down.

I would call her and demand that she take it down immediately. It IS illegal.

Kind of ballsy if she lives in the same area... Wow!

I understand you can only say things in so many ways but I have both web-sites open side by side and she pretty much copied and pasted everything off your site....right down to the "newly renovated daycare room"

I'd also report it to any licensing agency you have.

This is UNPROFESSIONALISM at it's peak.
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Blackcat31 07:39 AM 11-20-2013
Originally Posted by spinnymarie:
Here are the ads, they even stole the part about how many spots are left?
WTH?
Mine:
http://chambana.craigslist.org/kid/4178112327.html

Hers:
http://chambana.craigslist.org/kid/4202539181.html
I flagged her ad as prohibited. I am going with "stealing" someone else's material as theft since it is and that is prohibited so I flagged it!
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spinnymarie 07:46 AM 11-20-2013
Thanks guys! I was hoping I wasn't over-reacting!
I've gone through my website and updated things ... I don't know if that makes it better or worse.
But at least its not exactly the same.
Plus, re-reading my stuff on her site made me want to change a few things.
I will contact them.
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permanentvacation 08:11 AM 11-20-2013
Wow! That lady is bolder than the lady that copies what I do! I can definitely understand how you feel. I just don't know what you can do about it.

I don't know what to suggest that you do about it. I'm sure that if you call her out about it (like I did to the lady that copies me), she will just deny it even though it's OBVIOUS! You can't force her to remove her ad.

I don't know if there's anything legally you can do about it. I would suggest that you call your lawyer/attorney about it. Someone posted on this forum about regarding my situation that what she is doing might be plagiarism. You can ask your lawyer about that. The thing is that I don't know if you can prove who posted what first.

I wound up just letting it go (regarding the lady that copies my program). Because I realized that I can't make her do or not do anything. But to pretty much copy you word for word - it does seem like you should be able to do something about that.
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MCC 08:13 AM 11-20-2013
you should be flattered right??

That is ridiculous! I am glad you are contacting her.
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Unregistered 08:13 AM 11-20-2013
oh wow, ok it is kind of humorous that the contact link goes back to you.

Maybe she asked someone to help do a webpage for her, and they took the lazy way out ?
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butterfly 08:21 AM 11-20-2013
I would guess that you'd be getting a lot more business, if she has all her contact us tabs linking to your information.

Sorry.

I love your website and ad - it is copy worthy.
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melilley 08:23 AM 11-20-2013
Wow! I can't believe her link goes to your website, funny, but not. How ballsy of her! Sounds like she has no idea of what she is doing and is going the easy way out. I too would flag and contact her!
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melilley 08:25 AM 11-20-2013
Originally Posted by butterfly:
I would guess that you'd be getting a lot more business, if she has all her contact us tabs linking to your information.

Sorry.

I love your website and ad - it is copy worthy.

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Leigh 08:26 AM 11-20-2013
I wouldn't bother contacting her. I would contact my attorney.
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spinnymarie 08:34 AM 11-20-2013
Originally Posted by butterfly:
I would guess that you'd be getting a lot more business, if she has all her contact us tabs linking to your information.

Sorry.

I love your website and ad - it is copy worthy.
Thanks - I definitely didn't tell her about the links
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Unregistered 08:39 AM 11-20-2013
She has a face book page also with your info! What a winner she is!
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spinnymarie 08:46 AM 11-20-2013
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
She has a face book page also with your info! What a winner she is!
Ah, thanks for the FB page, now I know who she is.
Thanks
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Unregistered 08:50 AM 11-20-2013
You're welcome! My pleasure! Her posts are hilarious,they are all about her and her day.Like her parents give a flying crap that she is tired or what she's doing for the weekend! Lol Hilarious!
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MrsSteinel'sHouse 09:22 AM 11-20-2013
I found the post on FB about the field trips and misbehaving kids funny! I wouldn't post that. If I have a problem with a child that is between the parent and I!
Sorry that she copied everything. Some people are unbelievable!
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craftymissbeth 09:27 AM 11-20-2013
She must not have too many dck's considering she went out to Red Lobster for lunch yesterday
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Shell 09:39 AM 11-20-2013
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
I flagged her ad as prohibited. I am going with "stealing" someone else's material as theft since it is and that is prohibited so I flagged it!

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melilley 09:44 AM 11-20-2013
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
I flagged her ad as prohibited. I am going with "stealing" someone else's material as theft since it is and that is prohibited so I flagged it!
Me too! Don't get daycare.com members mad....lol
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Heidi 09:44 AM 11-20-2013
Hey, come on, share the FB link too!
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Blackcat31 09:52 AM 11-20-2013
Originally Posted by Heidi:
Hey, come on, share the FB link too!
on the bottom of her (lol) website, on the home page is a facebook icon.

Just click on that and it takes you to her facebook page
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Hunni Bee 10:43 AM 11-20-2013
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
on the bottom of her (lol) website, on the home page is a facebook icon.

Just click on that and it takes you to her facebook page
I don't know if she took it down, but I don't see it. Maybe the mobile version doesn't show it.
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melilley 10:46 AM 11-20-2013
Originally Posted by Hunni Bee:
I don't know if she took it down, but I don't see it. Maybe the mobile version doesn't show it.
It's on the very bottom. She calls her fb page her "website" and there is a link to the "website".
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MsLaura529 11:08 AM 11-20-2013
Just looked through "her" website and facebook page ... my goodness!! I can't believe she would do that. And I would be terrified of some of her facebook posts if I was a parent with my kid in her daycare. She is a strange lady.
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MsLaura529 11:10 AM 11-20-2013
Also, I know you said you are re-wording some things on your site, so I wanted to mention that on your Programs page, you have it written, "As Early Childhood Educators at Sprouts Family Daycare, we are strive to provide a developmentally appropriate environment for each child to learn and grow".... you probably accidentally left "are" in there when you were doing your fixing. Just thought I would point it out
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spinnymarie 11:14 AM 11-20-2013
Originally Posted by MsLaura529:
Also, I know you said you are re-wording some things on your site, so I wanted to mention that on your Programs page, you have it written, "As Early Childhood Educators at Sprouts Family Daycare, we are strive to provide a developmentally appropriate environment for each child to learn and grow".... you probably accidentally left "are" in there when you were doing your fixing. Just thought I would point it out
THANK YOU SO MUCH! I'll go fix it. Feel free to let me know of anything else!
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butterfly 11:23 AM 11-20-2013
Originally Posted by MsLaura529:
Just looked through "her" website and facebook page ... my goodness!! I can't believe she would do that. And I would be terrified of some of her facebook posts if I was a parent with my kid in her daycare. She is a strange lady.

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sharlan 11:27 AM 11-20-2013
I flagged her, too.
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Childminder 11:32 AM 11-20-2013
...and she's not opening till August? is that correct?
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ECEVA 06:32 AM 11-25-2013
I would send her a letter via certified mail if her mailing address is listed. I don't know if I would pay an attorney yet - I might just google a letter and have it signed 'John Smith, ESQ' with a legal reference in the letter and a deadline to remove the copy written material.

The certified mail should wake her up and will cost you very little. Signing off as ESQ makes it look like it's from an attorney without you having to put out the $350 per hour to actually consult one.
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MarinaVanessa 08:20 AM 11-25-2013
Ugh, this very thing happened to me. I wrote up a cease and desist letter but I was lucky enough to have someone tell me right away and that person knew the copy-cat. She told her that I knew and was ready to send the letter out and suggested that she take it down before any trouble happened, which she did.

I suggest writing up a cease and desist letter accompanied by a second less formal letter. Use the first one to introduce yourself and to politely say that you saw her postings and website and that she word for word copied your text. Maybe she doesn't realize that its copyright infringement so nicely tell her and ask her to delete her postings and take down her website until she can write up her own work. Mention that you've attached a copy of a cease and desist letter as a formality but that you're sure that she understands that she must take it down and didn't mean to infringe on any laws etc. Pretty much its just a nice way of telling her to stop without angering her which can just irritate her to the point of her digging her heels.

I would also attach copies of your website and CL ads as well as hers and highlight the parts that are the same as yours word for word and keep copies for yourself.

If possible maybe someone you know knows her and can talk to her or maybe you can get someone to call her and talk to her to ask to take it down. "Hi hun, Im so and so, I saw your ad and noticed it was the same as my provider friend and when I went to your website I saw that your website is exactly like hers too. I just wanted to let you know that she knows about it and is getting ready to send out a cease and desist letter for copyright infringement so I don't know if you know but you can't copy someone else's work. I'm just calling you because I don't think things need to escalate and I'm sure you didn't know and will be more than happy to take all ads and the website down until you can wrote up your own again. This way things don't have to escalate and since us providers tend to network and know each other I'd hate for you to uunintentionally start off on the wrong foot."

And who in knows, maybe after this you can all laugh about it layer and be friends. Maybe even offer her some advice ... Or not lol
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Laurel 09:51 AM 11-25-2013
I haven't looked at it yet.

You may want to have someone you know or yourself call her and set up an interview. That will give you her address. You may need an address if you decide later to take legal action. That has to be copyright infringement I would think.

In addition to what others have said, you could contact the Better Business Bureau and report her. This is where her address would come in handy. I'd first try to get her to do it voluntarily though. They take care of complaints even though a business isn't registered with them.

I have a lawyer email friend. He is a divorce lawyer in New Mexico but he helps me out with general legal questions. I'll email him now and see if he has any suggestions.

It sounds like her facebook page will be her undoing. Wow, what nerve.

Laurel
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Laurel 09:58 AM 11-25-2013
I see her ad is different now. Did you contact her?

Laurel
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MarinaVanessa 10:01 AM 11-25-2013
Originally Posted by Laurel:
I see her ad is different now. Did you contact her?

Laurel
In the OP she posted an update and the provider made changes.

Way to go! I'm glad that you reached out. Have you made a new friend??
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MotherNature 11:21 AM 11-25-2013
wow- She posted she had a free day for the kids...meaning no naps & then put yay!!. Who is that good for?? Yikes..
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MarinaVanessa 02:14 PM 11-25-2013
Originally Posted by MotherNature:
wow- She posted she had a free day for the kids...meaning no naps & then put yay!!. Who is that good for?? Yikes..
Not necessarily good, just new ... and probably doesn't know she opened a can of worms .
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Unregistered 01:39 PM 11-26-2013
Theres a ding dong that lives near me that tries to copy everything I do on my ads and website too. She tries SO hard and just makes herself look like an idiot. I understand your frustration. I called this lady on it and she swore she wasn't copying me. So obvious she was. It pissed me off for the longest time but now I just consider it "flattering" since she must think I'm so great that she has to copy me. Poor thing can't get more then 2 kids ever in her daycare. So if she needs to ride my coat tails - go ahead.

BUT copying word for word and your links! Thats CRAY CRAY!!!!
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Laurel 03:18 PM 11-26-2013
Originally Posted by MarinaVanessa:
In the OP she posted an update and the provider made changes.

Way to go! I'm glad that you reached out. Have you made a new friend??
Oops, my bad. Thanks!

Laurel
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