Jan 24
2010

Being digitally robbed

00:45, published in category: design, law, misc

I was very angry today. I found out that a Mexican web Agency Smart2Web ripped of my portfolio page and named it Enchulame Misitio (the website is offline at this time). Actually, a Twitter user discovered that my site has been plagiarized, and started to tweet about it.

They didn’t just stole the concept or minor graphic parts, but made an exact copy of it, including some of the texts and parts of the client list. Yes, they left some clients in the portfolio section, as their own. I wrote an email to the publisher of Echulame Misitio immediately. Surprisingly, I’ve got an answer and the site was removed very quickly.

I’ve made some screen shots:

Copy of Morphix Design Studio

Copy of Morphix Design Studio

The thing is, it wasn’t the first time. A month ago, a guy from India made an almost exact copy of it, with his own logo on it. After sending him an email, the site was offline in a few hours.

However, I’m still happy that my site has been an inspiration for other designers. I know that the concept of it isn’t really new and that there are bunch of websites using the same concept of navigation, but I still get a lot of positive response from visitors.

À propos… my new blog was Site of the day on The CSS Awards.

Comments

Jonathan Alvarez, 24. January 2010, ob 22:32:

Los plagios son tan comunes en Internet: http://highendmagazine.com/2010/01/24/plagios-creativos-20/

PLAGIOS CREATIVOS | HIGHEND TECH+STYLE, 25. January 2010, ob 05:58:

[...] Vidovič de la empresa Morphix confirmaba que el sitio de Smart2Web “estaba plagiando” (hay un blog post sobre esto) Nosotros intentamos mantener la comunicación con el CEO de Smart2Web y simple y sencillamente [...]

HIGHEND MAGAZINE AMENAZADO POR DECIR LA VERDAD | HIGHEND TECH+STYLE, 25. January 2010, ob 05:59:

[...] blog post y terminen analizando el tema, cuando existe una confirmación del CEO de la agencia afectada diciendo que fue un “robo”, no lo dije yo, por eso todos los sitios están enlazados en el artículo [...]

Plagios, plagios y más plagioooos « CreArte Mercadotecnia Integral, 25. January 2010, ob 06:25:

[...] highendmagazine.com, blog.morphix.si, blogvecindad.com Dejar un [...]

Edw, 25. January 2010, ob 16:57:

Your first page cannot adapt IE6.0… Why don’t you fix it.

Tweets that mention Being digitally robbed | Morphix Blog -- Topsy.com, 25. January 2010, ob 20:23:

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jorge Montoya, Jonathan Alvarez , Jonathan Alvarez , Eduardo Reveles, Manny George and others. Manny George said: ja! @antoniotrejo va demandar a todo internet por mencionar su plagio http://bit.ly/6IoMon http://bit.ly/4EWQq3 http://bit.ly/8js9rX #FAIL [...]

Morphix, 25. January 2010, ob 22:30:

@Edw: I tried two different IE6 PNG Fixes for the transparency and they didn’t work well :( Only 2 percent of my visitors are using IE 6… I know it’s not fair to ignore them, but I admit I haven’t found the time to fix this IE6 issue. I appologize for those who are still using IE6.

uberVU - social comments, 25. January 2010, ob 23:11:

Social comments and analytics for this post…

This post was mentioned on Twitter by jonathanalvarez: @rafael_j este es el caso dude: http://blog.morphix.si/2010/misc/being-digitally-robbed/…

Morphix, 30. January 2010, ob 10:59:

@Edw… Google will not care about IE6 any more: http://bit.ly/dsJW94

Rams, 24. February 2010, ob 03:52:

Hey ive been surfing around and found youre work and I must say im impressed. Way to go man, youve been bookmarked. (: Me as a beginner feel like i can learn a lot from you. Keep it up man.

o btw, how can you see that only 2% uses IE6?
thanks

Morphix, 24. February 2010, ob 08:38:

And here we go again: http://www.mindvision.co.in/

Morphix, 24. February 2010, ob 08:39:

@Rams: Google Analytics

Greg, 13. April 2010, ob 06:40:

I have you bookmarked as well and visit your site probably monthly as i’m brainstorming for inspiration. You’ve done well!

Yehya Egyptian designer, 20. April 2010, ob 09:12:

Hey Morphix you are amaaaaaaaaazing man.
Don’t worry we know you are the original and you are the best.
your website is very very cute and beautiful, you are the best :-)

Morphix, 25. April 2010, ob 08:48:

And here we go again: http://webuyanyhouse.org/

Morphix, 7. May 2010, ob 07:18:

Watch this dude: http://gadarve.com/app/ :)

Dave, 9. May 2010, ob 19:23:

:) funny guys, those copy pirates.
Makes me laugh and cry at the same time. Especially when the pirate offers services like graphic design or webdesign.
Lot of people just can’t resist to steal instead being inspired. Sad but true.

Another thing. What font did you used in your logo and the word ‘Blog’
I’m searching for a font with similar curves in it.
Hope it’s a font and not custom made (i’m almost pretty sure it’s a font…) ;)

Morphix, 9. May 2010, ob 21:35:

Hi Dave,
the font used in the logotype is Underware’s Liza Pro with minor modifications.

Dave, 10. May 2010, ob 15:01:

Hi Morph,
Sorry, didn’t mentioned you allready replied me here.
Didn’t got any notifications, saw a refering in my analytics…
So it’s Liza pro. Very beautiful.
Just visited the creators website. 150 euro… that’s a lot of money. Think i’ll search for a “look-a-like”

Thanks for answering me.

greets
Dave

Morphix, 1. June 2010, ob 11:05:

Someone’s been really creative: http://www.fatorcriativo.com.br/#home

Romer, 2. June 2010, ob 19:58:

Morphix, we are really inspire our website in yours, but we think its not really a copy, what you think about it.

Morphix, 3. June 2010, ob 15:03:

Hi Romer,
there’s no problem. I’m proud, that my site was your inspiration.

Elina, 22. June 2010, ob 12:14:

I think that fatorcriativo is a good example of being inspired and not stealing. Anyhow, I like your design and the simplicity of your blog. Good work! :)

Mark, 13. July 2010, ob 01:29:

They do say that imitation is the highest form of flattery ;)

Shirley, 2. March 2011, ob 00:56:

Great post, honest!

Mihaela Broskava, 12. July 2011, ob 22:31:

All of you guys are really stupids. U get angry with this little web site robbed when a lot of business its outside. High End Magazine is so ugly and they are the most stupids of all of you when they give importance to something little. Come on guys!!! Do money!! no bullshit!!!

John Bruns, 8. August 2012, ob 05:41:

Come on guys! Im so agree with Mihaela. You guys get panic with a little website when you really need to get focused on doing business. The guy from High End Magazine look that he dont have nothing special to do. His website is really a piece of shit and I was searching on Internet about him and I see he doesnt make something related with websites building. He is just another guy how wants to be an star behind the scene.

Do business and let others do its own efforts!

John Laurence, 13. August 2012, ob 02:59:

Bull shit! Morphix, your designs are great but this guy looks like an little girl trying to have his 1 minute of fame. Do some interesting sr Jonathan, you look terrible doing this kind of shit.

airtonx, 28. March 2013, ob 05:00:

See if I found myself in the same situation Morphix was in, first thing I would have done was send those DCMA emails.

Second thing I would have done was turn this Site design into a packagable theme, slap a All Rights Reserved License on it then make it available for Django, Shopify, WordPress.com and Drupal.

All further DCMA emails would then start off by saying how flattered you are by the un-licensed use of the them, however it can be easily obtained for all major platforms at this URL, payment can be provided via paypal or google checkout.

Respond now!