Hi All

Just got the new Yellow Pages and looked under Handyman to check the
competition. Amazed to find www.kent-handyman.co.uk who appears to have
stolen his wording directly from my web site!

He has even stolen my price structure! Not only that, he uses the phrase
The Medway Handyman in his meta tags.

Cheeky git!

Apart from bricking his windows - what can I do about it? Intellectual
property theft?


--
Dave
The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

The Medway Handyman wrote:
Hi All

Just got the new Yellow Pages and looked under Handyman to check the
competition. Amazed to find www.kent-handyman.co.uk who appears to have
stolen his wording directly from my web site!

He has even stolen my price structure! Not only that, he uses the phrase
The Medway Handyman in his meta tags.

Cheeky git!

Apart from bricking his windows - what can I do about it? Intellectual
property theft?

Call the Medway Murderer?

"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
...
Hi All

Just got the new Yellow Pages and looked under Handyman to check the
competition. Amazed to find www.kent-handyman.co.uk who appears to have
stolen his wording directly from my web site!

He has even stolen my price structure! Not only that, he uses the phrase
The Medway Handyman in his meta tags.

Cheeky git!

Apart from bricking his windows - what can I do about it? Intellectual
property theft?

Copyright would seem to be the obvious one.

Personally I'd ask him to remove the meta tags and rewrite his text. If he
refused then I'd ask around what to do next - could get his ISP on the case?

cheers,
clive

Ian Stirling wrote:
The Medway Handyman wrote:
Hi All

Just got the new Yellow Pages and looked under Handyman to check the
competition. Amazed to find www.kent-handyman.co.uk who appears to
have stolen his wording directly from my web site!

He has even stolen my price structure! Not only that, he uses the
phrase The Medway Handyman in his meta tags.

Cheeky git!

Apart from bricking his windows - what can I do about it?
Intellectual property theft?

Call the Medway Murderer?

My charges are as follows:

The first good hiding (includes travel); £30

Per punch afterwards; £30

The full Monty: good hiding followed by decapitation (4 hours) pre booked;
£100

Burial afterwards; £25

Full Day includes kneecapping, decapitation, burial and basket of fruit for
the widow (8 hours) pre booked; £160

Clive George wrote:
"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
...
Hi All

Just got the new Yellow Pages and looked under Handyman to check the
competition. Amazed to find www.kent-handyman.co.uk who appears to have
stolen his wording directly from my web site!

He has even stolen my price structure! Not only that, he uses the phrase
The Medway Handyman in his meta tags.

Cheeky git!

Apart from bricking his windows - what can I do about it? Intellectual
property theft?

Copyright would seem to be the obvious one.

Personally I'd ask him to remove the meta tags and rewrite his text. If he
refused then I'd ask around what to do next - could get his ISP on the case?

cheers,
clive

.... remembering to take a copy of some copied pages for use as evidence
in the future?

maybe?

M

The Medway Handyman wrote:
Hi All

Just got the new Yellow Pages and looked under Handyman to check the
competition. Amazed to find www.kent-handyman.co.uk who appears to have
stolen his wording directly from my web site!

He has even stolen my price structure! Not only that, he uses the phrase
The Medway Handyman in his meta tags.

Cheeky git!

Apart from bricking his windows - what can I do about it? Intellectual
property theft?


--
Dave
The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

You could try getting him out to some random addresses to give quotes.

But yes, take copies of the website and consult a copyright lawyer.

dg

On Tue, 21 Nov 2006 21:16:58 +0000, The Medway Murderer wrote:

Ian Stirling wrote:
The Medway Handyman wrote:
Hi All

Just got the new Yellow Pages and looked under Handyman to check the
competition. Amazed to find www.kent-handyman.co.uk who appears to
have stolen his wording directly from my web site!

He has even stolen my price structure! Not only that, he uses the
phrase The Medway Handyman in his meta tags.

Cheeky git!

Apart from bricking his windows - what can I do about it? Intellectual
property theft?

Call the Medway Murderer?

My charges are as follows:

The first good hiding (includes travel); £30

Per punch afterwards; £30

The full Monty: good hiding followed by decapitation (4 hours) pre booked;
£100

Burial afterwards; £25

Full Day includes kneecapping, decapitation, burial and basket of fruit
for the widow (8 hours) pre booked; £160

================================
Any references from satisfied customers?

Cic.



--
================================
Testing UBUNTU Linux
Everything working so far
================================

The Medway Murderer wrote:
Ian Stirling wrote:
The Medway Handyman wrote:
Hi All

Just got the new Yellow Pages and looked under Handyman to check the
competition. Amazed to find www.kent-handyman.co.uk who appears to
have stolen his wording directly from my web site!

He has even stolen my price structure! Not only that, he uses the
phrase The Medway Handyman in his meta tags.

Cheeky git!

Apart from bricking his windows - what can I do about it?
Intellectual property theft?

Call the Medway Murderer?

My charges are as follows:

The first good hiding (includes travel); £30

Per punch afterwards; £30

The full Monty: good hiding followed by decapitation (4 hours) pre
booked; £100

Burial afterwards; £25

Full Day includes kneecapping, decapitation, burial and basket of
fruit for the widow (8 hours) pre booked; £160


ROFLMFAO!!!!


--
Dave
The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
...
Hi All

Just got the new Yellow Pages and looked under Handyman to check the
competition. Amazed to find www.kent-handyman.co.uk who appears to have
stolen his wording directly from my web site!

He has even stolen my price structure! Not only that, he uses the phrase
The Medway Handyman in his meta tags.

Cheeky git!

Apart from bricking his windows - what can I do about it? Intellectual
property theft?


--
Dave
The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

At least I don't have to pay 0870 rates to contact you at home Dave.
--

Graham.
%Profound_observation%

On Tue, 21 Nov 2006 20:54:54 GMT, "The Medway Handyman"
wrote:

Hi All

Just got the new Yellow Pages and looked under Handyman to check the
competition. Amazed to find www.kent-handyman.co.uk who appears to have
stolen his wording directly from my web site!

He has even stolen my price structure! Not only that, he uses the phrase
The Medway Handyman in his meta tags.

Cheeky git!

Apart from bricking his windows - what can I do about it? Intellectual
property theft?

Does your website contain a Copyright notice? You might not need it,
but it might help from a legal perspective.
If he's blatantly copied text verbatim then you should have a claim.

Also, is your trading name 'The Medway Handyman'? If so then it should
be a registered name, and he can't use it.

Might be quite expensive to litigate, but you could at least inform
his site host of a breach of copyright - they might be inclined to
remove the site in case they get caught up in any action.

Probably the best bet is to get some professional advice...

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{who is at}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk

On Tue, 21 Nov 2006 20:54:54 GMT, The Medway Handyman wrote:

Apart from bricking his windows - what can I do about it? Intellectual
property theft?

Heaven forfend that someone should be so low! What next? He'll no doubt be
sneaking into DIY newsgroups to pick up tips and then passing the results
off as knowledge he acquired the hard way.

"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
...
Hi All

Just got the new Yellow Pages and looked under Handyman to check the
competition. Amazed to find www.kent-handyman.co.uk who appears to have
stolen his wording directly from my web site!

He has even stolen my price structure! Not only that, he uses the phrase
The Medway Handyman in his meta tags.

Cheeky git!

Apart from bricking his windows - what can I do about it? Intellectual
property theft?


Domain name:
kent-handyman.co.uk

Registrant:
derek dowding

Registrant type:
UK Individual

Registrant's address:
The registrant is a non-trading individual who has opted to have
their
address omitted from the WHOIS service.

Registrant's agent:
Dollamore Ltd t/a StreamlineNet [Tag = STREAMLINENET]
URL: http://www.streamline.net

Relevant dates:
Registered on: 01-Aug-2006
Renewal date: 01-Aug-2008
Last updated: 02-Nov-2006

Registration status:
Registered until renewal date.

Name servers:
ns1.streamlinedns.co.uk
ns2.streamlinedns.co.uk

WHOIS lookup made at 22:06:33 21-Nov-2006

--
This WHOIS information is provided for free by Nominet UK the central
registry
for .uk domain names. This information and the .uk WHOIS a

Copyright Nominet UK 1996 - 2006.

You may not access the .uk WHOIS or use any data from it except as permitted
by the terms of use available in full at http://www.nominet.org.uk/whois,
which
includes restrictions on: (A) use of the data for advertising, or its
repackaging, recompilation, redistribution or reuse (B) obscuring, removing
or hiding any or all of this notice and (C) exceeding query rate or volume
limits. The data is provided on an 'as-is' basis and may lag behind the
register. Access may be withdrawn or restricted at any time.

In message , The Medway
Handyman writes
Hi All

Just got the new Yellow Pages and looked under Handyman to check the
competition. Amazed to find www.kent-handyman.co.uk who appears to have
stolen his wording directly from my web site!

He has even stolen my price structure! Not only that, he uses the phrase
The Medway Handyman in his meta tags.

Cheeky git!

Apart from bricking his windows - what can I do about it? Intellectual
property theft?
Email to him then email to ISP, mention passing off and copyright theft
if the words are the same. Might be worth dropping Google a line and
mentioning all that as well, he's one of two sponsored links on a search
for Medway handyman.
If that fails, seek legal advice if you're that bothered. Might be worth
making the point 'Original and best' on your site, accept no substitutes
etc. If all else fails, nick his advertising, get the meta tags changed
on your site as well.



--
Clint Sharp

On Tue, 21 Nov 2006 22:07:42 UTC, "SJP"
wrote:

He has even stolen my price structure! Not only that, he uses the phrase
The Medway Handyman in his meta tags.

Domain name:
kent-handyman.co.uk

Registrant:
derek dowding

Registrant type:
UK Individual

Registrant's address:
The registrant is a non-trading individual who has opted to have
their
address omitted from the WHOIS service.

OK, seriously...email Nominet and complain that he's trading and they'll
make him disclose his address sharpish. Might take the wind out of his
sails a bit, and it shouldn't be allowed anyway.
--
The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
Avenue Supplies, http://avenuesupplies.co.uk

On Tue, 21 Nov 2006 20:54:54 UTC, "The Medway Handyman"
wrote:

(etc.)

He claims to be a non-trading individual. I've just put in a complaint
to Nominet. Anyone else want to add weight to it?

--
The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
Avenue Supplies, http://avenuesupplies.co.uk

"SJP" wrote in message
...

"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
...
Hi All

Just got the new Yellow Pages and looked under Handyman to check the
competition. Amazed to find www.kent-handyman.co.uk who appears to have
stolen his wording directly from my web site!

He has even stolen my price structure! Not only that, he uses the phrase
The Medway Handyman in his meta tags.

Cheeky git!

Apart from bricking his windows - what can I do about it? Intellectual
property theft?


Domain name:
kent-handyman.co.uk

Registrant:
derek dowding

Registrant type:
UK Individual

Registrant's address:
The registrant is a non-trading individual who has opted to have
their
address omitted from the WHOIS service.


I have just emailed Nominet requesting the hidden information - They are
usually quite good if the registrant has lied about not trading :-)

Sparks...

"Bob Eager" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 21 Nov 2006 20:54:54 UTC, "The Medway Handyman"
wrote:

(etc.)

He claims to be a non-trading individual. I've just put in a complaint
to Nominet. Anyone else want to add weight to it?

Done :-)

you need to send the complaint to "nominet" then the @ sign then
"nominet.org.uk"
For those who can't be arsed to look it up!

Sparks..

Steve Firth wrote:
On Tue, 21 Nov 2006 20:54:54 GMT, The Medway Handyman wrote:

Apart from bricking his windows - what can I do about it?
Intellectual property theft?

Heaven forfend that someone should be so low! What next? He'll no
doubt be sneaking into DIY newsgroups

Sneaking? I don't think so.

to pick up tips and then
passing the results off as knowledge he acquired the hard way.

He might regularly answer questions from other members instead of just
sniping at people.

He might just offer advice he aquired the hard way on some specialised
subjects to help people.

Or he might just be a complete ****wit like you.


--
Dave
The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

"Sparks" wrote in message
...

"Bob Eager" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 21 Nov 2006 20:54:54 UTC, "The Medway Handyman"
wrote:

(etc.)

He claims to be a non-trading individual. I've just put in a complaint
to Nominet. Anyone else want to add weight to it?

Done :-)

you need to send the complaint to "nominet" then the @ sign then
"nominet.org.uk"
For those who can't be arsed to look it up!

Sparks..

kent-metalworks.co.uk also seems to be his, again, with-holding the address

Searching for Derek Dowding in Kent reveals this...
http://www.b4usearch.com/index.cfm?e...ing&where=Kent
(http://tinyurl.com/yzqggr)

Steve Firth wrote:

Heaven forfend that someone should be so low! What next? He'll no doubt be
sneaking into DIY newsgroups to pick up tips and then passing the results
off as knowledge he acquired the hard way.


Steve, I really don't understand why you have such a bee in your bonnet
about this. As someone who works in IT, I make extensive use of Usenet
and BBs, as do many others in the industry. I know this is common
practice in a whole range of professions. Why does it offend you so much
in the context of the building trade?


--
Grunff

On Tue, 21 Nov 2006 22:51:20 UTC, "Sparks" wrote:


"Bob Eager" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 21 Nov 2006 20:54:54 UTC, "The Medway Handyman"
wrote:

(etc.)

He claims to be a non-trading individual. I've just put in a complaint
to Nominet. Anyone else want to add weight to it?

Done :-)

you need to send the complaint to "nominet" then the @ sign then
"nominet.org.uk"

I sent it to 'drs' @ the same address. Sent it there last time I did
this, and got a very quick response.

--
The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
Avenue Supplies, http://avenuesupplies.co.uk

On Tue, 21 Nov 2006 22:57:49 GMT, The Medway Handyman wrote:

Or he might just be a complete ****wit like you.

Touched a nerve eh? What on earth made you think I was talking about you?

On Tue, 21 Nov 2006 20:54:54 GMT, "The Medway Handyman"
wrote:

Hi All

Just got the new Yellow Pages and looked under Handyman to check the
competition. Amazed to find www.kent-handyman.co.uk who appears to have
stolen his wording directly from my web site!

He has even stolen my price structure! Not only that, he uses the phrase
The Medway Handyman in his meta tags.

Cheeky git!

Apart from bricking his windows - what can I do about it? Intellectual
property theft?


ask the people in uk.legal (x-posted)

On Tue, 21 Nov 2006 23:04:26 +0000, Grunff wrote:

Why does it offend you so much
in the context of the building trade?

It doesn't, but the group title is d-i-y not d-i-f-s-e-a-g-p-f-i. If he
wants a self help group for building professionals then unnm is - thataway
and he can get a vote for the group creation.

On Tue, 21 Nov 2006 20:54:54 GMT, "The Medway Handyman"
wrote:

Hi All

Just got the new Yellow Pages and looked under Handyman to check the
competition. Amazed to find www.kent-handyman.co.uk who appears to have
stolen his wording directly from my web site!

He has even stolen my price structure! Not only that, he uses the phrase
The Medway Handyman in his meta tags.

Cheeky git!

Apart from bricking his windows - what can I do about it? Intellectual
property theft?


I hope that loads of people don't contact him to leet him know what
they think of his shabby tactics:

Telephone:

08708031586

Mobile:

07793232039

Email:

Steve Firth wrote:
On Tue, 21 Nov 2006 23:04:26 +0000, Grunff wrote:

Why does it offend you so much
in the context of the building trade?

It doesn't, but the group title is d-i-y not d-i-f-s-e-a-g-p-f-i. If he
wants a self help group for building professionals then unnm is - thataway
and he can get a vote for the group creation.

correct time of night, agressive and abusive seems to be an accurate
description of demeanour towards other posters ...

HAD A DRINK ?

Bob Eager wrote:
On Tue, 21 Nov 2006 20:54:54 UTC, "The Medway Handyman"
wrote:

(etc.)

He claims to be a non-trading individual. I've just put in a complaint
to Nominet. Anyone else want to add weight to it?

He is trading because he appers in YP.

Is it Nominet that I complain to?


--
Dave
The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

Sparks wrote:
"Sparks" wrote in message
...

"Bob Eager" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 21 Nov 2006 20:54:54 UTC, "The Medway Handyman"
wrote:

(etc.)

He claims to be a non-trading individual. I've just put in a
complaint to Nominet. Anyone else want to add weight to it?

Done :-)

you need to send the complaint to "nominet" then the @ sign then
"nominet.org.uk"
For those who can't be arsed to look it up!

Sparks..

kent-metalworks.co.uk also seems to be his, again, with-holding the
address
Searching for Derek Dowding in Kent reveals this...
http://www.b4usearch.com/index.cfm?e...ing&where=Kent
(http://tinyurl.com/yzqggr)

Thanks Sparks, but he resides in Chatham, Ket ME4 5HS.


--
Dave
The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

On Tue, 21 Nov 2006 20:54:54 GMT, "The Medway Handyman"
wrote:

Hi All

Just got the new Yellow Pages and looked under Handyman to check the
competition. Amazed to find www.kent-handyman.co.uk who appears to have
stolen his wording directly from my web site!

He has even stolen my price structure! Not only that, he uses the phrase
The Medway Handyman in his meta tags.

Cheeky git!

Apart from bricking his windows - what can I do about it? Intellectual
property theft?


This is awful - I just contacted the wrong person by mistake!!

I phoned 08708031586 and opened the conversation by saying am I
talking to the Medway Handyman - the gentleman said that I was. I
then explained that this was surprising as I thought I had phoned the
number of the kent-handyman. He then admitted that he was not the
same person.
I explained at some length how I though that parts of his website were
directly lifted from the Medway Handyman's site. He said that it was
pure coincidence - I expressed my disbelief.

I hope that others don't make the same mistake which I made.


Please make sure that if you want to contact the kent-handyman you
contact him via:
Telephone: 08708031586
Mobile: 07793232039
Email:

(It is probably not a good idea to post his e-mail address of
as search robots for the spammers may pick it
up)

Steve Firth wrote:

It doesn't, but the group title is d-i-y not d-i-f-s-e-a-g-p-f-i. If he
wants a self help group for building professionals then unnm is - thataway
and he can get a vote for the group creation.

I'm afraid I must disagree. Yes, Dave does ask for help, but he's also
very helpful towards others. I personally find his contribution
valuable, and see nothing wrong with him asking questions relating to
his work.

I'm not trying or expecting to change your mind, I just wanted to
express my opinion on the subject.


--
Grunff

Steve Firth wrote:
On Tue, 21 Nov 2006 23:04:26 +0000, Grunff wrote:

Why does it offend you so much
in the context of the building trade?

It doesn't, but the group title is d-i-y not d-i-f-s-e-a-g-p-f-i. If
he wants a self help group for building professionals then unnm is -
thataway and he can get a vote for the group creation.

Get real, at least half of the people who use this group must have got paid
for DIY work they've done and besides, you can't show someone how to do
stuff in a newsgroup, IE you can't learn how to be a bricklayer via usenet,
you can however, find out where cheap tools or materials are for sale, and
offer tips to other people....and I don't see that it makes any difference
how you learn how to do something, I mean no one has ever asked me for
credentials wrt my line of work (building), they see the results and are
either happy or not, they've never said, 'Im not paying you because you
didn't go to 'Brickwork University'.

"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
...
Just got the new Yellow Pages and looked under Handyman to check the
competition. Amazed to find www.kent-handyman.co.uk who appears to have
stolen his wording directly from my web site!

So far as I can see, most of the site is entirely different. There are some
similarities of wording on the pricing page, but they are not identical and
there must be a limited number of ways of saying we are not VAT registered
and don't charge you VAT.

He has even stolen my price structure!

Him: £35 first hour £20 per hour after, in some areas. £38 and £28 in
others.
You: £30 for first and subsequent hours.

Not only that, he uses the phrase The Medway Handyman in his meta tags.

Only Inktomi even looks at those any more. If you did get him to change
that, he could still justifiably put 'Medway, handyman' in the tags and have
much the same effect.

Google never did enable meta tags and it ranks your home page at 3, compared
to 0 for his, which puts you in the top place on a Google search on Medway
handyman, not that it produces hits for many businesses.

He is higher on sponsored links, but I've not found those to be worth
spending a lot of money on. A lot of people simply ignore them as
advertising.

Apart from bricking his windows - what can I do about it? Intellectual
property theft?

As I said earlier, I don't see any real evidence of that. From a commercial
point of view, I would be more worried about the fact that his site looks
more professional.

Colin Bignell

In article ,
Steve Firth wrote:
Apart from bricking his windows - what can I do about it?
Intellectual property theft?

Heaven forfend that someone should be so low! What next? He'll no doubt
be sneaking into DIY newsgroups to pick up tips and then passing the
results off as knowledge he acquired the hard way.

Where did you learn from? I find even in connection with my work I learn
from many places - including here. Nor does Dave 'sneak' into this group -
he couldn't be more honest about what he does if he tried.

--
*Preserve wildlife - Go pickle a squirrel*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Steve Firth wrote:
On Tue, 21 Nov 2006 22:57:49 GMT, The Medway Handyman wrote:

Or he might just be a complete ****wit like you.

Touched a nerve eh? What on earth made you think I was talking about
you?

Only the fact that you are a proven ****wit really.


--
Dave
The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

On Tue, 21 Nov 2006 23:40:31 +0000, Grunff wrote:

Steve Firth wrote:

It doesn't, but the group title is d-i-y not d-i-f-s-e-a-g-p-f-i. If he
wants a self help group for building professionals then unnm is - thataway
and he can get a vote for the group creation.

I'm afraid I must disagree. Yes, Dave does ask for help, but he's also
very helpful towards others. I personally find his contribution
valuable, and see nothing wrong with him asking questions relating to
his work.

I have no problem with this, but he's in the wrong place, just as the truck
drivers infesting uk.rec.driving are in the wrong place.

I'm not trying or expecting to change your mind, I just wanted to
express my opinion on the subject.

I didn't expect to change anyone's mind. You're wrong but you just don't
know it.

On Tue, 21 Nov 2006 23:25:50 GMT, . wrote:

Steve Firth wrote:
On Tue, 21 Nov 2006 23:04:26 +0000, Grunff wrote:

Why does it offend you so much
in the context of the building trade?

It doesn't, but the group title is d-i-y not d-i-f-s-e-a-g-p-f-i. If he
wants a self help group for building professionals then unnm is - thataway
and he can get a vote for the group creation.

correct time of night, agressive and abusive seems to be an accurate
description of demeanour towards other posters ...

Except it's not, in fact to describe that post as either abusive or
aggressive is a lie.

HAD A DRINK ?

I see you still can't help yourself from libelling others. Is that why you
cower behind an alias? I suppose the dot is an indication of the size of
your testicles.

On Tue, 21 Nov 2006 23:46:16 GMT, The Medway Handyman wrote:

Steve Firth wrote:
On Tue, 21 Nov 2006 22:57:49 GMT, The Medway Handyman wrote:

Or he might just be a complete ****wit like you.

Touched a nerve eh? What on earth made you think I was talking about
you?

Only the fact that you are a proven ****wit really.

Aww bless, you need to have a word with dot. He has strong views about
people who abuse others at this time of night.

On Tue, 21 Nov 2006 23:45:56 +0000 (GMT), Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

Nor does Dave 'sneak' into this group -
he couldn't be more honest about what he does if he tried.

Ah, another person leaping to erroneous conclusions. Who accused "Dave" of
sneaking in anywhere?

"The Medway Handyman" wrote in
message ...
Just got the new Yellow Pages and looked under Handyman to check the
competition. Amazed to find www.kent-handyman.co.uk who appears to
have stolen his wording directly from my web site!

So far as I can see, most of the site is entirely different. There
are some similarities of wording on the pricing page, but they are
not identical and there must be a limited number of ways of saying we
are not VAT registered and don't charge you VAT.

He has even stolen my price structure!

Him: £35 first hour £20 per hour after, in some areas. £38 and £28 in
others.
You: £30 for first and subsequent hours.

Not just that, but the "Half Day (pre booked) and the Full Day (pre booked)
are identical. He also uses all the phrases I do.


Not only that, he uses the phrase The Medway Handyman in his meta
tags.

Only Inktomi even looks at those any more. If you did get him to
change that, he could still justifiably put 'Medway, handyman' in the
tags and have much the same effect.

He does that as well, but The Medway Handyman is my registered business
name. What would happen if I put 'screwfix' in my meta tags?

As I said earlier, I don't see any real evidence of that. From a
commercial point of view, I would be more worried about the fact that
his site looks more professional.

It does? How about his home page?

"We Specialists (sic) in work involving carpentry (no capitalisation),
plumbing (no capitalisation), Electrics (capitalised), flat pack assembly
(no capitalisation), Home Improvements (capitalised), mobile welding (no
capitalisation)".

Professional??????????????

He has no grasp of basic English grammar !!!!!!!!!


--
Dave
The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

The Medway Handyman wrote:

Intellectual property theft?

I'm all for fair competition, but this is unfair - in particular the
deliberate passing off by including "medway handyman" in his own site
content.

It's not "theft", "copyright" nor "trademark" infringement. You can't
steal something you don't remove. There's no copyright protection on a
mere title. You don't (AFAIK) have a registered trademark.

So what you're left with here is "passing off", which in the UK has a
key ingredient of "a misrepresentation which is calculated to deceive".
Now particularly after last week's change that excludes the
Gold/Schiffreen defence (a loophole that computers allegedly committed
forgery on themselves, rather than culpability resting with the author
of the false meta tag) this "medway handyman" meta tag is not merely
similarity, it can only be clear intent to deceive. The purchase of the
Google AdWords covering "medway handyman" are also strong evidence of
this.

Use of the phrase "the Medway handyman", as well as "Medway handyman"
but not "Chatham handyman" or similar is strong evidence of deliberate
intent to pass off as, and to divert web traffic from, the established
site of "The Medway handyman". However this is a legal irrelevance.

If you can find a library copy, Blackstone's guide to the Trade Marks
Act 1994 is the usual law degree text on such things. Relevant case law
is still Lord Diplock's "five elements" of the tort of passing off:
a) a misrepresentation;
b) made by a trader in the course of trade;
c) to prospective customers or ultimate consumers of the defendant's
goods or services;
d) which is calculated to injure the business or goodwill of another;
e) which causes actual damage to a business or goodwill of the
plaintiff or is likely to do so.

Note the following points, as clarified by Lord Diplock:
"misrepresentation" does _not_ require intent to do so. Nor does the
damage need to be actual, merely likely.

So, you have a good case for a passing off action. What's to be done
about it?

You can certainly expect to have the offending content removed. You
also have a reasonable position to demand compensation for your costs
in pursuing this action. Your likelihood of compensation beyond this is
minimal though.

If you choose to pursue this with lawyers, then you have to dig into
your own pockets first and hope to be reimbursed. If your likely
achievement (even with a lawyer) is no more than to have the content
removed, then a simpler initial step could be to act on your own
behalf. Write to the parties concerned and request that they remove the
offending content and pay you some nominal amount to cover the costs,
perhaps £450 8-) These costs may well be waived later in the
process of mutual horse-trading, although you certainly don't need to
put that idea forward yourself. The targets for this letter could be
hard to track down, so I'd suggest the domain registrant Derek
Dowding, and also their ISP who hosts the offending content and their
domain registry. After all, Mr Dowding has declared himself to be a
non-trading individual and I'm sure the domain registry would wish to
correct their records. There are also a number of web sites linked to
the "Kent handyman" site and perhaps they might be able to assist you
in tracking him down? (although Kent Metalworks is the same registrant,
contact email and phone)