I completely agree to this method. Break their site with your js.

Hey, if we have execute of JS on all those clients, why not REDIRECT them to your site? Free traffic. All relevant.

Wait, they've not merely copied his js, they're having him host it too? Oh exploitable. Figure out to make it benefit you. I'd have a hard time resisting the urge to play some mischief though.

No, at least the one I looked at didn't. But if they're just copy-pasting, he could add a domain check (or IP address check) and make it behave differently.

Edit: apparently some of them are! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5165238

I'm generally against all forms of intentional defamation, but I must admit that this option is very tempting...

Are there any lawyers here that could weigh in on the legality of this?

And I would be especially interested in this site: http://www.creativegerms.com/about

I don't see any similarity at all (except for maybe some basic stuff that can be found on many websites) and including them into that "ripping off" article could be perceived as defamation. Did they just quickly switched to different design?

That one was a bit odd in my mind, too. Maybe it re-uses some code or something?

I can't find a cached version of it anywhere that shows what it looked like an hour or so ago

When people press store / buy, have a 25% probability of redirecting to your store. In all other cases, do nothing.

This could stay hidden a lot longer.

This is a wonderful idea!

Adding this to your JS could be fun...

if(document.location.hostname !== 'ideaware.co') {alert('Do not trust these thieves. They stole this design from ideaware.co');}

Or a little more subtle. A watermark: "Proof Copy - Design By ideaware.co Contact us to design your next website."

Better yet:

1. Phone home to a server they won't easily cmd+f find, with several backups

2. Allow the script to execute arbitrary javascript from said server

3. Store a list of requests and referrers

4. Alert, shame and redirect at your leisure

Obviously this will only work for future copiers that copy from your site.

Assuming that the people who are copying this code are able to code themselves, wouldn't it be easy to find the problem and fix it?

Unless there was some incredible code obfuscation.

Subtle shenanigans could go for some time without being noticed.

And wouldn't people who can code themselves host their own javascript, rather than hotlinking someone else's?

This is what I was thinking, going all stuxnet on them and just subtly moving the advantage your way. The outlier is the propeller guys, they look like a site that hired a 3rd party team to build them a website, and that team ripped of this one and made it theirs. Screwing with it isn't going to send the right signal.

"Assuming that the people who are copying this code are able to code themselves"

Probably a generous assumption.

If you broke it in such a way that it made their site massively unprofessional or completely unusable, then they'd be forced to either redesign their site or take it offline. Either of which results in those sites no longer feeding off copied code.

If someone really wants to copy your site they will do it anyways. I think the best option if its getting this much attention is to release a pay plugin/template or just opensource it. Or as you have already done publicly shame them (not much to gain by doing this though).

Does this mean copyrights aren't worth anything these days?

Do people need to be told this? If copyright still made sense, why would anyone bother with DRM?

No, it just means they're difficult to enforce, and most law enforcement agencies won't act unless the dollar loss is above a fixed minimum (which differs from place to place).