The funniest part? The DMCA takedown request is for a Table. That’s right, i’m talking about an HTML <table> type table.
The pages in question are MinecraftGSP.com/order (cached image) and minecraftservers.com/order.html (cached image). I’ve added images of the sites at the time of the DMCA request just in case either of us change our designs.
Now obviously there is a few similarities between the two tables, but being web hosting companies that is pretty much inevitable.
The Emails
Here is the full e-mail conversation up to this point (November 24, 2010). I’m in italics and Robert Trencheny of Hostiio is in plain text. Also, it’s in reverse order, directly copy/pasted from Mail.app
Hey,
Those tables are completely different in every way? We both use checkmarks, we have Memory and Bandwidth listed, have plan names and an Order button. These are completely standard web design elements.
If you took a look at our source code it would be very obvious that our coding is very different. Both the tr and td classes we use are different, and for that matter our style of coding td’s is completely different.
Frankly i’m insulted by your accusations and that we are “playing games”. We are a reputable company and take these kind of accusations seriously.
If you would like to pursue this matter legally then feel free to. Here is our mailing address
Kerplunc Networks
P.O Box 39005
102-510 Fifth Street
Nanaimo, BC
V9R1P1
CanadaOn 2010-11-22, at 9:24 PM, Robbie Trencheny wrote:
Specifically,
http://minecraftservers.com/order.html and http://minecraftgsp.com/order/ have the exact same table layout and row titles. The first time I saw this page, I quickly knew that it was copied. The template that you linked does not have the table.
Please don’t play games. I don’t like to play games. You should know what was copied just by looking.
On Nov 22, 2010, at 9:16 PM, Matthew Hall wrote:
Hey Robert,
I’m sorry but this is a completely frivolous DMCA complaint and an abuse of the DMCA itself.
This website is based on a template from Themeforest with minimal modificationshttp://themeforest.net/item/twicet-business-portfolio-template-5-in-1/47846
I don’t see any photographs or anything that is directly copied from your website.
If you can provide links to any content that is directly stolen i would be more then happy to remove them.Have a good day,
Matthew Hall
Kerplunc.com
[email protected]On 2010-11-22, at 9:11 PM, Robbie Trencheny wrote:
Dear Kerplunc:
I am a representative of Hostiio, LLC and we have discovered that a website you host is in violation of international law.
MinecraftGSP.com is currently infringing the copyright license on one of the websites we manage, MinecraftServers.com, as they appear to have stolen content in which we created and published.
Please notice the similarities between the two websites, MinecraftServers.com and MinecraftGSP.com.
Original: http://minecraftservers.com/
Cloned Design: http://MinecraftGSP.com/This letter is an official notification under the provisions of Section 512(c) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to effect removal of the above-reported infringements. I request that you immediately issue a cancellation message as specified in RFC 1036 for the specified postings and prevent the infringer, who is identified by its Web address, from posting the infringing content to your servers in the future. Please be advised that law requires you, as a service provider, to expeditiously remove or disable access to the infringing photographs upon receiving this notice. Noncompliance may result in a loss of immunity for liability under the DMCA.
I have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of here is not authorized by me, the copyright holder, or the law. The information provided here is accurate to the best of my knowledge. I swear under penalty of perjury that I am a representative of the copyright holder.
Please reply to this notice by emailing me at the email address noted below indicating your response of the actions you have taken to resolve this matter.
Sincerely,
Robert Trencheny
Hostiio.com
[email protected]
The Code
I was wondering how similar these two designs actually were, so lets take a peak at the code. This is the exact same as it was the day i got the DMCA, which is the exact same as the day i wrote the code for the table. It was created partly by hand and partly by using a CSS + XHTML Table Generator by Corey Campbell.
MinecraftGSP’s Code
<table class="table" id="table-gen" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr class="rowa"><td class="col1 cell"> </td> <td class="col2 cell"><h4><b>5 Players*</b></h4></td> <td class="col3 cell"><h4><b>10 Players*</b></h4></td> <td class="col4 cell"><h4><b>15 Players*</b></h4></td> <td class="col5 cell"><h4><b>30 Players*</b></h4></td> <td class="col6 cell"><h4><b>50 Players*</b></h4></td><td class="col7 cell"><h4><b>60+ Players*</b></h4></td> <td class="col8 cell"><h4><b>Custom</b></h4></td> </tr> <tr class="rowb"> <td class="col1 cell"><h3>Memory</h3></td> <td class="col2 cell"><h5>512mb</h5></td> <td class="col3 cell"><h5>768mb</h5></td><td class="col4 cell"><h5>1024mb</h5></td> <td class="col5 cell"><h5>2048mb</h5></td> <td class="col6 cell"><h5>3072mb</h5></td> <td class="col7 cell"><h5>4096mb</h5></td> <td class="col8 cell"><h5>-</h5></td> </tr><tr class="rowb"> <td class="col1 cell"><h3>Bandwidth</h3></td> <td class="col2 cell"><h5>Unlimited</h5></td> <td class="col3 cell"><h5>Unlimited</h5></td> <td class="col4 cell"><h5>Unlimited</h5></td> <td class="col5 cell"><h5>Unlimited</h5></td><td class="col6 cell"><h5>Unlimited</h5></td> <td class="col7 cell"><h5>Unlimited</h5></td> <td class="col8 cell"><h5>-</h5></td> </tr> <tr class="rowb"> <td class="col1 cell"><h3>McMyAdmin</h3></td> <td class="col2 cell"><h5>✓</h5></td><td class="col3 cell"><h5>✓</h5></td> <td class="col4 cell"><h5>✓</h5></td> <td class="col5 cell"><h5>✓</h5></td> <td class="col6 cell"><h5>✓</h5></td> <td class="col7 cell"><h5>✓</h5></td> <td class="col8 cell"><h5>-</h5></td> </tr> <tr class="rowb"><td class="col1 cell"><h3>Dedicated IP</h3></td> <td class="col2 cell"><h5>✓</h5></td> <td class="col3 cell"><h5>✓</h5></td> <td class="col4 cell"><h5>✓</h5></td> <td class="col5 cell"><h5>✓</h5></td> <td class="col6 cell"><h5>✓</h5></td> <td class="col7 cell"><h5>✓</h5></td> <td class="col8 cell"><h5>-</h5></td></tr> <tr class="rowb"> <td class="col1 cell"><h3>Instant Setup</h3></td> <td class="col2 cell"><h5>✓</h5></td> <td class="col3 cell"><h5>✓</h5></td> <td class="col4 cell"><h5>✓</h5></td> <td class="col5 cell"><h5>✓</h5></td> <td class="col6 cell"><h5>✓</h5></td> <td class="col7 cell"><h5>✓</h5></td><td class="col8 cell"><h5>-</h5></td> </tr> <tr class="rowb"> <td class="col1 cell"><h3>Daily Backups</h3></td> <td class="col2 cell"><h5>✓</h5></td> <td class="col3 cell"><h5>✓</h5></td> <td class="col4 cell"><h5>✓</h5></td> <td class="col5 cell"><h5>✓</h5></td><td class="col6 cell"><h5>✓</h5></td> <td class="col7 cell"><h5>✓</h5></td> <td class="col8 cell"><h5>-</h5></td> </tr> <tr class="rowb"> <td class="col1 cell"><h3>Mods</h3></td> <td class="col2 cell"><h5>✓</h5></td> <td class="col3 cell"><h5>✓</h5></td><td class="col4 cell"><h5>✓</h5></td> <td class="col5 cell"><h5>✓</h5></td> <td class="col6 cell"><h5>✓</h5></td> <td class="col7 cell"><h5>✓</h5></td> <td class="col8 cell"><h5>-</h5></td> </tr> <tr class="rowb"> <td class="col1 cell"><h3>Price</h3></td><td class="col2 cell"><h5>$15/month</h5></td> <td class="col3 cell"><h5>$20/month</h5></td> <td class="col4 cell"><h5>$25/month</h5></td> <td class="col5 cell"><h5>$45/month</h5></td> <td class="col6 cell"><h5>$65/month</h5></td> <td class="col7 cell"><h5>$90/month</h5></td><td class="col8 cell"><h5>-</h5></td> </tr> <tr class="rowb"> <td class="col1 cell"> </td> <td class="col2 cell"><h3><b><a href="https://billing.kerpluncgaming.com/cart.php?a=add&pid=35">Order</a></b></h3></td> <td class="col3 cell"><h3><b><a href="https://billing.kerpluncgaming.com/cart.php?a=add&pid=36">Order</a></b></h3></td> <td class="col4 cell"><h3><b><a href="https://billing.kerpluncgaming.com/cart.php?a=add&pid=37">Order</a></b></h3></td> <td class="col5 cell"><h3><b><a href="https://billing.kerpluncgaming.com/cart.php?a=add&pid=38">Order</a></b></h3></td>
<td class="col6 cell"><h3><b><a href="https://billing.kerpluncgaming.com/cart.php?a=add&pid=39">Order</a></b></h3></td> <td class="col7 cell"><h3><b><a href="https://billing.kerpluncgaming.com/cart.php?a=add&pid=40">Order</a></b></h3></td> <td class="col8 cell"><h3><b><a href="/contact">Contact Us</a></b></h5></td> </tr> <tr></tr> </table>
MinecraftServers’s Code
<table id="products"> <thead> <tr> <th scope="col"></th> <th scope="col">Tiny</th> <th scope="col">Small</th><th scope="col">Medium</th> <th scope="col">Large</th> <th scope="col">Extra Large</th> <th scope="col">Custom</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody><tr> <td scope="row">Players</td> <td>Up to 6 players</td> <td>Up to 12 players</td> <td>Up to 18 players</td> <td>Up to 24 players</td><td>Up to 32 players</td> <td>-</td> </tr> <tr class="alt"> <td scope="row">Memory</td> <td>1GB</td> <td>1.5GB</td><td>2GB</td> <td>2.5GB</td> <td>3GB</td> <td>-</td> </tr> <tr class=""> <td scope="row">Storage</td><td>10GB</td> <td>20GB</td> <td>30GB</td> <td>40GB</td> <td>50GB</td> <td>-</td></tr> <tr class="alt"> <td scope="row">Bandwidth</td> <td>Unlimited</td> <td>Unlimited</td> <td>Unlimited</td> <td>Unlimited</td><td>Unlimited</td> <td>-</td> </tr> <tr id="pricing"> <td scope="row">Pricing</td> <td>$14.99</td> <td>$29.99</td><td>$44.99</td> <td>$59.99</td> <td>$74.99</td> <td>-</td> </tr> <tr> <td></td><td><a href="preorders/">Pre-Order</a></td> <td><a href="preorders/">Pre-Order</a></td> <td><a href="preorders/">Pre-Order</a></td> <td><a href="preorders/">Pre-Order</a></td> <td><a href="preorders/">Pre-Order</a></td> <td><a href="preorders/">Pre-Order</a></td></tr> <tr> <td><br /><em>Features</em></td> </tr> <tr class=""> <td scope="row">Instant Setup</td> <td>✓</td> <td>✓</td><td>✓</td> <td>✓</td> <td>✓</td> <td>✓</td> </tr> <tr class="alt"> <td scope="row">Control Panel</td> <td>✓</td> <td>✓</td><td>✓</td> <td>✓</td> <td>✓</td> <td>✓</td> </tr> <tr class=""> <td scope="row">Dedicated IP</td> <td>✓</td><td>✓</td> <td>✓</td> <td>✓</td> <td>✓</td> <td>✓</td> </tr> <tr class="alt"> <td scope="row">Subdomain</td><td>✓</td> <td>✓</td> <td>✓</td> <td>✓</td> <td>✓</td> <td>✓</td> </tr> <tr class=""> <td scope="row">Daily Backups</td><td>✓</td> <td>✓</td> <td>✓</td> <td>✓</td> <td>✓</td> <td>✓</td> </tr> <tr class="alt"> <td scope="row">Mods</td><td>✓</td> <td>✓</td> <td>✓</td> <td>✓</td> <td>✓</td> <td>✓</td> </tr> <tr class="alt"> <td scope="row">Mumble Server</td><td>✓</td> <td>✓</td> <td>✓</td> <td>✓</td> <td>✓</td> <td>✓</td> </tr> <tr> <td><br /><em>Add-ons</em></td></tr> <tr class=""> <td scope="row">McMyAdmin</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>$3.00</td> </tr> </tbody>
</table>
Personally my favorite thing about these two piece of code is how absolutely and completely different our two styles of coding tables is.
Similarities?
Okay it doesn’t take a blind man to see that the two designs are similar in a few ways, i’m not going to deny that. But DMCA takedown material? That i do not understand.
For one, i didn’t even code most of the site. I’ve been really busy with classes and instead i bought the Twicet Business & Portfolio Template – 5 in 1 template off of ThemeForest. Take a look at the Preview on Themeforest, the similarities are pretty obvious.
Now as far as the table goes, really the only things in common is that we share some column titles, both use HTML checkmarks, and we both use the McMyAdmin control panel (Which lots of Minecraft hosts use)
Conclusion?
Well my personal opinion, being the one who built the site, is that Hostiio was just trying to intimidate us to shut down our site. From looking at the services they offer (Shared, VPS, Minecraft hosting) it’s pretty much the exact same stuff that we offer over at Kerplunc. But of course i’m biased, and if you think i’m wrong and that i blatantly copied their entire site, then i’d be happy to hear it
