Yesterday I was checking out some threads on Webhostingtalk.com, and I bumped into this thread. According to the original poster, some scumbag (probably the owner of ResellerUnlimitedHosting.com, henceforth referred to as RUH) copied the design of Downtownhost.com which is a reliable web hosting company.
Here are two screenshots about the too sites:
| The original website: Downtownhost.com | The copycat: Resellerunlimitedhosting.com |
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Some of the members of Webhostingtalk forum thought that it’s interesting that a ‘company’ steals the design of another company, and that’s why they contacted RUH via live chat, to ask what the hell is ResellerUnlimitedHosting.com doing, why did RUH steal the design of another hosting company’s website etc. As you can read in the chat logs, the support guy at RUH stated that they are the child company of Downtown host. Don’t worry, the story gets better… why? Because the owner (his nickname is: Jedito) of Downtown host is a (respected) member of the WHT community and the other members of WHT sent him a pm about this copyright infringement. After that Jedito sent a DMCA letter to RUH, and now he is waiting for a response (I doubt that RUH will respond to that letter…).
Here is the log of the chat between Jedito (in this conversation: ‘you’) and the support guy at RUH (Kevin):
you: Hi
you: when do you plan to remove the current design?
you: my name is Jorge Catena, and I own DowntownHost LLC
Kevin: remove what?
you: I prefer to not send DCMA letter to Gnax, but not answering my email you’re forcing me to do it
you: remove the design, it’s ripped off from our
Kevin: what are you talking about?
you: downtownhost.com
you: rings you a bell?
Kevin: oh you stolen our design man
you: are you stupid?
you: or pretending to be?
Kevin: pls remove it…other wise ill take legal action against you…
you: do you really want to have legal issues?
you: Ok, I see, you’re an idiot
you: I’m sending at this moment a DCMA letter to Gnax
Kevin: ill send letter to DCMA
you: to DCMA? you don’t even know what’s that
you: what a waste of time
Kevin: stop ********..ill definitly take an actions against you
As you can see Kevin the RUH support guy was so stupid that he didn’t even know what DMCA is… (I know…Jedito was the one who mispelled it twice, but this guy at RUH was so stupid, that he just copied and pasted the mispelled word). The fun part of this chat is that Jedito (you know, the owner of Downtownhost.com) got threatened with a DMCA counterclaim. 
It’s ridiculous that a scumbag can steal and lie without any consequences. I hope Jedito will ‘win this war’.
For further information about this ‘case’, visit this thread.
March 18th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Hate to break it to you, but neither one of them own that design.
It’s a common template available from several places on the net.
Most likely the company that did downtownhost simply used an existing template and did not tell the owner what they did. This is so common that you would think people familier with webhosting would know this.
Basically, it’s a non story being reported by people who have no idea what they are talking about.
If anything, downtownhost “may” have an action against mindset3 for using a template if they where promised a unique site.
March 18th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
The similar design was only one issue. The support guy at ResellerUnlimitedHosting.com stated that RUH is the child corporation of DowntownHost.com.
March 19th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
What they said or did not say is irrelevent, you accused them of stealing a design, which they obviously did not if it’s a freely available template that anyone can use. That was the whole basis of your article, and the reason you guys started contacting them. Since the original foundation of the thread and article are wrong, they both are now worthless.
March 19th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
If it’s a template, then there is nothing to do but hire a decent designer and create a UNIQUE look. Speaking of copycats .. I did have a forum skin stolen by a teen who liked it too much he just wanted to have it too. Since he was reluctant at first to remove it, I then posted in the forums my course of action:
1. call at his home (had the phone number from the whois info)
2. discuss with his parents and tell them I am gonna send them an invoice for the layout (I own a firm) and they can buy it if he likes it that much (of course the price is 2-3 times their wage, since it’s a forum skin, but who cares :D)
3. if my invoice won’t get paid, I’ll then discuss with the host (i know the guy and he’d take the site down) and also do even the legal stuff since I am a firm and can afford this, not to mention I’d get quite a publicity
You can imagine it was saturday night (at 1 o’ clock) and the 14 year old was editing the skin so that I won’t talk to his mommy
March 19th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Fungi: It seems that you don’t get the point. The design is only ONE issue, the owner of RUH tried to scam people by telling them that RUH is a child company of Downtownhost. When the owner of Downtownhost contacted RUH via live support, he was accused that Downtownhost stole the design of RUH’s website etc. Btw did you notice the little picture of Hostreview.com’s award on the left side of ResellerUnlimitedHosting.com? Guess what, RUH is not even listed on Hostreview.com.
The picture of the little award was stolen from Downtownhost’s website. RUH copied the testimonials, and other parts of Downtownhost’s website also. I’m sure you don’t want to defend a scammer, because the owner of RUH is a scammer. Please read the whole thread here: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=679273
March 19th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
emm, maybe you meant “An interesting web hosting design scam” ?
Anyway such scumbags will never stop
March 19th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
It was probably a template at any rate, still… the logo is clearly ripped off. I think that both of them are quite stupid though in their testimonials. The party that had the design stolen should not have started to cuss out the ripper… that just makes them look worse in my opinion
June 26th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Wow, I can’t believe some people. Get your own design! Why would you not want originality anyway? And Ramona, good for you! That is too funny that you had that kid scared to death that you were going to call his parents.
October 6th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
The design is UNIQUE, is not a template and was created by our designer more than 2 years ago. Sorry for bump and old post but wanted to clarify this.
Unfortunately, Gnax allow them the usage of the design on their network, so, just a warning message, avoid the use of Gnax at any rate, people should not support companies that allow copyright violation on their network.