They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but when it comes to your home business, you might not take so kindly (or be so flattered) by someone who is copying your operation. Whether it is your products or your services, or your logo, web site, etc. having someone else come along and try to copy or imitate what you are doing can be an aggravation and a challenge.
It is important to differentiate between copying and theft. If someone actually “lifts” content, photos, etc. from your web site–that is really theft and not being a copy cat. If someone has taken your content, or copied specific things directly from your business you can contact them and use a “Cease and Desist” letter–a letter that basically tells the other party that you are claiming theft or copyright infringement (or any other sort of infringement) and you want them to stop right away or else. You can find templates for “Cease and Desist” letters online and you can modify them to fit your purposes. Be sure to include a time frame and deadline for when the copy cat needs to comply. If this doesn’t work (and it often does), then you may need to contact your legal representative for further help.
If confronting the offending copy cat directly does not get them to stop or adjust their business operations, you do have other options, you can contact others who work with them (customers, clients, advertisers, vendors, etc.) and share the fact that they are copying elements of your business. You will want to make sure that you can prove your allegations of imitation. You can also change or modify your business so that it won’t be confused with the copy cat. I know that this seems like “giving in” but if you cannot get the person to stop or cannot prove that they are copying you, you might need to make the changes in order to move your business forward.
Again, contact legal representation if you feel that the problem is bigger than something you can handle alone. I do think it is a good idea to contact the offending copy cat directly first, however, and see if you can resolve things satisfactorily with a conversation.
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