Forum

[carlmasure]

Ok all,

I'm very worried. Justhost, my provider, sent me an email that my domain has been suspended due to copyright complaints. After I asked them what specific content was in violation, they merely responded with some "pat" answer about submitting permission to use a copyright. So, I have no idea what they are talking about.

Thing is, all my content is original--I wrote it myself AND, the banners on the website are taken from the seller's affiliate page.

So, I'm baffled. I'm waiting for their latest response. By the way, my site is stilll live, even though they claim it is returning a server error.

 

[gradyp]

What was your site about? Just off of what you have posted here, I'm not seeing anything that might have triggered the complaint, but post some more details and maybe someone might see something.

Grady

 

[tbrim20]

Your hosting company is run by real people. Call them and get the scoop. They definitely owe you an explanation and the right to defend your own material.

Sometimes it is as simple as using an image that doesn't belong to you and all you need to do is change the image.

You can also run your pages through copyscape to see if there is other content out there similar or the same as yours.

Worse comes to worse, find a new hosting provider.

But don't sit on it when you can easily make a phone call and get to the bottom of it.

-Tom

 

[carlmasure]

Thanks tbrim and grady,

I called and waited on hold forever and had to just hang up. Service is terrible. I've also gone to their live chat and those representatives are totally worthless because they cannot answer the very simple question: "What content on my website is the subject of copyright complaints?"

Grady,

In detail:

I was notified by the justhost billing department via email that the master domain was suspended because of copyright complaints. My website is an affiliate to a social networking gaming guide. The text is all originally written by me. The graphics are banner ads taken from the seller's affiliate page. I specifically and emphatically asked them in 2 reply emails to tell me which items on the site were in question. I have received 3 responses so far :

1. Please let us know what your new domain name will be and we will set that up at no charge.
2. Please let us know what your new domain name will be and we will set that up at no charge.
3. We will contact the person who made the complaint via email and see what their response is. Then we will let you know.

It appears that the company is very antsy about getting me to change my domain name and there is no real complaint. Problem is, I have lots of backlinks going to the site and do not want to lose them. I'd say that someone someplace wants my domain name. Perhaps I'm paranoid, but like they say, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.

By the way, Justhost has a staff page where you can look at pictures of their staff. I think only one of them is over the age of 25 years. Not to bash our young people here, but I'm starting to believe the entire operation is held together with toothpicks, duct tape, and clubbers.

This is all very unfortunate because it is a gargantuan waste of my time. Now I will have to figure out how to get all this stuff switched to a new provider.

 

[jcdean]

Does your url have a brand name in it?


Sounds like the problem is with your domain name, if they want you to change it.

 

[carlmasure]

No, my domain name is not proprietary or anything like that I don't think. I read at the us government copyright office website that domain names are not copyrighted. The domain name is very similar to the gazillions of websites that use a url that might be like wowguide.com for example. That is not to say that some websites have not gotten into trouble for using something like cocacolasucks.com, but that is a household name. The game is definitely not recognizable by the general public.

I will keep you posted.

 

[tbrim20]

Sounds like you need to call your hosting site again.

I don't know about you but good communication is key. If they can't answer your call or give you a proper answer, I'd take my business elsewhere.

 

[wollowra]

Oh Boy, This proves yet again to use the reputable hosting companies.
You may pay a few bucks more but it is worth it.
Hostgator, hostmonster or bluehost are my picks.
You can also utilize the included hosting with an Affilorama premium membership.

Regards
Troy

 

[carlmasure]

Yes Troy,

I know, I told you so. I hosted that site at justhost right before I got active here at affilorama. I'm gonna transfer the sites to hostgator. It looks good because it appears hostgator takes care of everything when you do a swap. We'll see.

Carl

 

[wollowra]

Hi Carl,
Well I hope you get it sorted.
It sux when things like this happen, but you come out the other side being smarter for it.
Regards
Troy

 

[jpastorizo]

Carl, good to know you plan to move to Hostgator. They're one of the best out there if not the best. You cant go wrong with Hostgator.

I hope you get it all sorted out very soon. Keep us posted and let us know where we can help.


Regards,
Renato

Yes Troy,

I know, I told you so. I hosted that site at justhost right before I got active here at affilorama. I'm gonna transfer the sites to hostgator. It looks good because it appears hostgator takes care of everything when you do a swap. We'll see.

Carl

 

[carlmasure]

Thanks a lot everybody. I'll definitely keep you up on how this all unravels.

Best,

Carl

 

[carlmasure]

UPDATE!

My domain name has not been suspended by the hosting service. But, Zynga, Inc. has notified me that a legal action may be taken against me for trademark and copyright infringement because of my use of the term Cafe World in the domain name and on my website. They are demanding that I transfer the domain name to Zynga.

Backlinks are history. Time spent writing articles for nothing. My advice to anyone planning on writing an affiliate site for any Zynga games is to NOT do it. Zynga is on the warpath. Even the author of the guide has received notice. Any suggestions to reopen this site under different domain without losing links?


Rotten you know whats.

Carl

 

[jpastorizo]

Carl,

Zynga is hitting on affiliate marketers huh? Thanks for sharing this information cause I almost started an affiliate site for one of their games.

Have you read that all their games copied almost everything from the original game designers, from look and feel, etc etc? They have had lawsuits after lawsuits because they were a leader in copying games!

How about this part of Zynga CEO's speech:
So I funded [Zynga] myself but I did every horrible thing in the book to, just to get revenues right away. I mean we gave our users poker chips if they downloaded this Zwinky toolbar which was like, I dont know, I downloaded it once and couldn’t get rid of it. *laughs* We did anything possible just to just get revenues so that we could grow and be a real business.
—Mark Pincus, Speech from Startup@Berkeley

I guess they are trying to know what it feels like to be the one suing instead of the one being sued. lol

By the way, Zynga does not own the World of Warcraft game. (they wish!!! hahaha)
WoW is owned by Blizzard Entertainment.



Regards,
Renato

 

[carlmasure]

Thanks Renato,

Zynga is doing reverse cyber squatting, aka, domain name hijacking. Unfortunately for affiliate marketers, we do not have the resources to beat back frivolous claims. I'm sitting on this for now, but I'm sure I will end up having to take the site down eventually, which means I will cease all work on building links, etc.

I am moving on to my next project.

Interestingly, Zynga is in trouble for their online poker game because online gambling violates federal law in the USA. I hope the courts force them to repay every player for chips.

I have read about Zynga stealing from other smaller game developers. Recently, they submitted a ton of applications for trademarks and copyrights for a whole slew of new games. Probably all stolen.
Carl

 

[jpastorizo]

Carl,

Unfortunately, you might have to cease putting more work into something that might get you in trouble.
Good to know that you're moving on to your next project.

I wonder how the merchants who created ebooks (and site with trademark names) for Zynga games, were affected...



Regards,
Renato

 

[carlmasure]

So far, the most popular Zynga game ebook author seems to be ignoring the letter, but we shall see.

 

[carlmasure]

UPDATE!

My website has been shut down by Zynga, Inc. because of alleged trademark infringement by using the name Cafe World in the domain name. I will never promote another social network game again. Worst of all...2 sales in 2 days. Well, I will move on.

 

[Theo]

Forget about hosting with Justhost, if you need support there is no way to get hold of them. Live chat is hopeless and provide only low level support, impossible to get hold of them by phone. Thats what you get for $3.95 per month?

 

[shawnkonig]

I agree, if you call them you can probably get more details. I had the same problem on one of my sites and I cleared it up in about 5 minutes.

 

[carlmasure]

It was my mistake using justhost. The phone rings endlessly and "live" support is meaningless chat.

 

[tbrim20]

If your website converts, why not salvage your site and move it to another domain name without a trademark infringment?

Yeah, you lose backlinks but you already have something that you know converts. Plus it won't take you nearly as long to generate new backlinks as it would to build an entirely new website from scratch.

Or am I missing something?

 

[carlmasure]

Final Update!

I wrote a nasty letter to the Zynga attorney and justhost put my site back on!!! In any case, I opened a new account over at hostgator and setup the site somewhat differently. Now I am doing 301 directs from the old site to the new site. I will take the original site down in about 6 months. I will be doing a little bit of reconstruction of backlinks, but not too much. The niche is not long term ever green.

Only problem is that the google change of domain address tool will not work right. It will not verify my old site as http://www.xxxx.com, but only as http://xxxx.com. Oh well, I hope the 301 redirects do the trick for the spider.