HugeDeal is copying OzBargain?

Lalvian on 19/02/2012 - 03:17

I came across this Huge Deal website by accident. Although competition is healthy, this Huge Deal site seems to be copying OzBargain deals verbatim. As far as I would tell, every single OzB deal is copied but there were no deals from any other sites.

This copying goes beyond simple aggregation and looks like a gross violation of OzB's copyright. For example, this post in HD quoted OzB Mod's removal notice of an invalid coupon code! If HD is doing aggregation and original research, this quote should have been removed from the article.

And HD has the nerve to slap its own copyright notice on our original material:

All contents Copyright © 2011 Crimson Networks. All rights reserved.

Have you heard of Huge Deal? Does it warrant action from OzB? What do you think?

General Discussion

Comments

  • Arcticfox on 19/02/2012 - 03:20
    +1

    Time for an ass whooping!

    • Postulative on 19/02/2012 - 12:32
      +3

      Opening a can…

      • kwaker on 19/02/2012 - 18:22

        the freebies blog does too, thats how i found ozbargain

  • happychild100 on 19/02/2012 - 03:29

    It does say "posted in ozbargain" after each post though, not sure if this changes anything legally. Reading the about page, seems it's just a version of Buyii but for deal sites, just like buyii is for the group buy sites.

  • Geewhizz on 19/02/2012 - 07:38

    Word Press? Rofl - very classy!

  • kubo on 19/02/2012 - 08:12

    Judging from the crappy website, it won't really go anywhere. So don't worry about it lol.

    As for copyright notices, they don't actually add anything of value. Copyright is something that is "attributed" to a work and not something that is claimed.

    • blitz on 19/02/2012 - 14:21

      No that's not correct at all. Copyright covers creative works (automatically since the Berne Convention), but it must be asserted in order to be of any value. Claimancy is a core part of copyright, which is why copyright registers exist. The copyright notice itself is also important because it shows who is asserting creative ownership of the work. There's a lot of info about copyright out there, please read some of it and get informed before giving advice.

      • kubo on 19/02/2012 - 19:59

        No blitz, unfortunately you are misinformed about copyright notices being needed in order to claim copyright. Copyright subsists in "original" literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works. In addition, copyright also subsists in sound recordings, cinematograph films, television/sound broadcasts or published editions of works. Nowhere is there a legal provision which states that a copyright notice is needed in order for copyright to subsist.

        You noted that there is a lot of info out there on the topic of copyright. On a cursory google search, I found this: http://www.publishers.asn.au/index.cfm?doc_id=67

        There, it says that "The copyright notice notifies people that the work is protected by copyright, and who the owner of copyright is. A work does not have to have the copyright notice on it to be protected."

        The significance of a copyright notice is thus, like you said, only to inform lay people of an author's intention to claim copyright over his/her work, but it most certainly is not a precondition for gaining copyright.

        So, blitz, I suggest it is you who should be getting informed before giving advice. Like you said, there is a lot of info out there about copyright. I suggest you start looking.

  • berger on 19/02/2012 - 11:12

    There was another website that was doing this last month. I think it was asked to stop….

    • scrimshaw on 19/02/2012 - 16:21
      +1

      Yeah it was a Whirlpool member that was the culpirt, Scotty sent him an email to remove it and he complied.

  • Davo1111 on 19/02/2012 - 11:34

    i'm 95% sure scotty is aware of this. These clones pop up every so often.

  • Postulative on 19/02/2012 - 12:33

    Wow. I didn't realise people were designing web pages in the 70s!

  • Steptoe on 19/02/2012 - 14:03

    Just tapping into the RSS feed? Time for some fake feed?

  • auna on 19/02/2012 - 16:21

    www.hugedeal.com.au/?page_id=2

    It appears taken down content remains there…

  • [Deactivated] on 19/02/2012 - 19:36

    Maybe it is owned by Ozbargain to create backlinks to push it up in the search results…

  • Mikinoz on 19/02/2012 - 19:43

    Nice format though

    • scrimshaw on 19/02/2012 - 20:26

      ಠ_ಠ You srs?

      It makes my eyes puke.

  • scotty on 19/02/2012 - 21:41

    Alright. Yes we, the moderators of OzBargain, are aware of HugeDeal.com.au. Wrote the owner "Tony Brown" of Crimson Networks an email last year requesting not to scrap OzBargain. Looks like it didn't really help.

    In US it's just a matter of sending in a DMCA although I am not sure what's the Australia equivalent, nor was I bothered enough to find out.

    Anyway. I'll try to sort it out.

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