Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California
Stealing a website and a Organization name
We are a tax exempt non profit Club consisting of four Chapters. One of our members volunteered to create a webpage for the Organization about three years ago, opperated without charge. Our name is prominantly displayed throughout the site. Had about 69,000 hits in less than three years.
The problem is the webmaster changed the name slightly by omitting one word and is claiming the site as his own, the other three Chapters are not represented, and he immediately added another Chapter that was not previously affiliated.
We know that we can't stop him from leaving, but now it appears that the site is exactly the same as the one that he built for us, and nobody would recognize the slight change in the Name of the Organization, and now he gets all membership applications and for all intents and purposes, (the other three Chapters) have dropped out of "his" Organization. We have all documents relating to the Organization and the F.T.B.Exempt documents and he has nothing, but it looks as if he has stolen himself a Club. What can we do to make him cease and desist? We have a treasury of about $1800. We need advice.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Stealing a website and a Organization name
Is the name of the organization copyrighted? If it is you can sue him for breach of copyright. You also own the domain name if he is still using it you may be able to file for injunctive relief so that he is prohibited from using it and then set up your own site again. This sounds somewhat complicated and I therefor cannot give you a more detailed answer. If you would like to speak about this matter in more detail please feel free to call me at 888-563-8529. The call and the consultation are free. I look forward to speaking with you.
Re: Stealing a website and a Organization name
It seems to me that even if he operated the site gratuitously, the internet address was still property of the organization. (I assume the address is valuable in that it reflects the name of the organization, e.g., www.ibm.com). Once you had the address back, you would put your own site back up and tout it as the "real" organization and hope that applicants could sort out the difference.
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