Website content being copied by a competitor

[Max_Smart]

We run a b2b eCommerce site that sells a lot to the UK. We've recently stumbled across a new competitor (in Ireland) whose website and content is clearly copied from our own. The visual similarities don't bother us, but much of the text content mirrors our own:

Returns policies, terms and conditions, faqs, delivery information, etc. All copied but with tiny variations.

They're clearly using our site and business as a template - doing everything we do, just as we do it. Does anyone know the procedure for reporting copyright violations? Should we approach their web hosting company directly? A solicitor's letter to them?

Their site is new (March this year), and the content stealing is really annoying us.

 

[smeharg]

This is a common problem. It's happened to me twice (that I know of!). In each case the business was completely unaware that the content had been copied and were very annoyed that they'd paid good money only to have a copy and paste job.

A friendly phone call and email worked for me. The content was promptly removed.