Other designer using website from MY portfolio!

[maartenvr]

I just noticed a web designer with a website in his portfolio that I actually did for my client... I asked him about it and he said that he designed it before I designed that one, but I talked to my client and they never had someone else do anything.... Anything I can do about this?

[pdxi]

I just noticed a web designer with a website in his portfolio that I actually did for my client... I asked him about it and he said that he designed it before I designed that one, but I talked to my client and they never had someone else do anything.... Anything I can do about this?

Get a lawyer to send a Cease and Desist letter, with a testimonial from your client. Threaten legal action for noncompliance.

This will usually get what you want, without any further action.

You will want to talk to a lawyer about this, of course, and not Sitepoint.

[Grademedia]

I'd be tempted to notify his other "clients" listed in his portfolio as well. Whether he really worked for them or not, they might be interested to know.

But then I can be very vindictive...

[Ted S]

I'd be tempted to notify his other "clients" listed in his portfolio as well. Whether he really worked for them or not, they might be interested to know.

Be careful, just because someone might be violating a copyright of yours and possibly committing fraud does not mean you can interfere with their business; tortuous interference isn't a fun thing to get sued over, especially when its by the person stealing from you!

A cease and desist letter like the one pdxi suggested should do the trick. You can also complain to the site owner's ISP under the DCMA claiming that the images they are showing are copyrighted and being used without permission.

[geniusgoalie]

Get a lawyer to send a Cease and Desist letter, with a testimonial from your client. Threaten legal action for noncompliance.

This will usually get what you want, without any further action.

You will want to talk to a lawyer about this, of course, and not Sitepoint.

Yes, I agree. This should be a quick and painless (although not free) way to solve the problem.

[maartenvr]

Allright thanks for your input...he has removed it and that is all I am worried about...

[shadowbox]

LOL, the world is full of chancers I found a site last month that had literally stolen every single page of content from our site and even forgot to replace instances of our company name...

[Grademedia]

Be careful, just because someone might be violating a copyright of yours and possibly committing fraud does not mean you can interfere with their business; tortuous interference isn't a fun thing to get sued over, especially when its by the person stealing from you!

I said I'd be tempted; in practice I probably wouldn't consider pursuing the issue because it's not a very professional approach and is more likely to irritate that to win friends, in addition to being a waste of time.
On the other hand, there are ethical arguments in favour of warning people about unscruplous developers. if I was a small business owner who'd been duped into paying a developer based on the strength of work he hadn't actually done, I would quite like to be informed, and if I was the business owner and hadn't employed that particular developer to develop my website at all I'd probably be even more interested to know.

I wouldn't consider the risk of a flagrant copyright violator suing anyone to be very high, so long as the flagrant copyright developer is an inexperienced individual freelancer, as would appear most likely in this case. But yes, the cease and desist letter stating an intention to report to the ISP if the matter is dealt with promptly should usually be sufficient.