Trying to free-ride on my business name?
Web Design • September 3rd, 2006Dear Yaw Osafo-Ansong,
Congratulations on the recent launch of your web design business and web site “MQStudios”. As you well know, my name is Maria Q. Stultz, and I own a small but successful web design business named “MQStudio“, operating online since Aug, 2003.
Mr. Osafo-Ansong… May I call you Alantee?… I am extremely surprised by the apparent coincidence! Specially, because your professional credentials, business pitch, and work process are strikingly similar (and worded almost identical) to mine:
“Alantee recently worked as a web designer for a high profile European based Multimedia Broadcasting Company as a lead web designer on co branding projects for strategic partners such as AOL and Yahoo”
Seriously? Because that’s exactly one of the things I did in my previous job working for Travelocity:
“Most recently, Maria worked as a web designer for Dallas-based Travelocity. In this role, she acted as lead web designer on cobranding projects for strategic partners like AOL, Yahoo, and AARP.”
I guess AARP doesn’t operate in the U.K, huh?
“He [Alantee] is also a Graphic designer and web developer with years of experience helping to develop complex business models used by organizations in business decision-making and within the creative industry.”
Wow… So through web development, you helped to develop complex business models that others used to make business decisions. Hmm. I’m not sure I understand that, but it surely *sounds* freakishly similar to my description of what I did during my previous career as an MBA working in Financial Analysis:
“Maria is also an Industrial Engineer and a Duke MBA who, in a previous life, put bread on the table by developing complex financial models used by managers to make business decisions.”
Very cleverly, on your web site you anticipate the customer’s question “Why Work With Us?” and proactively answer it by saying:
And I just can’t believe my eyes, because that is the same exact sales pitch I wrote for my business and published on my web site in 2005. What’s more surprising is that with my same exact words you claim to develop impeccable CSS-driven code in accordance to W3C web standards, but lifting the hood of your really simple two-column web site I find that your web pages have been coded with three nested tables, apparently automatically generated by Fireworks, using deprecated <font> tags, hefty amounts of JavaScript generated by Dreamweaver in order to create simple font color rollovers for the Verdana text links you have coded as images in your navigation menu, and nowhere at sight I see a single link to a CSS file, or a web standards compliant <doctype>… Many customers actually know what “web standards” and “CSS” mean, but I wonder… do you?
Yet, it gets even better: Apparently, your work process is also identical to mine: All four full paragraphs, word by word. And by the way, it seems that you have a typo (?) on the word “MQStudio” on the last paragraph. Shouldn’t it be “MQStudios?
Your clients also rave about your coding quality, and perfectionism? And like me, you also claim to “thoroughly test your products to make sure they work and look as intended in most web browsers and operating systems”? Not to nitpick, but on the first screen shot, I’ve taken the liberty to show you two small flaws on your page. I guess “perfectionism” and “thorough browser testing” are relative terms, right?
I could go on and mention one more glaring “coincidence” on the web copy used to introduce your work portfolio, and I could also point to the fact that back in April I found an online business profile for you and your graphic design services where the business copy was – again – exactly the same as the copy currently displayed on my business home page, and you were also using a confusingly similar business name to mine. I contacted the hosting web site at the time simply requesting your contact information, but they never replied, and your profile no longer is online. Weird…
It’s very interesting – and somewhat puzzling – to me that your logo spells your business name as “MQ studios”, but your web copy spells it in all kinds of different ways: Some times with capital “S”, some times without, some times with final “s”, some times without. Mine is spelled with emphasized “M”, “Q”, and “S” (be it with capital letters or color) because those are my name initials, and they nicely flow into the word “studio”. That’s why it’s one word… Just out of curiosity, how did you come up with your business name? Why the emphasis on the “MQ” letters? What do they stand for? Why is “S” some times capitalized, and some times not? Why is it one word in the copy, but two words in the logo? How does the name relate to you, Alantee?… I think the domain alantee.com or alanteestudios.com would have probably made more sense for you, and they’re both available, you know?
I have sent a message to three of your email addresses because I am extremely concerned that customers may confuse our businesses. I mean: We are both web design providers, we both operate globally by means of the Internet, and we both claim extremely similar, if not identical professional credentials, value statements, and work processes… You may not know this, but your business name and your use of the mqstudios.co.uk domain for a web/graphic design business is likely to violate Unfair Competition laws agreed upon by several countries, including the U.S. and the U.K.
Furthermore, your shameless plagiarism of my business’ web copy is not only a clear violation of Copyright Law (also recognized and protected by almost every country in the world), but also evidence that you are well aware of the existence of my business name within the web design industry, and by using it online and registering a domain name that users may confuse with mine, you are probably intending to profit or gain business from my business’ well earned online reputation. Not only that: Your use of a confusingly similar business name to mine may well have damaging consequences to my business and professional reputation if customers find web work as poorly developed as your web site and wrongly associate it with my business.
I have used the MQStudio name and .com domain since 2003, and you can see that online, in the numerous web site references attributing design and development credit to my business. According to the ways of the world, I have the rights to my business name (a trademark) because I started using it first to identify my web design business, long before you probably bought your copy of Dreamweaver. But you will have to change yours, unless you start using it for a music record studio or some other type of business that does not compete directly with mine, confusing customers to think that your business is behind all the web design work I have done, and all the good references and web links that point to my business name.
I still haven’t heard a word from you, so I truly hope that you’ll take the right actions by the time I requested. You should know that when disturbing stuff like this happens, all my attention and efforts become very focused: I itch for action that will stop transgressions, and I am not very patient with individuals who don’t have the professional drive and ethics to build their name, business, and reputation on their own, so they just go out and use somebody else’s. Be sure that I will use all means at my disposal in order to protect my intellectual property, and the integrity of my business name.
Update
On Sep 14, 2006 Mr. Yaw Osafo-Ansong has finally been forced to remove the material he illegally copied from my web site. Unfortunately, he did not act as expeditiously as he should have: I needed the intervention of his web hosting company in order to push action.
Just as a friendly word of advice to plagiarists: When your victim confronts you and lets you know that you have been found, it is much better if you quickly apologize (make up any lame excuse, if you want), immediately remove the copied material (it doesn’t take too long), and move on.
Responses as insolent as Mr. Osafo-Ansong’s with no clear indication of willingness to solve the matter as quickly as possible, only prompt victims of plagiarism to pursue different avenues in order to protect their intellectual property. There are several at our disposal, and they don’t always involve lawyers.
