So You Found Your Game on Another Web Site?

For whatever reason (most likely an unprotected or hacked SWF), your game is sitting on another server illegally, and you want it removed. Here are some things you can do.

Email the Webmaster

Almost all Web sites have a "Contact" or "About Us" page. On one of those pages you're most likely to find a contact email address. Write something like this:

Hi,

My name is Jobe Makar, and I'm from Electrotank (http://www.electrotank.com). I have noticed that you are using a game of mine without my permission. Software piracy is a crime, but I would like to resolve this without involving my attorney. Please remove the game immediately. If it has not been removed within 24 hours, I will be forced to take legal action. Thank you for your immediate removal of this game.

Jobe Makar
Electrotank
www.electrotank.com
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Email or Call the ISP

If you get no response from the Webmaster, you can involve the site's Internet service provider (ISP). I have contacted the ISPs of more than a dozen Web sites to have content removed and find it very effective they don't want to be associated with any illegal activity and are quick to take action. Here is how you find out the ISP of a Web site.

1. Go to www.networksolutions.com.

   All domains must be registered, and most of them are registered at Network Solutions.

2. Click the WHOIS tab.

   This is where you search for information about a domain.

3. Type in the domain name you're investigating, and click GO!

4. Analyze the results.

You may see personal information about the owner of the domain (such as phone number and address). Toward the bottom you will see information about the domain servers and that's how you find the site's ISP. For instance, if NS.MEDIA3.NET is the domain server, then www.media3.net is the ISP. You can then visit the ISP's Web site and contact the ISP by phone or email.

Here is an actual letter I once wrote to an ISP after days of ineffective letters to the Web site's owner.

My name is Jobe Makar, President of Electrotank, Inc., in the USA. It has just come to my knowledge that a Web site (http://www.wwwww.com) is hosting dozens of games illegally. The only one that Electrotank is really concerned with is our own, and it can be found here: http://www.wwww.com/minigolf.htm.

I am sure that [This Company] does not support software piracy. Electrotank would be grateful if you would assure us that our game will be removed from this Web site immediately. If wwwww.com is not one of your clients, then I apologize, but our research seems to indicate that it is.

Thank you for your swift action.

Jobe Makar
Electrotank, Inc.
www.electrotank.com
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

The matter was resolved in under an hour after I sent this!

Take Legal Action

Happily for me, this is something I haven't experienced. Every letter to an ISP has been effective. However, some day you may encounter your content on a Web site that is its own ISP (or has some other reason for not removing the game). In this case, look in the phone book (or on the Internet, of course!), or start polling your savvy friends, for an attorney specializing in Internet law.