OK - some of your art has been ripped off!! NOW WHAT??????? As the copyright owner, YOU must file a complaint of infringement. No one else can do that. So - WHERE do you file the complaint - and how do you find the crooks' e-mail addresses???? To track them down, try this procedure: I'm going to use "www.artfile.ru" as an example: STEP 1 Go to: http://www.whois.net/ In the left box of the WHOIS Lookup, type in "artfile" then use the drop down selector to find ".ru" The selections ARE NOT in alphabetic order - you've got to hunt for the correct one - ".ru" is about a quarter of the way down. Then click the "Go!" command button. You'll get back: ******************** WHOIS information for: artfile.ru: [whois.ripn.net] % By submitting a query to RIPN's Whois Service % you agree to abide by the following terms of use: % http://www.ripn.net/about/servpol.html#3.2 (in Russian) % http://www.ripn.net/about/en/servpol.html#3.2 (in English). domain: ARTFILE.RU type: CORPORATE nserver: ns1.agava.net.ru. nserver: ns2.agava.net.ru. state: REGISTERED, DELEGATED person: Palichev Yriy Viktorovich phone: +38 050 9814481 fax-no: +38 050 9814481 e-mail: admin@artfile.ru registrar: R01-REG-RIPN created: 2004.06.08 paid-till: 2007.06.08 source: TC-RIPN ******************** STEP 2 This has some useful information - but the e-mail, phone/fax, person could be bogus or out of date. But YOU MUST try this first!! Send the "Notification of Copyright Infringement" as detailed in my Meredith_0269 Copyright Infringement Enforcement post: Meredith_0269 Copyright Infringement Enforcement Read all of it, but the format you need to send is located in the first comment under "COMPLAINT CONTENTS!!!!" You should also read the information in: Meredith_0269 Copyright Infringement Get your complaint information e-mail together and send it to "admin@artfile.ru" and address it to "Palichev Yriy Viktorovich" as the registrant of record. STEP 3 If the e-mail goes through, wait a couple of days and see if you receive any correspondence back or if the offending stuff is removed. Remember that you are dealing with different times zones so give them at least two days to respond. If you get correspondence, see what they say and what else you need to do to get rid of the stuff - and if the stuff is gone, you are home free!!! STEP 4 OK - if the e-mail doesn't work, save a copy of the original e-mail and the return notification! It is important that you do this "by the book!!" Now look at the nserver lines from the WhoIs information: "ns1.agava.net.ru." "ns1" is the name of a particular server(s). We don't care!! What we want is the rest - "agava.net.ru" This information CANNOT be bogus because this is what is used to route the traffic to their site. If this is wrong, the site won't work!! STEP 5 Do a search using one of the search engines - Yahoo, Google, MSN - I used Yahoo and put in "agava.net.ru" in the search box. The first one that Yahoo returned is the one I wanted - "www.agava.net.ru" STEP 6 So I click on the site link!! http://www.agava.net.ru Bad news - it's in Russian!! STEP 7 To beat the language problem, go to AltaVista's Babel Fish Translation site here: http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr In the lower box where it say "Translate a web page" type (or paste) in "www.agava.net.ru" so that you end up with "http://www.agava.net.ru" Directly below that, click the drop down box and select Russian to English Then click the "Translate" button. STEP 8 Hooray - now the site is in English!!!!!! Look on the right hand side and locate "the Contacts" - sixth item down and click it!!! STEP 9 You should then have a list of "good" contacts and in English courtesy of Babel Fish. E-mail a short note saying you have tried contacting "www.artfile.ru" directly but got no response or a dead e-mail account, etc. Add the "Notice of Copyright Infringement" and the returned e-mail info, and then send it to their abuse e-mail address as detailed on the line: "abuse@agava.com" -complaint on to spam or other incorrect actions, achieved by our clients - e-mail address. I would also send it to their webmaster at: "webmaster@agava.com" - general questions. Wait a couple of days and see what happens. You may hear from them - you may hear from "www.artfile.ru" - or the offending stuff may be gone!! If it's gone, you are also home free!!! STEP 10 If you don't get any action or if the e-mails don't go through, refer back to the WhoIs information to get the line: % http://www.ripn.net/about/en/servpol.html#3.2 (in English). Go to the "www.ripn.net/about/en/servpol.html#3.2" web page. http://www.ripn.net/about/en/servpol.html#3.2 RIPN is the Russian Institute for Public Networks. These are the folks that assign the internet domains in Russia. There is a lot of information on this page, but not what we are looking for. STEP 11 Click the "About" tab at the top and then at the bottom of the "About" page you will find: ******************** 123182, Russia, Moscow, Kurchatov square, 1 (ROSNIIROS) Director: Dr. Alexei P. Platonov Phone: +7 499 196-7278 Fax: +7 499 196-4984 E-mail: info@ripn.net ******************** If nothing has happened, send all the communications to "info@ripn.net" and directed to "Dr. Alexei P. Platonov, Director" and ask for help!!!! Again wait and see if anything happens and if the stuff is removed. STEP 12 If not, then go to: The Russian Federal Service For Intellectual Property, Patents And Trademarks (Rospatent) located at: http://www.fips.ru/ruptoen/index.htm Which of course is in Russian!!!! STEP 13 So go back to AltaVista's Babel Fish Translation site http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr In the lower box where it say "Translate a web page" type (or paste) in "www.fips.ru/ruptoen/index.htm" so that you end up with "http://www.fips.ru/ruptoen/index.htm" Directly below that, click the drop down box and select Russian to English Then click the "Translate" button STEP 14 At the bottom of the page, click the "contacts" tab and e-mail these folks with all the documentation and ask for help!!! STEP 15 And if you still don't get any results, IM me and we'll think of something else!!!!!!!!! I have done a lot of these type things. As soon as I found a valid e-mail account, I always got results!!! Don't hesitate to IM me with any questions!!! ******************** Bobby (B_Peacock) and Dawn (Lully) have been researching the Russian web site, (and other places) looking for more stolen art from Renderosity. Take a look at Bobby's (B_Peacock) information at: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=1399525&member http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=1400286&member And take a look at the link to her web site on Dawn's (Lully) post: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=1396943&member She is also preparing more info - as is Bobby and as am I!!! Please contact them and give them a hand digging through the site(s)!!!!!!! Hopefully this stuff and everyone's efforts will help put a stop to the problems!!! I've got a LOT of links in here. As soon as I post this, I'll be checking them all to make sure they work. If you get a bad one, come back in just a few minutes and I'll have it fixed!!!! Love ya!!! Meredith PS - I meant to post this last night - instead I've been hiding under the bed!! We had a real Texas size thunderstorm roll in!! Spring weather is starting to get wicked!! PPS - By the way, the Babel Fish site is VERY handy for translating MOST web pages! It has a lot of different language combinations! PPPS - The image of the money used in the thumbnails was downloaded from the Bureau of Engraving, U.S. Treasury Department and used in full accordance with their rules of use.