Good Lawyer Guide's response

In theory, it may be possible to do something – but in practice, I doubt very much if you can.

There may have been a breach of copyright – but that would involve looking at the two sites and doing a detailed comparison of them. Obviously, if they are virtually identical (eg they have stolen your illustrations and much of the text is the same) then there will be a breach of copyright. But, most cases of this sort are not so blatant – it will usually be the general look and feel that has been hijacked and used by the other site. In that situation, there is likely to be little you can do. However, if they are selling the same sort of product as you are, or are in the same sort of business, and the site is worryingly similar, then you may be able to argue that they are creating confusing amongst potential customers, and even ‘passing themselves off’ as being you (and so trying to pinch your customers). Bu cases of that sort can be difficult and expensive to take to court.

You really need to speak to an Intellectual Property lawyer who can advise you properly.

Hughes' response

There may be a solution. Do any of the following apply to you?

Text is the same - Original text on your site is copyright to you. If the other site has plagarised your text, then you can stop them and make them change their text.

Images are the same - Images (unless agreed otherwise) belong to the person who created them. If the other site has copied some of your images then you can stop them.

Name/logo is the same or very similar - If there is a risk of confusion then you may be able to take action. The exception is that you may not be able to take action if your name is descriptive of what you do - e.g. "Fast Lawn Care" to describe a lawn treatment business.

If the colours and layout are the same (but the text, images, name and logo are not) - the test will be in whether the website users are likely to be confused into thinking that the two companies are linked, or that the similar website is, in fact, yours.