Someone Copied Your Website or Content: Remedies for California Businesses

Last updated: November 2026

When a competitor copies your website, the original text, photographs, graphics, video, and code are protected by copyright from the moment you created them, and reproducing or displaying them without permission is infringement. (17 U.S.C. §§ 102(a), 106, 501(a).) The remedies, in rough order of speed, are a takedown notice to the copier's host, a demand letter, and a federal lawsuit for an injunction and damages after registering the work. Kolmogorov Law, P.C. handles all three for businesses in Orange County, Los Angeles, and across California.

Call (909) 235-6116 or contact us online if your site, product listings, or marketing content have been copied.

Website content copied: what on your site is protected

Copyright covers original expression fixed in a tangible medium, and a website is a bundle of such works: the written copy, the product descriptions, the photographs, the illustrations and icons, the video, and the underlying code. (17 U.S.C. § 102(a).) Each was protected the day it was written or shot, without registration and without a notice.

What copyright does not cover matters just as much. Ideas, methods, systems, and concepts are excluded. (17 U.S.C. § 102(b).) So is a list of facts: your prices, your hours, your product specifications. A competitor who copies your site's structure, your category names, and your general approach to selling has usually taken only ideas. A competitor who pastes your paragraphs and uploads your photographs has taken expression.

The look and feel of a site sits in between. Pure layout is rarely protected by copyright. A distinctive overall appearance that customers associate with you can be protected as trade dress. And a copied site that confuses customers about who is behind it raises unfair competition claims under Business and Professions Code section 17200 as well.

First, confirm you own it

Before sending anything, I ask who created the content. If an employee wrote the copy and an employee took the photographs, the company owns them. If a freelance writer, a photographer, or a web agency created them, the company owns them only with a signed assignment or, for the few categories that qualify, a signed work-for-hire agreement. (17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 201(b), 204(a).) A business that sends a demand over content it does not own has handed the copier a defense. Our page on copyright ownership and contractors explains how to close that gap.

Preserve the evidence

Capture the copying site with dated screenshots and a saved copy of the page source. Use an archive service to create a timestamped record. Pull your own publication dates from your content management system and your earliest archived versions. Copied typos, your business name left in alt text, and your image file names are the proof that persuades a judge, and they disappear once the copier gets a letter.

The takedown notice

The fastest remedy is a notice to the company hosting the copier's site, or to the marketplace or platform where the copied listing appears. A proper notice identifies your work and the infringing material, gives your contact information, states your good faith belief that the use is unauthorized, and is signed under penalty of perjury. (17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3)(A).) Hosts that act on the notice keep their safe harbor, so most act within days. Search engines accept similar notices to remove copied pages from results. Our DMCA page, linked below, covers the notice, the counter-notice, and what to expect.

A takedown stops the display. It recovers no money and it does not bind the copier, who can repost elsewhere.

The demand letter and the lawsuit

A demand letter from counsel asks for removal, a written undertaking not to repost, and compensation. Many website copying matters end there, because the copier is usually a small competitor who took the content because it was convenient, not because it was worth a lawsuit.

When the letter fails, or the copier is a direct competitor diverting your customers, a federal lawsuit follows. One prerequisite comes first: a United States work cannot be sued on until the Copyright Office has registered it or refused registration, and the application alone is not enough. (17 U.S.C. § 411(a).) Our page on registration before suit explains the rule and the expedited option.

Registration timing also sets the damages. Statutory damages of $750 to $30,000 per work, rising to $150,000 for willful infringement, and attorney fees are available only if the work was registered before the infringement began or within three months after its first publication. (17 U.S.C. §§ 412, 504(c), 505.) For a site registered after the copying was discovered, the claim is limited to actual damages and the copier's profits. Our guide to copyright statutory damages covers how courts set the figure.

The remedy that matters most for a live website is the injunction. Where a competitor is using your photographs and copy to sell against you, we move early for a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction. The cases are filed in the Central District of California; for Orange County businesses that is the Santa Ana courthouse, and for Los Angeles businesses, the First Street Courthouse.

Register now, not later

Everything above gets easier with registration. The Copyright Office accepts a group registration for photographs and will register the text and graphics of a site as a single literary or visual work in many cases. For a business whose site is its storefront, registering the site on launch and after each major revision is inexpensive insurance. The firm's intellectual property litigation practice covers the trademark and trade secret claims that often accompany a website copying case.

What to bring to the first meeting

Bring your dated screenshots and page source of the copying site. Bring your own publication dates, archived versions, and any registration certificates. Bring the contracts with whoever created your content. If the copier is a competitor, bring evidence of lost customers or diverted search traffic, because that is what turns an injunction request from possible to likely.

Frequently asked questions

Someone copied my website. What can I do?

Preserve the evidence, confirm you own the content, and send a takedown notice to the copier's host or platform. (17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3)(A).) Follow with a demand letter. If the copier refuses, register the content with the Copyright Office and sue in federal court for an injunction and damages. (17 U.S.C. §§ 411(a), 504.)

Is copying website content illegal?

Reproducing or displaying another business's original text, photographs, graphics, video, or code without permission is copyright infringement. (17 U.S.C. §§ 106, 501(a).) Copying facts, ideas, prices, or general layout is not. (17 U.S.C. § 102(b).) A copied site that confuses customers can also violate trademark and unfair competition law.

Can I sue someone for stealing my website content?

Yes, in federal court, once the content is registered or registration has been refused. (17 U.S.C. § 411(a).) You can recover actual damages and the copier's profits, or statutory damages if registration was timely, plus an injunction. (17 U.S.C. §§ 412, 504.) The claim must be filed within three years after it accrued. (17 U.S.C. § 507(b).)

How do I get copied content removed from Google?

Search engines accept copyright removal notices that identify your original page and the copied one. The copied page is then removed from search results, though not from the copier's site. For that, send a notice to the hosting company and, if needed, a demand to the copier.

Does it matter that I never registered my website?

Not for ownership; copyright exists on creation. It matters for the lawsuit, which cannot be filed until registration is granted or refused, and for damages, since statutory damages and attorney fees are unavailable for infringement that began before registration. (17 U.S.C. §§ 411(a), 412.) Register now; it preserves those remedies against the next copier.

Talk to a California copyright litigation attorney

If your website or content has been copied, call (909) 235-6116 or contact us online. Kolmogorov Law, P.C. is at 327 Magnet, Irvine, CA 92618, and represents businesses in Orange County, Los Angeles, and throughout California. See also our pages on DMCA takedowns and intellectual property litigation.

This page provides general information about federal copyright law and California law and is not legal advice. Outcomes depend on what was copied, who owns it, the registration date, and the court.