I posted about You Thought We Wouldn't Notice last year. It's a blog where anyone can post a claim of copyright infringement, artistic theft or just imply that someone took too much inspiration from your creation. When I first posted, it was a good collection of obvious theft, but in the past year, as it gained popularity, the line of clear theft has been erased and now just a similarity is now enough to warrant a post.
You can vote on whether it's theft or not and read the debates in the comments. I recommend the comments, most of the time the real story is told by someone else.
This is an interesting time for copyright law, the tension between the freedom and ease of copying digital material is forcing us to redefine fair use and how creators are going to get paid. Reading this website does show that the court of public opinion is definitely on the side of the small creator ripped off by the big company and they have achieved some interesting results.
My favorite post currently is a design company that stole the graphics, text and code of another design company's website. Imagine how damaging it would be if their clients or potential clients found out they didn't even bother to design their own website. Ouch.
If you feel like something of yours has been stolen and you don't have the means to hire a lawyer and go after the person, post at You Thought We Wouldn't Notice and the person will get the negative attention they deserve.
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