hennypenny Posted July 13, 2010 Share Posted July 13, 2010 My husband died in May. He was a professional genealogist and had a website for his business which was called Researching Relatives which we wrote together several years ago and a friend put up for us. We chose the name together when we set up his business, again many years ago (I forget exactly when). http://www.researchingrelatives.co.uk/ This is another website I have come across http://www.ashbourne-derbyshire.co.uk/Research%20Relatives.htm Which uses the words Researching Relatives to get this site to appear in google searches. I have searched many times over the years on these words and this one has only recently started to appear in the search results, but the words on the page bear an uncanny similarity to those on our site, and clients searching for ours would be forgiven for thinking they had found us. I suppose I shouldn't mind any more as my husband is dead and so the business is no more, but it strikes me as pretty despicable to try to trade on a dead man's good reputation and trick people into thinking he is connected. I notice he has put a copyright on his words of 2001 which would make it appear we stole them from him - except that I remember sitting at the word processor and thinking them up all on my own! I have investigated this persons work, and it is not of a quality I would like to have associated with my late husband's business, as he was highly respected for his high quality and thorough research Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garrence Posted July 13, 2010 Share Posted July 13, 2010 The site says it's by "Joseph Platt, Nottingham University" - presumably to trick people into thinking he's a respectable academic - yet there no such person listed in their staff directory. Send him a solicitor's letter. His address is on the publicly available contact information for the domain here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metalman Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 Are you not going to carry on with it then? Seems a bit of a shame. But if not, it might be a good idea to put something on the website saying you've closed down. Maybe even direct potential customers to sites that you know will do a good job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MTheo Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 sorry, but how would they know that your husband died? not that it matters if they are copying your ideas....but I'm struggling to figure out how someone you don't know would know something like that (to then profit on it) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeadingNorth Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 sorry, but how would they know that your husband died? not that it matters if they are copying your ideas....but I'm struggling to figure out how someone you don't know would know something like that (to then profit on it) It's possible that the two things happening close together is merely coincidence. I doubt that a fraudster would bother waiting until one of the two co-founders of the website was dead before setting about his nefarious activities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hennypenny Posted July 14, 2010 Author Share Posted July 14, 2010 Are you not going to carry on with it then? Seems a bit of a shame. But if not, it might be a good idea to put something on the website saying you've closed down. Maybe even direct potential customers to sites that you know will do a good job. My husband was the one with the specialised knowledge not me, and I am not well enough to carry on. I will take the website down when I get more sorted out and find the file with all the passwords etc. I don't know how to add a note to the website. When people ring up or send enquiries I am directing them to Linklines research, at http://www.linklines.co.uk/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hennypenny Posted July 14, 2010 Author Share Posted July 14, 2010 sorry, but how would they know that your husband died? not that it matters if they are copying your ideas....but I'm struggling to figure out how someone you don't know would know something like that (to then profit on it) I suppose he may not know, although in the small community of Sheffield genealogy it was very well known. However he is still trying to cash in on someone elses name and reputation, no matter what. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubydazzler Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 My husband was the one with the specialised knowledge not me, and I am not well enough to carry on. I will take the website down when I get more sorted out and find the file with all the passwords etc. I don't know how to add a note to the website. When people ring up or send enquiries I am directing them to Linklines research, at http://www.linklines.co.uk/ If it was making money, could you not sell the site? I have heard of people selling successful sites on. It's just like any other business after all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hennypenny Posted July 14, 2010 Author Share Posted July 14, 2010 If it was making money, could you not sell the site? I have heard of people selling successful sites on. It's just like any other business after all. I would be interested in selling it, but I think I may need to find out all the details of who hosts it, and the passwords etc first. They are somewhere in this house, I hope! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mj.scuba Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 Unless you have your "Researching Relatives" name protected in some way perhaps as a trade mark or you have registered a limited company with Companies House using that name, I think others can use it. Reasearching Relatives is simply the title of a webpage linked too off their main page, it isn't their trading name and since that is what it is to do with it's perfectly legit. Think calling yourself "Window Cleaner" then opposing others using "Window Cleaner". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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