We presented at an exhibition an internet site and now, a competitor firm has practically copied it. Shortly after we deposited it at the SIAE, but now what can we actually do to stop the plagiarism?

Considering that, obviously, two Internet sites having the same subject or the same service can co-exist, as it is not possible to claim the exclusivity on the type of dealt business, the main problem is to evaluate if in effect the two sites have been copied one from the other as there are no parameters to be followed. In this specific case, the two home pages are different, even though both have exploited the idea of a poem that, in any case, is not the same. On the other hand the internal structure has in fact, been mainly copied, even if some details have been changed. At this point, the fact that a deposit of the published material has been made at the SIAE is of little importance as everything happened before. Obviously this does not prejudice the possible copyright that can be claimed, as these rights come about independently from any deposit. The important thing is to be able to demonstrate, with documents, files or anything else, to have been the first ones to elaborate that kind of site, and subsequently providing, with a software technician, to check the source codes to establish eventual likenesses. In any case, since both of you run a business in competition, the best thing to do is to have a judgement asking for the deletion of the material in the site as it violates the copyright on the graphic and structure, and also as it is unfair competition. It is evident that it is not a simple case and it would have to be accurately studied by an expert.