Hi Shelli,
I'm so sorry that you are going through this! My previous partner has done something similar with our name and marketing materials. My clients don't know what to think and I am having to totally revamp our marketing (my new brochures look better!). Please let me know how it turns out, I am interested in finding answers as well.

Aloha,
Toni edit

You need to talk to an attorney who handles copyright and other intellectual property and internet law matters. Much of what you describe is protected by copyright and it sounds like you have some good evidence of copying. A forceful Cease & Desist letter from an attorney should get their attention. But, if they are intentionally ripping you off, you may need to be prepared to consider a lawsuit or some other way to force them into resolving the dispute.

As with any such action, you need to work out a quantifiable sense of what the damage to your business is and have a budget in mind for putting a stop to it. That will make working with an attorney easier. Note that most attorneys are much better at telling you what you can do than what you should do (particularly when it comes to managing return on investment for legal actions). edit

So, how do we find the good and ethical attorneys who will act in the best interest of our company? I thought that I had one, but was apparently wrong. edit

Hi Shelli, Sorry to hear of your situation. I would document their site, everyday. Get a screen shot of the site as well as view source screen shots. That way even if they change a few names, they cannot say the html is theirs. Every html page is different in one way or the other. That would be like me trying to pass off Windows 7 pro as my own. edit

Hi Toni. Attorneys are people, nothing more and nothing less. We are also businesses who sell our advice and other services at premium rates. Ideally, every attorney (like every business person) should be honest, ethical, and focused solely on delivering value for our clients. But the reality is that we are subject to distraction, mistake, burnout, and "response to economic incentives". Truth be told, many of us are great at substantive legal work, but not very good at managing our businesses or providing customer service. But I digress...

Finding a good attorney is difficult. They are like any other supplier. You need to evaluate them for competence, price, and fit with your business and personality. They are more difficult than most suppliers because:

1) It is unlikely you understand everything they do, so how do you know if they are good?
2) Much of what they do is risk management and unique issues, so there is no good measurement for value delivered.
3) They are expensive and burdensome to deal with, so you can't really try before you buy and the switching costs are high.
4) Good ones are specialists, so you can't really find one to do it all.
5) Ideally, you would like at least one that is a trusted advisor to your business and can be your sounding board and General Counsel, but that can be difficult when they charge by the minute.

Your best bet is to start with you network, use well defined projects and budgets, and manage the relationship. edit

Chris provides great advice. Document what they are doing. I'm not sure I would worry about it daily, but certainly get as complete a copy as you can now and check back periodically for changes. edit

Thank you Devin. The sad fact is that this attorney did come from an original network group contact....
edit

I've actually heard a number of horror stories now about service providers from referrals through people's networks. It's the best place I can think of to start, but it still isn't ideal and some people use referrals to avoid the legwork of actually vetting the service provider. In the end, I think managing the relationship is probably more important than selection. You could analogize to hiring personnel. Yes, you need to do your best to find good people, but you still need to clearly define their role and manage them to turn them into an asset for your business. In the end, it is only through working with people that you really learn who they are, how to get their best, and whether they fit with your organization. Interviews and reference checks only get you so far. Again, this is difficult with attorneys because the needs may be infrequent and the costs high. And even if you do everything right in selection and management, there are still going to be relationships that fail. I wish I had a better solution. edit

Thanks anyway Devin, I appreciate your insight. edit