BEWARE of discus.com using our shipment photos to sell discus it doesn't have

[lkleung007]

Hi Kenny,

So sorry that you have to go through this... We are all behind you 100%... If there is anything that I can do for you, please let me know... In the meantime, I will be spreading the word!!

Bert regards, Lester

[ventura]

I really can't stand sellers like this. This guy Michael Li looks like a real scammer. But he isnt too bright. If you go to his website,then to his "sitemap" . You can see how he works. He is literally tapping into a whole slew of Discus Sellers and suppliers. If I was one of sellers listed I would be in touch with a lawyer.

I took a screenshot but my phones not letting me post it. (not enough posts here I guess)

go to https://www.discusfish.com/sitemap.xml

and scroll down. You can see how he actually links to many of the vendors here at Simply and others. Hard to deny when its written into the code of your website.

He will probably yank that page now so people should take screen shots..

The technology he is using is like that junk that pops up when you search for something and it shows you whats on sale at ebay.

He is the worst kind of scammer .

Lou

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Lou, I went to the sitemap but everything seems to point to the content within his website so not sure how that helps.
Pat

[Jenene]

I really can't stand sellers like this. This guy Michael Li looks like a real scammer. But he isnt too bright. If you go to his website,then to his "sitemap" . You can see how he works. He is literally tapping into a whole slew of Discus Sellers and suppliers. If I was one of sellers listed I would be in touch with a lawyer.

I took a screenshot but my phones not letting me post it. (not enough posts here I guess)

go to https://www.discusfish.com/sitemap.xml

and scroll down. You can see how he actually links to many of the vendors here at Simply and others. Hard to deny when its written into the code of your website.

He will probably yank that page now so people should take screen shots..

The technology he is using is like that junk that pops up when you search for something and it shows you whats on sale at ebay.

He is the worst kind of scammer .

Lou

This is what we need, tech savvy people that can help give Kenny something solid to grab onto to swing back at him. Thanks to you, Pat and everyone else that are thinking of solid ways to help him. I can only offer moral support unless I can get creative somehow. I will not stop thinking though until this guy is stopped in his slimy tracks.

[ventura]

From the site map...

https://www.discusfish.com/vendors/kenny-cheung.html

It doesnt get any more clear than that
Lou

[ventura]

From the site map...

https://www.discusfish.com/vendors/g...te-discus.html

https://www.discusfish.com/vendors/discus-r-us-llc.html


https://www.discusfish.com/vendors/u...ms-discus.html


https://www.discusfish.com/vendors/d...l-designs.html

[Second Hand Pat]

I saw that but all those links point back into his website so not sure that helps.
Pat

[Second Hand Pat]

Here's the portion of the sitemap of interest.

[Disgirl]

I am not happy to see my business, #4 on that list Pat. Never gave him permission to use it
Barb

[Jenene]

I am not happy to see my business, #4 on that list Pat. Never gave him permission to use it
Barb

He just steals what he wants. Sorry to see you have fallen as pray too. Safety in numbers like a school of fish. Gather together and let this end swiftly. Pool your resources let us know how to help. I would be more than willing to throw some funds in. Thinking I am not alone here either...

[Kenny's Discus]

Thank you to all my friends here for your supporting comments. Some of you I've had the honor to know for more than 10 years...hasn't this discus hobby of ours really changed?

Our(Forrest and I) main issue with the way this company does business is not just how he advertises with stolen fish images, but how he DOES NOT CARE that his shady way of doing business might tarnish many others sellers' reputation that took years of hard work to build when he or his associates sends out fish that aren't of actual fish we have listed for sale. Using us as an example, when a new customer who has never bought from me directly before places an order with this company, and this company sends out non-Forrest fish as "Forrest's fish", if those fish are of low quality or worse yet diseased, it would greatly affect our brand name even though we have done no wrong. This issue at hand here can potentially affect all reputable US discus sellers is why we have brought this to everyone's attention.

To all US discus sellers(if you aren't partners with this company), YOUR REPUTATION IS AT STAKE HERE!

Kenny

[Poppa Ryno]

I own and operate a forum. There is an easy LEGAL precedent to point to.
Simply Discus is an LLC. Simplydiscus & its postings ( pics especially) is copyright protected. See where im going with this? Since Kenny runs his business through SD. All business listings, postings, & most importantly PICTURES are intelectual property of 2 entities. Kenny Cheung & SD. NO ONE ELSE. So what he's done is actually theft of copyright & business sensitive material. 100% illegal... Al can ramp up the pressure as hes also an LLC owner the info/pics are stolen from. Because once Kenny posts them here, and M. Li steals them. Theft has occured from both kenny and Al\simply. This is provable & winnable in court. It also helps that many easy approaches were taken to get M. Li to do the right thing. He has not. You have proof if your requests to M. Li w/ dates. Use those dates to show how long he ignored your requests. So log each day the pics are still up. It proves non compliance.

Thank you Kansas University Law School.

[Discus-n00b]

Yeah it all points back to the main stock page, however with those sitemap links he could post them places and use it as a tool to sell discus under this guise. Like see the selection of Forrest discus here! https://www.discusfish.com/vendors/KENNY OR FORREST NAME HERE.html Or see our selection of breeding cones here! And then link one with Barb's name. Perhaps he was going to or still has plans to setup a specific vendor section where you can select from the names and those are just links ready to be attached to each section as I don't see it already on the website. It doesn't look like he makes changes to those specific URLs though. I don't want to assume or guess anything though I just want to help make people aware this type of stuff goes on and hopefully it can all get sorted. If you are a vendor on that list above, or a vendor in general you might want to keep an eye out.

For those that don't already know, in Google Chrome browser (may be some others too? I just use Chrome) you can right click on a photo and select "Search Google for image" and that will search google for that specific image. You can see where it's linked and used at as well as similar images. It may not hurt to do this every so often if you bring in monthly stock, have nice photos, or have a strain that is relatively new to the game. It's a way for you to be a little proactive policing your images for your business. Past that and dealing with the thief is up to you and will usually be a tough fight on the web but it will at least help you know where your images are going.

[Jenene]

Awesome insight Ryan. Now there is some solid progress to stand on.

[Second Hand Pat]

I own and operate a forum. There is an easy LEGAL precedent to point to.
Simply Discus is an LLC. Simplydiscus & its postings ( pics especially) is copyright protected. See where im going with this? Since Kenny runs his business through SD. All business listings, postings, & most importantly PICTURES are intelectual property of 2 entities. Kenny Cheung & SD. NO ONE ELSE. So what he's done is actually theft of copyright & business sensitive material. 100% illegal... Al can ramp up the pressure as hes also an LLC owner the info/pics are stolen from. Because once Kenny posts them here, and M. Li steals them. Theft has occured from both kenny and Al\simply. This is provable & winnable in court. It also helps that many easy approaches were taken to get M. Li to do the right thing. He has not. You have proof if your requests to M. Li w/ dates. Use those dates to show how long he ignored your requests. So log each day the pics are still up. It proves non compliance.

Thank you Kansas University Law School.

I think we need a slight clarification here. As a novice photographer the person whom takes the photo is the owner of the photo and holds the copyright to the photo. So SD as an entity does not own the photos, even if the photo is uploaded to the server. OK, back to your regular programming.
Pat