Hi All.

Im a freelance webdesigner and I do this on the side once in awhile for people. I recently designed a website and when I put it up on my beta site for customer review, some person contacted me and said that I was copying his exact website.

In short, he is accusing me for website infringement.

I designed the site using a free template online like this type of site. I used the same layout, stock photos, and a little text that was provided with the template. I used the 2 stock photos that came with the template but everything else I completely changed.

Now here is the problem, I cannot find the free template any longer. I do not remember the site that I got it from, there are just so many out there. His website has the copyright all right reserved on the bottom but when I asked him, he doesn't have it registered at the copyright office.

Either way he said that it is still infringement and would take actions.

Any advice on what I should do ? By the way, I took down the site once I heard about this. He is spreading bad press online about my client and also myself. Im seeking legal advice soon but would like to hear some feedback from other web designers that have any thought or experienced this before.
Any suggestions would really work right now. I never experienced this before and would really appreciate the help.

First off, if it's a free template, you just learned the first mistake about web design: never use them. This isn't exactly the first reason I'd give but it's a symptom of it nonetheless. DIY, only way to fly and all that.

Second, you need to find out where your customer got the copy from (assuming the customer supplied it.) Maybe your customer did take it from the competitor.

Third, you don't actually need to have the copyright reserved as such. It's usually just enough to be able to establish that you were there first.

Have you got a copy of the template? If you do, take the words out and upload it somewhere. Maybe one of us has seen it before.