You can view more like this in the Office Thieves Hall Of Shame.
This is getting to be prime time entertainment if you ask me. For those of you that have read a previous post of mine on the theft and infringement on my copyrighted material committed by Andre Leite Alves (operating a business under the name Aware Bear in Pittsford, Rochester, New York), there is a new development that I would love to share with you all.
Andre Alves has attempted to misuse (abuse) the DMCA in order to get my story of his fraudulent actions removed from the internet. In order to attempt that this little Aware Bear sent a DMCA complaint to a domain registrar where stefandidak.com, my domain, is registered. Unfortunately it once again shows that Andre Leite Alves has no clue about the law, in any way shape or form, and had no legal assistance in the process of writing that DMCA complaint (the plethora of errors and missing words in there is very similar to his hasted reply after I first confronted him with a demand he immediately stops using my material for his personal gains and business activities). It is starting to be clear that Andre Leite Alves is an amateur in every respect.
What Andre Alves also hadn’t realised is that I have dealt with DMCA situations in the past and am even on record in a policy report by the Brennan Center for Justice of the NYU School of Law, regarding a very similar case with a professional con-artist I had exposed. That con-artist also attempted to abuse the DMCA for what it was never intended for as you can read in the report.
I believe that Andre Alves of Aware Bear Computers is not too happy with me showing the derivative work he illegally and without authorization created from my copyrighted work. And again it becomes clear that Alves has no legal assistance because they would have informed him that it was his mistake that caused the circulation and that now it allows me to use it under the fair use clause of the copyright act. Of course, we all know that Andre Alves doesn’t care about the image and copyrights, if he cared about copyrights he would not have done what he did and would not have spent the past days removing OTHER material from his site and replacing it with generic images instead. All Andre Alves cares about is not getting exposed. Well, bud, it’s a little too darn late for that.
Notice how Andre Alves also commits perjury in his DMCA complaint by stating that my website is operated an on anonymous basis. Funny he can find the contact details of the domain host but not my contact details that are right there alongside it. Contact details he already had in the first place as is already on record from our previous communications. Again, it shows typical low-life behavior of a petty amateur because he believed he could get away with filing a DMCA that way. What Andre Alves should do, if he feels strongly about copyright infringement and believes that the fair use clause does not apply, is file suit against me and leave it up to the courts (he already knows where to find me to file suit and even if he didn’t it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out with a simple lookup). I would welcome him trying that. For one, if he makes a personal appearance in court (very unlikely since he’s running and hiding from being served with my case that’s now hanging as a thundercloud above his head) we can serve him easily. Notice how he failed to provide a valid address on the DMCA (a requirement) 🙂
Anyone who can provide me with the whereabouts of Mr. Andre Leite Alves at a specific point in time can expect a generous reward once we can serve him his summons.
Anyway, for your enjoyment and education I present to you the DMCA complaint as it was sent to the domain registrar. Needless to say, all the errors and mistakes are verbatim and by Andre Alves. I wonder if he will attempt to claim copyright on his DMCA complaint too now. 🙂
Andre Leite Alves
Rochester, NY 14618
(585)473-7035, (585) 738-2583
(585)473-7035 FAXNovember 12, 2008
“Take Down Notice” Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act 17 USC ? 512
[name of domain registrar]Dear Sir or Ma’am:
This letter is formal notice to you under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), 17 USC ? 512. that you are maintaining materials on your servers that infringe on the copyrights of my personal work. Accordingly, we hereby request that you take down or remove this infringing content from your servers.
1. Identity Of The Copyrighted Work That Has Been Infringed. My own the copyright personal photograph, which have appeared and have been published over the years in, among other places, web sites owned by me and in literary and marketing materials in several types of media distributed to the public. Below are just a few examples of the items of content that have been copied and pasted into this website.
2. Identity of the Material That Is Infringing My Copyrighted Work. The website StefanDidak.com currently contains pages infringing content. The search queries, and the search results containing web pages that infringe on my own rights, are attached as Exhibit B. We can provide a digital copy of this Exhibit B if it would be helpful to you.
3. Contact Information for Andre Leite Alves. Please send all correspondence on this matter to:
Andre Leite Alves
Rochester, NY 14618
(585) 473-7035, (585) 738-2583
(585) 473-7035 Fax
solutions@awarebear.com4. Contact Information for Owner/Administrator of the Web Site Containing Infringing Material. The individuals who operate the website www.stefandidak.com do an anonymous basis. The email that they provide on their website is: stefan *at* stefandidak.com.
5. Good Faith Statement & Affidavit. Please see the affidavit attached as Exhibit A.
If you have any questions about this notice, please contact me at (585) 473-7035or at solutions@awarebear.com
Thank you,
ANDRE LEITE ALVESExhibit A
AFFIDAVITI, Andre Leite Alves, declare the following:
1. I have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted materials described in the attached letter, that appear on the allegedly infringing web pages as described in the attached letter, is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
2. I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in this notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the, owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of New York that the foregoing is true, and correct.
I would like to thank Andre Alves for providing this DMCA complaint under penalty of perjury because he has now incriminated himself even further than he had already done. Thanks Andre! You have just declared that you have used the stolen material that “appeared and have been published over the years in, among other places, web sites owned by me and in literary and marketing materials in several types of media distributed to the public”. So it’s been used even more than we already can prove with the hardcopies of the brochures, judging from his words. You’re going to not be too happy in court but please do continue to incriminate yourself and declaring so under penalty of perjury. Maybe, Andre, it is time you get an actual attorney instead of trying to play one yourself. You end up making a clown out of yourself this way.
What Andre Leite Alves also hadn’t grasped is that by not having proper legal counsel it can become a very painful situation that backfires (which, once again, it has for him). For example, he has not understood the DMCA at all (then again, there does not seem to be much he understands other than that he needs to hide and run from a legal suit that is likely to impact his life in a very negative way), and as a result has not understood section (f) of the DMCA in which it states that it makes the sender of an invalid claim liable for the costs involved, including legal fees.
Of course, I can’t complain because his clowning around works in my legal advantage. 🙂
I operate my website on an anoymous basis? Gosh, this Andre Alves must be a certified moron if he thinks anyone with half a braincell believes that. A 2-year old can easily prove that is not the case. It is, of course, entirely within the realm of possibilities that I overestimated Andre’s IQ. With the US credit crisis going on, perhaps that IQ is also a negative number.
UPDATE !!!!! MARCH 29, 2012. Yes, he is still trying…
Our favorite habitual liar and serial copyright infringer, Andre Leite Alves, of Aware Bear Computers in Rochester, is at it again and proving himself to now also be a habitual perjurer. And no, I am not talking about his Rochester Perennial Exchange “website”, which is nothing more than his attempt to link-build to gain a tiny bit of SEO juice in the hopes that all the negative exposure of his business activities and habitual lies would no longer score as high as they have done.
Andre Leite Alves of Aware Bear Computers, the moonlighting photographer, perjured himself AGAIN!
This week, Andre Leite Alves, Mr. AwareBear, has once again perjured himself, in an attempt to file a DMCA against this site and three of the images used (in good faith used under 17 USC Section 107 which allows for such considering the context of this site). This is not the first time Andre Alves has attempted to do so. Remember many years ago when he filed a false DMCA (against my domain registrar) claiming the images of my office were actually his and that I was the one infringing on them? Perjury might be something Andre Alves was born with but since I am not a doctor I don’t know that for sure. Lying and displaying deceit, however, that I think has long since been proven.
Scroll down to read the actual DMCA takedown notice that was filed.
Andre Alves is not the brightest bulb as most of you have already noticed. I can only imagine how much time and money Andre Leite Alves has spent (possibly from the Aware Bear business account) on the many feeble attempts at influencing search results. But the consistent and persistent failure of his efforts to accomplish anything is truly mindboggling. I also believe that Andre Leite Alves must think that my office is actually a time travel machine because he very seriously botched his DMCA attempt, like he botches a lot of things, just ask any displeased customer of Aware Bear Computers in Rochester.
It seems Andre Leite Alves really can’t do anything right!
Prior to filling out the DMCA, Andre Alves uploaded 3 images from this site. Images which at one point in the past (2009 and 2011 to be exact) were on the Aware Bear Rochester website. Then proceeded to create a blog post in WordPress and backdated it to December 7, 2007. Then labeled the images as (C) 2001-2012 to create the impression for the DMCA Agent that this site had taken them off of his site, and proceeded to state such, under penalty of perjury. Except what our clueless clown Andre Alves failed to pay attention to, because he is not really a detail oriented guy, is that images from 2009 and 2011 appear in his post that is dated several years prior to those.
I honestly do not have a time travel machine but I think Andre Alves believes I do. And for those of you paying attention, he botched one of the images even worse by having it in the 2012/03 upload folder. Anyone using WordPress will understand where I’m going with this. Images uploaded March 2012, in preparation for his false and incorrect DMCA filing, made to appear as if they were actually there in 2007. And he also needs people to believe there was no activity on his link-heavy blog between 2008 and 2011? Nice one, Andre! You must think other people are equally as dumb as you are.
Andre Alves, who appears to also moonlight as a “full time” wedding photographer (a full-time wedding photographer and full-time computer-repair guy, eh), must not understand digital images all that well because he clearly also forgot about things like date stamping and additional digital data embedded in those very image files. What that exactly means I will not explain because there is no reason to try and educate Andre Leite Alves. Instead I will just save this really good information for any situation where I may need them to pull the rug out of under any attempt at legal harassment. There are two other indicative issues with his DMCA attempt but those too, I will save for later. 🙂
What Andre Leite Alves (or should I refer to him as the Aware Bear that is unaware most of the time) also failed to think about is the fact that two of the images are cropped from the site they were originally on and are not the actual crop size of the images as they were at the time. It is nothing short of amazing that the exact crop is actually dated 2007 on his “blog” because they are clearly the exact crop I took. The old Aware Bear site(s) and content are probably not in Andre Leite Alves’ possession anymore so he didn’t notice it. Luckily, I always cache and copy everything just in case such is needed to provide proof and evidence. 🙂
Why did AwareBear Computers’ Andre Leite Alves spend $99 on a false filing?
So what’s up with these images and why would Andre Leite Alves spend $99 on trying to have them removed through the DMCA process? Nothing in particular, really. It is clear he attempted this as a “test” to see if it would work and if it did he could then proceed and start filing more false DMCA’s as long as he had a few dollars to spend on it. But the reason the habitual liar and serial infringer wanted the images gone is clear; they expose his habitual lies in a no uncertain manner.
The image that is a screenshot of one of his web pages, with the so-called testimonials on it for example. As already shown previously, testimonials from allegedly happy customers have been used throughout the years and attributed to different names at different stages during the changes of the Aware Bear Computers website(s). Also, the exact same text of the supposed testimonials has been found posted elsewhere and passed off as real testimonials, yet also attributed to different people in different places. Under 17 USC Section 107 I of course am showing exactly that.
The other two images have a bit more history to them. The first was taken from the Aware Bear website (in the state it was in at the time) to show that it was not just my office that Andre Leite Alves pretended was his. Also, a friendly and smart person e-mailed me with the links to the actual website designs in the image, as they belong to Template Monster and are not designs ever made by Aware Bear Computers. Ditto for the small image pasted into the monitor in that arrangement.
After I pointed that out and used the image to show this, Andre Leite Alves immediately modified the image on his website to contain an email address instead of the office and also took out the small design pasted in the monitor. He left the Monster Template images on there. Perhaps he bought those templates or decided he would take his chances. During that year the Aware Bear website underwent a lot of changes as Andre Leite Alves tried to wipe out all the obvious lies like claiming to be an official Apple Repair Center (yeah, right, ask Apple about that one).
Speaking of Apple. Did anyone notice the banner image at the top of Andre Leite Alves’ “link farm” blog? Do you feel you have seen that image before? That’s because you probably have. On Apple’s website! So clueless Andre can’t even build a “link-farm” blog without yet again using content he’s not authorized to use!
The full DMCA takedown notice as it had been received by my web host.
Please note that I have taken out the name and details of the copyright agent. As it turns out the actual filing was done through a 3rd party website and the chain of action on the DMCA is a little complicated to explain, nor really of any interest here. The copyright agent is someone I know and respect and it became increasingly clear what exactly transpired and what Andre Leite Alves attempted to accomplish.
Notice of Copyright Infringement
Received: 2012-03-26 21:42:02 from [name removed] to DreamHost AbusePlease see attached notice of copyright infringement, which has also been pasted below. Thank you very much for your time and attention to this matter. Please note that, in addition to the below infringement, the site itself appears to be nothing more than a spam redirect and an attempt to capitalize on my clients domain name.
To Whom It May Concern,
I am writing to you to avail myself of my rights under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and/or the European Directive on Electronic Commerce (EDEC). This letter is a Notice of Infringement as authorized in § 512 of the U.S. Copyright Law and EU Directive 2000/31/EC. I wish to report an instance of what I feel in good faith is an instance or Copyright Infringement. The infringing material appears on the Service for which you are the designated agent.
You are either registered with the U.S. Copyright Office as the designated service provider agent to receive notifications of alleged copyright infringement with respect to users of the service or have listed this information as the appropriate account to file such complaints on your site.
1. The material which I contend belongs to myself or my client, and appears illegally on the Service is the following:
Various AwareBear Images
2. The material appears at the website addresses:
http://www.andreleitealves.net/images/gibberish-large.jpg
http://www.andreleitealves.net/images/awarebearfakewebdesign1.jpg
http://www.andreleitealves.net/images/awarebearfakewebdesign2.jpg3. The material appears on my or my client’s Web site at these addresses:
http://www.andreleitealves.[other]/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/abc1.jpg
http://www.andreleitealves.[other]/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/abc-design.jpg
http://www.andreleitealves.[other]/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/abc-design-2.jpg4. My contact information is as follows:
[name and company details of the DMCA agent removed]
Filed on Behalf of:
5. I have a good faith belief that the use of the material that appears on the service is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or by operation of law.
6. The information in this notice is accurate, and I am either the copyright owner or I am authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.
I declare under the perjury laws of the United States of America that this notification is true and correct.
Signed:
[name removed]
Note: [company name removed] is acting as an authorized DMCA agent and is solely responsible for the preparation and submission of the DMCA notice.
Don’t you just love the lies Andre Leite Alves manages to concoct?
As the DMCA takedown notice reads, “Please note that, in addition to the below infringement, the site itself appears to be nothing more than a spam redirect and an attempt to capitalize on my clients domain name.”
So this site is a spam redirect now? Amazing! I challenge anyone reading this to google the name of the habitual liar and discover the countless attempts he’s made to influence search engine results to combat the negative exposure that his actions have received here and in other places over the many years. It is unfortunate for Andre Leite Alves and Aware Bear being presented in a satirical manner here but there is a limit to how many times this clown should get away with his lies.
I think poor Andre was projecting a little too much when he came up with the “spam redirect” idea considering that he has produced tons of content and posted it all over the internet for just one single purpose. And yet, even after spending so much time over those many years, he accomplished nothing with it (nor will he, but he hasn’t figured that out yet, as I said, he is not the brightest bulb).
It’s also funny how all of Andre Leite Alves’ link-farm experiment sites use basic WordPress themes. I wonder if he will be starting to claim those are his designs just like he seems to do with anything that his eyes see.
The images will be back up shortly as I entertain the full counter notice of the DMCA process. In order not to expose the current web-host as this process resolves itself, you can view the images here, here, and here if you want.
Is this retard for real?
He claims your office and its pictures are his?
Whats he smoking up there in Roachester, must be some really awful stuff.
I am rolling on the floor laughing my cute little ass off.
When do you think this poor excuse for a thief Alves will learn that his underhanded slimeball action of filing an unintelligent DMCA claim only leads to increased exposure of those actions?
Poor Alves isn’t just pathetic. He’s also desperate. And it shows. 🙂
When you get his ass in court can you take a camera along because I would love to see that footage. In particular I want to see the judge laughing his ass off. Please tell me you can do that. It would be an even funnier case than with Hans Reiser.
In my experience, people that use fake home or business addresses and are hiding or running usually do so for good reason. Maybe he is also hiding from creditors or other businesses that pursue him over any wrongdoings. It takes considerable effort and experience to keep hiding. Could be that it is the only thing he’s an expert at.
Hiding and moving from home to home is typical behavior for criminals and debtors. Alves could very well be living in his car for all we know.
Stefan, you could be one of many and at the back of the line.
He aims!
He shoots!
He… misses by a hundred miles!
Clown is too kind a word for an idiot like Andre.
Holy smokes! Andre Alves, for all your self-incrimination services!
“appeared and have been published over the years in, among other places, web sites owned by me and in literary and marketing materials in several types of media distributed to the public”
How bloody stupid must someone be if you write that and then sign it swearing under penalty of perjury. Any lawyer he goes to for help in the case you’ve got against him will tell him goodbye because that case is over before it starts. He’s dug his own legal grave and probably doesn’t even have a clue that he did! How cool is that if your opponent in court is that deranged. Maybe he can plead insanity? 🙂
Peter, you’re right. 🙂
The first thing we did when that DMCA complaint arrived was laugh our collective behinds off. And the first thing that was clear was the shabby nature of the complaint, the inaccuracies (and lies), and of course the fact that Alves incriminated himself and provided what is essentially a full admission (and then some!) of guilt. I should actually thank him for that.
The second thing we did was get a full certified validation from the registrar that received the notice to determine the validity of the sender’s source and got that confirmation within minutes. Aware Bear is going to be sorry they didn’t get legal counsel but hey, such is life for those who dabble with the law while lacking every level of understanding of it.
What is even funnier, when I offered Aware Bear to leave all this to our respective attorneys they asked for the contact details of mine so they could provide it to theirs. I provided that and then they said they would only deal with a “Board Certified Attorney”. This was a very clear indication these Alves clowns were hopelessly clueless because that particular organization certifies attorneys in areas of business bankruptcy, consumer bankruptcy and creditors rights.
That being the case, Aware Bear must only have legal experience with bankruptcy issues, creditor issues, and such. Makes you wonder why that “business” is always using fake addresses, eh? They’ll learn what a Bar Association attorney is, in court. Maybe it’ll be an education after which Aware Bear might very well need a Board Certified Attorney for the aftermath of their financial demise.
I live in Rochester. How much is the reward if I lure the guy to my house for a computer repair job?
I thought that sad excuse of a man could not get any lower… Boy I was a very wrong.
I thought the Genesse river was overflowing because of climate change.
Now I know it’s just the gallons of sweat produced by Andre’s fear! 🙂
The fool can’t even write coherent sentences. That notice reads like it was pieced together from samples and edited by a toddler, using crayons.
One one of the other sites of Aware Bear Computers he has an image with “Voted #1 in Rochester for affordability, exceptional service and reliability”.
Voted by who? Voted by what? Anyone here in Rochester? NOT.
Just like the other fake awards he attributed to himself.
Stefan, you know where to find Andre.
You called him a clown.
Think about it.
He IS one!
Working with a traveling circus.
That’s why he doesn’t have a real address!?
Hehe.
I voted for Andre “Aware Bear” Alves in the contest for the Biggest Liar(tm) Awards. Now there’s an award he deserves. Finally a real award–or is that REWARD–he doesn’t need to fraudulently claim he has repeatedly been awarded the people’s choice award from the Democrat & Chronicle.
He tried to do that???
And he thought it would work???
Not just a thief but a clueless one. The funniest kind!
He sure picked a good name for the scam with Aware Bear because awareness is now rising.
By the way, I’m in love with your new setup! Andre should have waited so he could steal the new images and use them for more of his shitty Aware Bear ads.
I nominate Aware Bear for the Clown of Rochester award.
never read any ridiculous story b4…. thx for this great entertainment…. you did a great job, stefan!
best regards, andy (germany)
Wow, I mean *WOW*
my reaction was WTF O_O and that was when I read the first page about the initial blatant copyright violation with demonstration and admission of no due dilligence and clear acceptance of liability (and that’s being diplomatic I suppose).
Then DCMA notice for you violating the copyright of your own copyright? AAARGg my poor brain just fired a spring out of my ears
That’s some serious deluded entitlement there.
That day in court’ll be interesting 😀 but, like another commenter has said, I suspect you are in a queue of folk who’ve had to deal with this individuals activities.
LOL He claim to be a Web designer, and uses thumbnail of Templates from Templatemonster on his promotion pic on his site awarebear.com/design.html
From the picture behind 🙂
templatemonster.com/website-templates/17078.html
templatemonster.com/website-templates/17065.html
templatemonster.com/website-templates/16998.html
templatemonster.com/swish-templates/16869.html
Well On the Last template it says RESPECT!
I don’t know if this guy can read, or in any other way have Respect for anything, specially the Copyright law.
But WTH, maybe he sue TM for stealing his designs to 🙂
GL Stefan i hope you get this dude.
BTW i LOVE your office, can i print out a image of it and hang it om my wall, jut to have something to aim for? :-p
Kent From Land of the Vikings * Norway * 🙂
This looks like the type of guy who thinks he is always pulling a fast one over people because he knows a touch more then the average joe about fixing computers. I have seen this type before. They get so angry when someone like you exposes them for what they are…..nothing.
Hello!
Very Interesting post! Thank you for such interesting resource!
PS: Sorry for my bad english, I’v just started to learn this language 😉
See you!
Your, Raiul Baztepo
Hi !! 😉
I am Piter Kokoniz. oOnly want to tell, that your posts are really interesting
And want to ask you: will you continue to post in this blog in future?
Sorry for my bad english:)
Thank you!
Piter Kokoniz, from Latvia
Hi Stefan,
only just saw your site via a link from Whirlpool.com.au that only linked your
office page.
This clown (Andre) made me laugh so much I nearly fell off my chair today
I have not had such a good laugh for a long time.
Love your setup, and your views on credit cards mirror my own I do not have any and I pay cash for everything I buy (is annoying when hosting Co’s & domain registaries want a credit card). My setup is not as large but I sill have 6 machines running here
24/7 and a few that are used by guests.
I use winXP, debian and other linux OS’s on my machines, love Mac hardware but not the inflated prices they have on their equipment, I repair PC’s, Mac’s and servers and provide IT services to community organisations here in Australia for free.
Keep up the good work and let us know more about this “clown”
Cheers Eddie
Perth Western Australia
Hi Stefan. I was the guy that emailed you earlier yesterday. To a certain point your blog about this guy is pretty funny but do you ever stop and think about how you could ruin the rest of his life? It might be funny to you now but ruining someone’s life could have a serious impact on you later on. If the guy tells you that he’s sorry and won’t do it again then you should let it go. It’s the right thing to do for both you and him.
Do I ever stop and think about the effect this has on him? Sure I did. Before I posted all this. I admit it was a completely premeditated act of exposure and public perpetual shaming. 🙂
What ever gave you the idea he was sorry. All he’s sorry for is getting caught.
Hi again Stefan! 🙂
I think you read my post wrong. What I meant to say was, give him a chance to make amends with you. Maybe work out a letter of apology that has to be posted on his front page or something. It’s always better to work a deal out then to take away someone’s life. If he has nothing left to lose, it has a potential to bite you back pretty hard.
I have just stumbled in from a link over at Toms Hardware… and I didn’t trust my eyes when I saw this. Well – I always thought that people stealing my stuff were complete idiots, but this guy definitely beats them all.
I need to steal this image with him and get it printed on a coffee mug – would make every morning a funny one. Let me know when you got hold of him so I can tell him to file a DMCA complaint against me… would make a priceless decoration of my toilet wall.