In an amusing case of “physician, heal thyself,” an anti-piracy group is attempting to shut down a Russian-based clone of themselves. Good luck with that!

Web Sheriff doyen of the down-trodden and continually maligned copyright holders of the world has suddenly become both a victim of its own success and in dire need of its own services. It seems a Russian-based ‘imposter’ has chosen to offer a very similar selection of services under the WebSheriff.ru banner.

According to company founder John Giacobbi, “Even though we have become established as the world’s Web Sheriff, ironically we’re now fighting the same battle as we fight on behalf of our clients - who said the Cold War was over?!” Adding, “This town ain’t big enough for the both of us.”

(Surely that’s enough hoke to fill the hokiest of states! Even more amazing is that the organisation is UK-based)
To fight this good fight, Web Sheriff has enlisted the services of litigators Tolpin Law in the US and Young & Wassermann in Russia, although iTWire is puzzled at the need for a US-based lawyer.

From to their web site, Web Sheriff states “Anyone who owns, exploits and administers copyrights, trademarks and brands generally is especially aware of the threat to the value of these assets posed by the web. Similarly, the privacy of celebrities and stars is equally vulnerable the power of the internet.

“It was through the acute need and demand for the protection of on-line rights against infringements and abuse, that Web Sheriff came into being. Web Sheriff is one of the few specialist, companies that operate in the field of internet policing and has become a market-leader through offering truly across-the-board solutions, from on-line legal enforcement to high tech anti-piracy. As part of Web Sheriff’s activities on behalf of its clients, Web Sheriff has closed-down illegal web-sites from locations all over the globe, including China, Russia, Ukraine, Brazil and, obviously, the US and the UK.”

According to Giacobbi, Web Sheriff has an impressive track-record of recovering fraudulently registered domain names for its showbiz clients. With a record like that, Giacobbi remarks, “These Russian imposters have picked the wrong company to try and rip-off. They’ll be cracking rocks in Siberia by the time we’ve finished with them.”

Ah the bravura of the pompous! We await the outcome with bated breath.

By David Heath