Shameful rip-off of the "Cheers in" concept and website from Shanghai! One only needs to look at the two websites side by side to see that “Brick” – the drive thru’s owner - blatantly ripped off everything from the code to the color palette to the actual wording. See for yourself:
Cheers in website: http://shanghai.cheers-in.com/
Drivethru’s version: http://www.beijingdrivethru.com/en/
I would have expected differently from a foreigner but perhaps Brick has been here so long that he no longer views IPR theft for what it is; a morally and ethically corrupt business practice where one party steals from another as a shortcut (often times to make up for their own lack of ability). As a business owner who has had his ideas lifted by Chinese competitors in the past, this type stuff really hits home.
Microsoft, Google, Amcham, and anyone else out there that has ordered from Drivethru, this is your chance to show us where you stand on this issue.
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Comments
Re: Don't support The Drive Thru's piracy
The guy's name is Ryan Johnston. The Brick is a bar he was involved with. He is known in Beijing only for being a massive douche, as evidenced by my previous review of The Drive-Thru. Since that review went up, he has continued to stalk me and send me obsessive messages, I got bored and blocked him eventually, though I'm sure he will make a new account after this in order to send me further proof of his retardation.
Those websites are shockingly similar. It looks as though the same web company made both sites, if that was all, it would be understandable but the content is identical and it seems twatnozzle ripped off the concept for his store as well as their website. Did you contact Cheers In to see if they are aware?
Re: Don't support The Drive Thru's piracy
It is possible the same design company made both websites, but if not, that is a blatant rip-off.
Re: Don't support The Drive Thru's piracy
Same design company or not, this is copyright infringement at the very least:
Re: Don't support The Drive Thru's piracy
Got this reply from the Cheers In owner:
I guess Ryan Johnston is not affiliated with those guys then. I wonder if "very expensive" means that he will be sued. I hope so.
lol... beer hunter.
Re: Don't support The Drive Thru's piracy
cool! i didn't know we're that popular that anyone cared. thanks again for the attention. FREE beer for you guys and to any massive douche out there in Beijing, especially you bottle-o! stop by one day and i'll tell you a little story about templets, chinese web designers, and legalities. great story!
we have already spoke with Cheers-In in Shanghai 7 months ago about the web design so your efforts to contact them are quite humorous bottle-o. we have come to an agreement with Cheers-in on a more private level, so don't worry yourself to much. i know it has to hurt.
as for bfish, your right. we do lack of ability to create such a expensive website and soul credits for design goes to Grégoire Prouvost, Cedric Bourlet, and the other dude.
as for the concept of THE drive-thru: bike build & service, best beer selection in Beijing, gourmet herbs & spice, pipes, event planning, bulk sales, import, delivery, amongst other cool finds all in one interesting little shop/bar is just that; a concept.
so don't worry about it. you guys who take personal interest in matters that have nothing to do with you are so weird. seriously get a life.
Re: Don't support The Drive Thru's piracy
Sorry Brick but you're a thief. Whether you came to an agreement after they discovered you lifted the website or not, nothing that "Cheers in" said vindicated you from that fact.
And these matters have everything to do with those that make their living through original ideas.
Re: Don't support The Drive Thru's piracy
fair enough, and thanks. we learned from the best here in Beijing. i think Chad Lager calls it ' borrowing ideas '. huh, go figure.
Re: Don't support The Drive Thru's piracy
The PR skills of a 12-year-old. Stealing IP and calling customers names then sh*tting on another Beijing bar owner. Wow.
Re: Don't support The Drive Thru's piracy
1 word: China.
That's all you can and ever will be able to say.
The following elaboration is free - you're welcome.
I don't care about the issue here, but more about the voices that pretend they don't know the deal.
You know the deal. You've been to Ya Show and liked it.
You've seen rip-off DVD's and loved 'em.
You got QQ and... Well, maybe you like it, maybe you don't - but you have it.
Morale, huh? Hm. I see, I see.
But... Start here? Why here? Why with this single, small, unimportant, little, tiny issue?
An entrepreneur takes a concept (that hasn't been invented by the one that he copied by the way) and applies it in a different region... Okay, granted that never happened before at home... Well, except Facebook games. And operating systems... And mobile phone contracts... And supermarket chains... And...
Oh... It does happen. Daily. *note to self*
Draw a DON'T BE SO CHINESE card and take it home to wave it when shopping, starting computer, etc.
So what's left? The rip-off design?
Apparently they talked about it and verifiedly the originator (aka the guy who got inspired by something else) knows about it.
I don't know what agreement they came to.
I'm glad all of you do. Fill me in, btw.
(No don't. I don't really care.)
In any case. This controversy amuses me, but I can see how it infuriates others that... Well... Seem to have forgotten where they are. No, not China. The world.
The fact, though, that this actually happens in China makes it sweeter. Call it combo-bonus.
In any case...
All I'm seeing here, from my computer screen is Guy A who opens something in Shanghai, Guy B who takes the idea to Beijing and Guys C-Z who mourn and yell.
Guys A & B make money. I applaud that. And if we're honest here... That's the ultimate bottom line. Always.
In 12 months from today on, no one will remember this topic.
But they guys (if smart) will continue making money.
Guys C-Z (the self-proclaimed IP police) start a rant without being associated with either one and go as far as calling bulk shopping an original idea. I don't applaud that.
It amuses me, though.
And not only because:
-> Shanghai + Online Bulk Shopping (specifically beer and foreign goods) = Not New
(Hell, when did the Jenny sisters start the delivery service again? 90's?)
Let me think about whether I also want to go down the road of how of our entertainment devices and clothing come from a spiral of suffering and pain...
Nope.
The only way to avoid IP theft with your business is to take it to regions that respect IP.
(But let's be honest. Each and all of us don't - whether it's in the private or business sector. And even if some do... I don't believe that anyone here - after some time in China - has kept the chastity belt of honesty intact at all times.)
So... Rather ask for a couple of free beers for keeping your mouth shut, instead of starting rants.
(THAT would be the smart thing to do.)
Re: Don't support The Drive Thru's piracy
Oh sh*t, I've just seen this...
Seriously? Microsoft is to step in???
That is... Without taking on a rude tone...
Naive on so (oh so) many levels.
(Not personal, really. I dont care about anonymous internet users. That is true.)
MS who just ripped of Apples everything... (Yeah, that Apple by the way. The "we have no idea what Qualcomm is and never knew they forced several mainland students to work 16 hour days in their holidays by bribing the headmasters" company.)
Google... I mean okay. They are good with all their data collecting, which by the way is only to provide the best possible shopping experience for us. (Not to sell it to marketing companies for large sums of money. That would be ridiculous, right?)
So yes. Let them be the saviors of truth.
Someone in this topic also said: Something, something like a 12-year old.
Uhm... Yes... Yes.
Uhh... Well... No. No, nothing.
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