"People do not seem to appreciate that copyright is as important on the web as it is elsewhere." There are  more than 100 web sites promoting Bali and to keep track of their content  Caruso is spending hours in front of a computer tracking individual
sites. Many of these sites, she says, are run by travel agents or freelance guides.

"I was opening up these sites and finding myself looking at original content," she says. "It became quite obvious that we had to provide MMC Marketing clients with some protection. "Our clients' logos, text and sometimes their meta tags - the words which
are used to index a site on a search engine  and, at the same time, protect the online branding - were appearing time and again." Caruso says she was able to confirm cyber-stealing when she went to a site which was  selling one of her client's products. "I was interested to see what kind of turnaround time was involved when someone made an enquiry." The results, she said, were a revelation.
"I was amazed to find that my client's logos and text were being used all over the place. Sites were also quoting prices that were not in line with the company's Internet policy."
Caruso said that because of Bali's extreme competitiveness, it is important from a marketing perspective that the prices that appear online are correct.

After discovering the unauthorised use of web content, Caruso called her client and informed him of what she had found. "My client told me that he did not do business with that particular web site, and he wanted to know why they were selling his product.
"I went back online and made a reservation. Three days later the web site in question came back to me offering a product from my client's competitor. Naturally enough, our client was desperate to know more."

MMC called a meeting of its webmasters and marketing team to agree a plan of action. The idea of the "net detective" was born. No-one goes around with long raincoats and fedora hats pulled over their eyes. Instead the MMC 'private eyes' scan online travel sites, looking for clues. Suspects are identified and called in for questioning.

"We are offering our clients a service. We tell them who is selling their product online, who is using their intellectual property, including logos, without their permission," says Caruso. "Companies like Bali Adventure Tours spend hundreds of thousands of dollars
on branding and advertising. "We formulated a plan for Nigel Mason of Bali Adventure Tours which included making reservations to draw a response and to see how it was
handled."

Among the discoveries made was that many sites offered a credit card as a
form of payment using unsecured sites. Travel agents or other third party sites using the Bali Adventure tours logo must have a contract and provide a hyperlink from their site to the www.baliadventuretours.com site. Many of the sites under scrutiny did not provide this link. Many sites advertised the Bali Adventure Tours product but only allowed the
customer to book a competitor's product.
Caruso added: "Many of the sites also gave the impression that  you were dealing with the company directly when in fact it is a third party.  Most were travel agents, some were freelance guides who had set up their own web sites." MMC's net detectives came up with a list of 10 sites that were infringing international copyright laws. "We took hard copies of the sites that were infringing. We wrote to some, others were called in for a 'please explain' chat. Often they were not aware that they were stealing intellectual copyright."

We have also uncovered  a travel site who claims to be in partnership with a local travel agent ( in fact they are one in the same) who  registers  hotel's names as .coms and has all the hotel information on there, allows the consumer to make a reservation  and it gives the travel consumer the impression that they are dealing directly with the hotel. In fact it is the travel site /travel agent that they are dealing with. This site is using the hotel's logo, and a branding that is similar to the hotels. It is using it's intellectual property without it's consent. It is totally misleading the consumer. The hotels did not give permission to this travel site or the travel agent claiming to be the partner to block the domain name. In most the travel site or agent does not hold a  valid contact with the hotel to  sell their product online or off.

It is a problem that is getting out of control very fast. Caruso said that due to the success of  bringing these sites into line, MMC now has busy months ahead. "Word has got around town that the 'Net Detectives' are on the job."

For more information, contact: Melina Caruso, Director of Marketing
mcaruso@mmcmg.com