Cheeky net thief clones legal site

By JOSIE CLARKE

A cheeky Russian computer programmer who cloned a Wellington law firm's website - but renamed staff Boris and Grigory for authenticity - has been caught out.

Intellectual property law firm A J Park was bemused to discover the "bizarre" website which plagiarised the original down to the last detail.

The firm's Wellington and Auckland offices had become the St Petersburg and Helsinki offices. Even staff had their names changed to the Russian equivalent.

Partner Greg Arthur's picture had the name Grigory Fokin next to it, while managing partner Andrew Collins had been renamed Andrew Colmogoroff. More seriously, papers and opinions on legal issues had been plagiarised, with New Zealand references replaced by Russian names.

The firm's general manager, John Lamb, known as Boris or Dmitry on the Russian site, said staff's first reaction was to have a good laugh.

"Then we realised it was misleading our clients, who were not getting up-to-date or accurate information, and others with a website run the same risk."

The firm became aware of the imitation site when an overseas associate recognised an A J Park article.

Staff traced the site to a Russian man based in St Petersburg, who - via email - blamed a colleague. He has shut down the site at A J Park's instruction.

The firm will not take legal action.