IFA victims of a website copying scandal have been told to rely on lawyers rather than the regulator or professional bodies' codes of ethics to discipline the thieves.
Dubbed ‘webgate’ on the social media site Twitter, Professional Adviser has found at least six advisers who have discovered original, copyrighted material from their company websites reproduced, often verbatim, on those of rival businesses. Outraged advisers have condemned the “intellectual property theft” and are calling for regulatory action against the perpetrators for breaches of the FSA’s Code of Ethics for Approved Persons (APER). Where the firms or advisers are Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) or Institute of Financial Planning (IFP) members, victims say action should also b...
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