Hi I am a amatuer web designer working in web design company and I was wondering if you surf the web , you visit sites and like their design and set up are you allow to built a site of your own copying the other web sites design. I don't mean copying exactly pixel for pixel / code for code but very close different colors and minor changes to design.. is this legal or does it break some standard of web designs?
:s:gunsmilie:
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Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. Red Anerbach

If there is copyright notice you are violating the copyright and it can be expensive lawsuit against you.

Read the Lotus v. Borland decision for current case law in this area.

The Lotus decision establishes a distinction in copyright law between the interface of a software product and its implementation. The implementation is subject to copyright. The public interface may also be subject to copyright to the extent that it contains expression (for example, the appearance of an icon). However, the set of available operations and the mechanics of how they are activated are not copyrightable. This standard allows software developers to create original clones of copyrighted software products without infringing the copyright.

In general, user interfaces are not copyrightable -- but the list of "buts..." is significant.

Yep, gotta agree with Will. You can take the basic idea of it without too much trouble, but don't get too greedy. You have to know the difference between inspiration and plagarism.

i draw inspiration from other designs, i won't copy them directly.

Originally Posted by strungoutyeh

i draw inspiration from other designs, i won't copy them directly.

Dito. If I'm stumped for a design, I'll go out and look at many different websites and try to draw inspiration from them, color scheme, etc.. but would never think about copying a design.

As a designer, I would like to think that other designers could get inspiration from my designs, but wouldn't want someone copying them exactly.

Originally Posted by Chaky

Hi I am a amatuer web designer working in web design company and I was wondering if you surf the web , you visit sites and like their design and set up are you allow to built a site of your own copying the other web sites design. I don't mean copying exactly pixel for pixel / code for code but very close different colors and minor changes to design.. is this legal or does it break some standard of web designs?
:s:gunsmilie:
_________________
Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. Red Anerbach

I understand your problem... but you have to ask yourself this question... if you were born and raised in a white room and grew up with no visual stimuli... would you be able to build a website...

It's a judgment call on your part... it's okay to be influenced by someone else's work in my opinion... to copy and paste it and call it your own or even re-sell it without permission is debatable depending on the nature of the copying... sometimes it's illegal and you'll feel someone's wrath as a result... especially with the search engines backing the DMCA act...

If you don't feel right about walking upto the designer and saying, "Hey... like what I did... You influenced me a great deal..." then I would think twice about doing it...