Quote:
Originally posted by UnseenWorld
Whoever did the original DOES have a copyright to it. Any original creative work is copyrighted at the moment it's made "tangible" (meaning "viewable" in the case of visual arts). So, yes, it IS copyrighted and someone DOES own it, as I'm pretty sure any lawyers on the board will affirm.
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From what I can tell, this is a theory, not a fact. Everyone uses Yahoo's design. Everyone uses thumbnail galleries, everyone uses the Slash Dot design, everyone uses Amazon's design.
Some people claim that you can copyright a design, but show the proof. Where is a court case that proves that you have any right to a web page design?
I've asked this before and people post links to some designer's site where he says he thinks that it is possible that designs might be protectable, and his lawyer thinks so to.
I'm not saying that you shouldn't be able to, but I'm saying that this "right" is starting to sound like one of those urban legends.
Huge corporations do not defend their webpage designs, not Apple, not Microsoft, not IBM, not Amazon. These companies sue for anything and everything, but not to protect their webpage designs. What makes you think that they are defendable in the real world, not in theory?
I'm not talking about stealing the exact text or the exact graphics, but the design itself. Beyond the law, it's an unethical thing to do, no doubt, and I would be pissed too.