Legal issue? - Reproducing sites.
 

I'm curious if this is legal or not:

Say you want to copy a mainstream companies business model, lets use eBay for example.

You reproduce the back end based on the functions that you see and wind up adding a bunch of new features and options.

But the same thing goes for the front end -- they wind up looking very similar, but the HTML itself wasn't copied, just the formatting of the visual output (tables, placement/location of options and links etc)

A good example of what I'm talking about is:

http://www.playerauctions.com/listin...num=1060547877

I don't know about you, but that sure does remind me of an Ebay Listing. If I didn't know any better - I might think I was on ebay.



So the back end is all custom, and the front end is all custom, but VISUALLY looks a lot like (if not a clone of) another site, without actually cutting & pasting any code...

Would the other site have a case?

Another perfect example is dating sites...

They all are very similar in input & outputted displays, features and functions etc.

And I'm sure when one dating site comes up with some new & unique feature, all of the others fall in and copy the idea.
(unless its a patented process)

eBay is a force you don't want to reckon with.

Consulted for a guy who owned the #2 auction site at one time...and no yahoo didn't count because it wasn't considred strictly an auction site.

Anyway the name was somewhat similar in that it ended in bay, and the color scheme was similar but that's about it.

eBay just kept coming after him, he finally in a settlement gave up the name and design and pointed it all to a different domain.

Just not worth it.

Right I just gave eBay as an example.


I have this project that has been on the backburner for awhile, and it's time has come. When doing my initial research, I found one mid-sized company out there doing the basic features of what I plan to do -- but the way they are doing it looks very nice.

But like the example of dating sites, because there are only so many possibilities for input & output - there are only so many ways you can display the output or request the input.

Reverse engineering is very common and probably will not infringe on copyrights. You might have some issues with patents just as Ebay has had with one click.

Do be ready to fund your lawyer if they come after you, justice is for those who can afford it.