How closely can a Website be Copied without violating Copyright?

Question

I have a client that is interested in having the homepage of their website look almost exactly like that of website ABC. They love everything about it. However, they either do not want to ask for or would not receive a license from ABC to copy their site. My question is: how closely can a website be copied without violating copyright.

Assume the following:

1. All graphics from ABC would be changed (though they would still appear similar).
2. Minor structural changes would be made to the layout of the page. New elements added. Small style changes. Css class names could be changed.
3. There is nothing revolutionary or intrinsically proprietary about ABC's design.
4. No custom javascript would be reused (though some jquery routines might be, at least in part)

So the pages would definitely look very similar. And a good look at the code would show very similar (but not 100% identical) structures and styles. Is this enough? How far does copyright extend, and to what degree can the styles/images/look/structure of a page be used as "inspiration" for a new page?

I am interested in answers from both a legal and ethical perspective (and I know that you are not lawyers - but I am interested in hearing from the community based on experience as well as the programmer's perspective).

Answer 1

The copying of that proximity as you described could become an issue.

Recall that Facebook tried to sue German StudiVZ, LinkedIn tried to sue some Russian social network etc. though they just get inspired by the idea and didn't really copy everything that close.

I see no point in copying any site. You'll just be the shadow of someone else's success. Get inspired, create your own thing and make it BETTER. That's how the web should work, learn from others' mistakes and make something better.

Answer 2

I can't comment on the legal issues, but one thing to consider is bad PR. If your client is large enough to attract the attention of site ABC, any kind of legal action (even if they don't follow through) could lead to some terrible PR. Is it worth it?

Personally I think taking inspiration from other sites is fine as long as you build it from scratch, but I think taking their files and modifying them is a bit much. I would imagine you'll get caught out eventually.

Answer 3

well we all use websites to inspire us designers, and clients usually fix their eye on one.

Programming

• Rewrite the whole CSS system and make it your own
• Incorporate JQuery for added effects
• Use a different file naming and folder structure

Design

• We all get inspired by other websites, and it is hard to find a site fully designed from scratch without ideas plagiarizied from dozen other sites
• the whole point of design, imo, is to mirage 10 15 different ideas into one new concept.

Ethics

• from experience, if you think there might be a problem, then there will be a problem
• we got contacted by a fashion designer's lawyer, demanding that we take one of the pictures of their purses out, cause it appeared in one of our images (that we personally shot)

Law

• no one here including me wants to be liable, so ask a lawyer

Answer 4

Whatever you do, do not just copy/paste the HTML/XML/CSS/javascript/etc from the site. Everyone on the Web copies from other people. Almost every major retailer's site looks just like Amazon. The point is, you can model your site after anything, just write it yourself!