Forum Moderators: phranque
[edited by: trillianjedi at 9:56 am (utc) on May 8, 2005]
[edit reason] Please refer to TOS - no personal drops, thanks. [/edit]
I am not a legal expert at any rate, but it seems that almost your whole site design seems to reflect the other websites. I think that yes, they could sue you as they do have a copyrighted site.
You don't say how you designed/found the nav layout that you have. I would guess that you found it on a wed development site, which leads me to assume the other site did too!
Whatever, since it is pretty standard use of web code, I doubt if there can be a copyright issue here, but there may be other issues.
But, as stated above, if you are worried, consult a lawyer.
How does my whole site design reflect there site, did u not visit my site, only the buttons are the same, nothing else is the same. Do u think if i change the colour then that wil be ok, because surely these buttons are just simple and most people have similar. Anyone could mzake these up without looking at there site.
You don't say how you designed/found the nav layout that you have. I would guess that you found it on a wed development site, which leads me to assume the other site did too!
We became aware of his intentions a few weeks ago when our lawyer come across his "cloning" requests on various "rent-a-coder" sites. We've since exchanged communications with hughesa, and explained that we will not tolerate any individuals infringing upon our Intellectual Property, Copyrights or Trademarks.
Overall, we will continue to monitor hughesa's sites and take legal action if necessary.
Just to clarify, our site was created 3 years ago and is an original creation.
It happens (I'll admit I've done it myself for a nonprofit site when I didn't have a designer) and you shouldn't feel like a felon, but it certainly is not appropriate for you to copy someone else's work. It doesn't matter whether it is a few buttons or an entire site design.
If you make a quick resolution of this matter, there's no reason any other consequences should come from this.
I don't know the specifics of either of your sites, but you really shouldn't approach the issue like this no matter what the circumstances are. If you feel you have legitimate legal grounds to hold your own, by all means do so, but do it professionally.
Frankly, my guess is that if you are this unprofessional in your conduct towards business affairs, then you also have not the first clue about what you are doing from a legal standpoint.