Copyright with websites

Aruffell

Aruffell

Aruffell

Soldato
Joined
29 Dec 2004
Posts
5,653
Location
Chatham, Kent
First things first -

My website - www.eteknix.com
His website - www.burnoutpc.com

I had a thread created on my forums today stating as follows:

I am the owner of BurnOutPC.com and your site has been reported to me by other owners of review sites. I have noticed you have copied the layout and theme of my website and have even spoke in forums of trying to add features (e.g. paged reviews) to your site in a similar manner.

If you do not change the functioning of your site within this week, I will be reporting you for copyright. I know that the theme you are using is a template, but if you actually read up on copyright, you will notice what you're doing is illegal.

Either way, if I do not see an immediate change of site design, review layout etc. I will be confirming you as a black hat to other review site owners who have reported your site to me and I will be contacting companies informing them not to send products to you.

I do like it how you have contacted other review sites to be affiliates and have not contacted me - guilty are we?

I look forward to your response.
Click to expand...

Yes i admit, i saw the site and liked the layout, i then bought the wordpress theme and tweaked it with the creator of it to look slightly different.

Page navi is a feature of wordpress but somehow im going to be sued for wanting to use it even though i don't lol.

So my response:

Yes i am using a theme for wordpress which i purchased from Zy.sg - nice guy called Melvin and i think your find my design is a bit different to yours with regards to navigation etc...

You have no grounds of copyright or anything of the sort.

I have approached a lot of websites for affiliation, i haven't approached yours as it seems you don't post a mass amount of news from other sites so i didn't see a mass benefit with this.

Yes i was trying to get page navi working (this is a feature of wordpress so once again no copyright issues)

My reviews are video based so they conform to your style by no degree so once again no issue.

I have now banned your user account because i would have preferred an email or pm, not a thread created.

If you would like to email me back on [email protected] we can discuss this further.

Many thanks,

Andy
Click to expand...

So what are your views on this as i think it's a load of tosh.

Thanks,

Andy
 
heya pal!
um well his copyright ran out on his site at the end of 2008 so i dont know if he could actually have a go at you :p

but in all seriousness i dont think he has a leg to stand on, you bought the layout/theme whatever so if it was a promblem he should probably have a go at whoever sold it to you! and i think when you buy a theme (esp. if its custom) you automatically get the copyright?

apart from that it is very similar lol. unfortunate..
 
Unless he bought sole-rights to use the we lay-out then its not his, it belongs to the originial creator.
Thats my understanding, especially if the guy is selling it as a pre-made website.
 
To be fair your site does look remarkably like his. You could have at least chosen a different colour palette... :D
 
If you're using a theme purchased from somewhere else then I don't see how he has a leg to stand on with regards to this. Also, as mentioned - his copyright ran out in 2008 so he's shot in the foot I'd say. Get a print screen of that just in case too!
 
From a very quick glance they look quite similar, this could be expected if you are both using a standard theme with little variation. I rather suspect he needs to research a bit more carefully on the idea of copyrighting themes, unless you are attempting to confuse readers by presenting your website as either his or linked to his (and gaining reputability by association) then he wouldn't appear to have a good case.

However I haven't researched copyright law for a while so you would be best asking fini (who is currently doing his masters on copyright if memory serves) or Raymond Lin (who is in his training contract I believe) as their knowledge is more up to date than mine. If neither has replied by the time I get back then I can have a look in my IP book to check if it is covered generally.
 
You're both using templates made by someone else, tell him to go and poke it. If he starts spreading lies about you, just make sure you know who he's contacting and try to get them to see how ridiculous he's being. In fairness they'll probably see that straight away anyway.
 
This is all based on the assumption that the person selling the template didn't rip it off this guys site, but I'm guessing you know the answer to that already...

I like the original template, looks nice.
 
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