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#1
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Web Site design, is this copyright protected?
I have been merging my old website (created 2-1-2001) and making major
revisions to my new web site: www.acjewels.com . I am curious how much of the layout and design is protected by copyright. I think most people are ethical and polite and they wouldn't need to utilize other websites for their design layout. If all the page layouts are custom designed (not using standardized formats) is this type of thing copyrighted or ignored? I would appreciate any wisdom here. Thanks, D.Jean (ACJewels) Visit Adorned Clay Jewels: http://www.acjewels.com/ Current Auctions: http://www.justbeads.com/search/ql.cfm?s=acjewels |
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#2
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"CrystalLuv" wrote in message
snip I am curious how much of the layout and design is protected by copyright. /snip Thanks, D.Jean (ACJewels) Hi, Your Web site is protected by copyright law. If you designed it, you own the copyright and no one is allowed to copy it. That being said, Web pages and whole sites get copied all the time. Best, Deborah |
#3
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I think most
people are ethical and polite I cannot agree with this statement. I think most people don't give much thought to ethics unless they've had to take ethics courses. It's not that they're bad, it's that they're ignorant. Many people don't even know what the word "ethics" means. And others who do know the meaning of the word will stretch their ethics to fit any situation that benefits them. And polite! Have you ever walked down a city street? People are NOT polite! Manners are sorely missing in our world today. ~~ Sooz ------- "Selective deafness, it's a wonderful thing." ~Kathy N-V ESBC ~ Dr. Sooz's Bead Links http://airandearth.netfirms.com/soozlinkslist.html ~ Bead Notes: Beading information A - Z http://www.lampwork.net/beadnotes.html |
#4
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CrystalLuv wrote in message
. .. I have been merging my old website (created 2-1-2001) and making major revisions to my new web site: www.acjewels.com . I am curious how much of the layout and design is protected by copyright. I think most people are ethical and polite and they wouldn't need to utilize other websites for their design layout. If all the page layouts are custom designed (not using standardized formats) is this type of thing copyrighted or ignored? I would appreciate any wisdom here. Thanks, D.Jean (ACJewels) from http://www.loc.gov/copyright/circs/circ66.html: ----------------------------------------- Space 2: How to describe the Nature of Authorship In Space 2 of the application, give a brief statement describing the original authorship being registered. Use terms that clearly refer to copyrightable authorship. Examples are "text," "music," "artwork," "photographs," "audiovisual material" (including any sounds), "sound recording" (if the sounds do not accompany a series of images), and "computer program." Do NOT give statements that refer to elements that may not be protected by copyright, that may be ambiguous, or that do not clearly reflect copyrightable authorship. For example, do NOT use the terms "user interface," "format," "layout," "design," "lettering," "concept," or "game play." --------------------------------------- * TL * |
#6
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On 1 Aug 2003 08:39:02 -0700, (CrystalLuv)
wrote: I have been merging my old website (created 2-1-2001) and making major revisions to my new web site: www.acjewels.com . I am curious how much of the layout and design is protected by copyright. I think most people are ethical and polite and they wouldn't need to utilize other websites for their design layout. If all the page layouts are custom designed (not using standardized formats) is this type of thing copyrighted or ignored? I would appreciate any wisdom here. Thanks, D.Jean (ACJewels) I wanted to double check before I answered, so I went to the source. The best place to look for answers about copyright questions is probably the U.S. Copyright Office. In less than 60 seconds, I found (http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-protect.html) that "The original authorship appearing on a website may be protected by copyright. This includes writings, artwork, photographs, and other forms of authorship protected by copyright. Procedures for registering the contents of a website may be found in Circular 66, Copyright Registration for Online Works." This was in answer to the question, "Can I copyright my website?" Tante has already provided the information about to describe the "nature of authorship." Jewitch |
#7
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Jewitch wrote in message ...
On 1 Aug 2003 08:39:02 -0700, (CrystalLuv) wrote: I have been merging my old website (created 2-1-2001) and making major revisions to my new web site: www.acjewels.com . I am curious how much of the layout and design is protected by copyright. I think most people are ethical and polite and they wouldn't need to utilize other websites for their design layout. If all the page layouts are custom designed (not using standardized formats) is this type of thing copyrighted or ignored? I would appreciate any wisdom here. Thanks, D.Jean (ACJewels) I wanted to double check before I answered, so I went to the source. The best place to look for answers about copyright questions is probably the U.S. Copyright Office. In less than 60 seconds, I found (http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-protect.html) that "The original authorship appearing on a website may be protected by copyright. This includes writings, artwork, photographs, and other forms of authorship protected by copyright. Procedures for registering the contents of a website may be found in Circular 66, Copyright Registration for Online Works." This was in answer to the question, "Can I copyright my website?" Tante has already provided the information about to describe the "nature of authorship." I realize that, especially to web designers, it seems wrong that layouts and design can't be copyrighted, but it's really common sense. Can't you imagine a letter from lawyers for Big A** Ham Inc., saying "we own the copyright for a logo in the upper left hand corner - and by the way, cease and desist using background color #67489D with text #999999." There are only so many possible layouts - if they were proprietary, to publish anything would cause endless bickering. I still don't understand why typefaces can't be copyrighted. I also don't understand how the ITC can sell you a license to use a typeface that can't be copyrighted. * TL * |
#8
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On Fri, 01 Aug 2003 23:37:32 GMT, "Tante Lina"
wrote: I realize that, especially to web designers, it seems wrong that layouts and design can't be copyrighted, but it's really common sense. I was doing websites years ago -- before there were graphics on the web -- and to me is common sense. The code is copyrightable if you are actually creating something (shopping cart, photo album) with the code but the way it shows up on the screen isn't. This makes perfect sense to geeks (ummm, that would be me) because HTML has a few built-in and purposeful limitations -- it was designed to share content not to present it. Have you ever noticed how a web site may look different from one computer to the next? Sometimes only slightly, but sometimes significantly? How can you copyright an unstable product? HTML is actually a mark-up language, much like what goes when you format a letter. The contents of the letter are copyrightable; the layout of the letter is not. I have beat this dead horse enough! I still don't understand why typefaces can't be copyrighted. I also don't understand how the ITC can sell you a license to use a typeface that can't be copyrighted. Hear! Hear! I've never understood that either. What is produced at the end of the creation process? It's certainly not an idea, a user interface or a game play! Jewitch |
#9
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"Jewitch" wrote in message ... On Fri, 01 Aug 2003 23:37:32 GMT, "Tante Lina" wrote: I realize that, especially to web designers, it seems wrong that layouts and design can't be copyrighted, but it's really common sense. I was doing websites years ago -- before there were graphics on the web -- and to me is common sense. The code is copyrightable if you are actually creating something (shopping cart, photo album) with the code but the way it shows up on the screen isn't. This makes perfect sense to geeks (ummm, that would be me) because HTML has a few built-in and purposeful limitations -- it was designed to share content not to present it. Have you ever noticed how a web site may look different from one computer to the next? Sometimes only slightly, but sometimes significantly? How can you copyright an unstable product? Yes, exactly. There are a few tricks that can be employed to add stability to your layout (such as putting everything in tables and/or using mainly graphics instead of tags) but even these are not foolproof. On my website, I use a Papyrus font. It looks great on my computer at work (where it was created) but it reverts to plain old Helvetica when I view it from here, as this computer is much older and I don't have Papyrus here. I could always make a graphic which uses that font, but that would take a long time to load and that's unacceptable to me. I want text on my page immediately so that the person browsing has something to do while the pictures load. I once did a layout using all these new and fancy tags which were supposed to become standard. It was so easy to move things around on the page and it looked great, and I was really pleased with myself-- until I fired up Netscape. Suddenly it was an unbelievable mess That's when I decided that staying with the simplest tags possible is a Really Good Thing! HTML is actually a mark-up language, much like what goes when you format a letter. The contents of the letter are copyrightable; the layout of the letter is not. I have beat this dead horse enough! Well, I just flogged it a little more for ya Laura |
#10
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Hi Sooz: I guess most is the incorrect word there. It just surprises
me when I designed my web site, I purposely don't look at other peoples websites so that mine will look different and unique. And lo and behold within a week someone else in the exact same medium utilizes the same layouts as my website (except for the border). To me it almost seems like a form of plagiarism, which is severly frowned upon. Just shows how some people take the lazy way out by copy and pasting others ideas. It makes me laugh that they have to resort to browsing others websites in order to design their own. Originality fell out the window there ;) D.Jean (ACJewels) uppies (Dr. Sooz) wrote in message ... I think most people are ethical and polite I cannot agree with this statement. I think most people don't give much thought to ethics unless they've had to take ethics courses. It's not that they're bad, it's that they're ignorant. Many people don't even know what the word "ethics" means. And others who do know the meaning of the word will stretch their ethics to fit any situation that benefits them. And polite! Have you ever walked down a city street? People are NOT polite! Manners are sorely missing in our world today. ~~ Sooz ------- "Selective deafness, it's a wonderful thing." ~Kathy N-V ESBC ~ Dr. Sooz's Bead Links http://airandearth.netfirms.com/soozlinkslist.html ~ Bead Notes: Beading information A - Z http://www.lampwork.net/beadnotes.html |
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