Ask HN: Is it ok to steal a website's design/branding?

3 points by ratsimihah ↗ HN
Those aren't trademarked are they? Can one use the same colour scheme, font, gradients, etc without legal consequences?

6 comments

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They’re copyrighted. (And you don’t have to file for a copyright to have one.)

Go ahead and reuse fonts and gradients and design something inspired by someone else’s website. But don’t copy their design in a recognizable way. The latter is both unethical and (in most places) illegal.

Maybe you can just buy a Bootstrap theme?
Depends on jurisdiction, and possibly the design, i.e. if it's very artistic it may be protected, if it's a standard theme with a few colors changed it may not be.
You can't copy distinctive branding, but there's no way to copyright a color scheme or page layout.
Are they in the same industry as you / direct competition? Be careful with this...as the last thing you want is a law suit