| J. Dianne Brinson is a copyright attorney specializing in intellectual property. Along with Mark F. Radcliffe, she is co-author of The Multimedia Law and Business Handbook ($44.95 plus $7 p&h), LADERA PRESS, 3130 Alpine Rd., Suite 200-9002, Menlo Park CA 94025. On-line she may be reached at laderapres@aol.com |
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COPYRIGHTING YOUR WEB SITE Question: Is it legal to copy the design of an existing Web site? Answer:The answer depends on precisely what you plan to copy. Original Web site designs are protected by copyright, even if the Web site does not contain a copyright notice. (Under current U.S. law, use of a copyright notice is optional for copyright owners.) However, copyright protects only the "expression" used in a copyrighted work, not the ideas. You are free to copy the ideas used in a copyrighted Web site, but not the manner used to express them. Unfortunately, it's often difficult to tell where the unprotected ideas in a copyrighted work end and the protected expression begins. |
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