Curious about plagiarism

[Bender]

Hi!
I noticed that a DNF member has a site in a signature, that is a total ripoff of a very "small" site- CNN.com.
The guy (or his designer(s) ) did not bother to change the CNN's CSS properties-he is using for his copyright (!!!) the following code:

<div class="[b]cnnSectCopyright[/b]" align="center">

Why am I posting this?
well, I am curious about one thing - is that legal?
should the guy be more careful?
are there any laws regarding web design plagiarism?
What do you think?

 

[sasquatch]

Sheer size, scope and characteristics of Internet prevents any such laws of being implemented in vast majority of cases.

It's Wild West all over again.

That's why Mrs.Jello can "scoop-up" Digimedia templated design, and I can scoop up Mrs.Jello, and you can scoop me, and we can all be one big happy family.

Hey, Postmodernists were right: We are all living in hyperreal world, where everything is a copy of a copy.

 

[Bender]

the guy is even using CNN's little images "Most popular", etc...he only changed the logo ... it's one thing to be "inspired" by looking at someone else's website, and another thing to copy the site with CSS and images and all.
The owner is a reputable member here, maybe he paid some lazy designers , but still...

 

[Edwin]

If they're hosted in the US, the DMCA (Digital Media Copyright Act) can be invoked with their host to get their site taken down. Usually a simple email to their hosting firm mentioning the DMCA does the trick.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=dmca

It's not legal - the fact that "probably nobody will enforce it" doesn't magically make an illegal act legal.

 

[JEsports]

The CNN website is nothing more than a jumbled up template looking website anyway ... Its not "legal" ... but in my opinion its not a big deal either. CNN's website is not very unique at all

 

[Bender]

Incredible...
I did a more extensive research and found that the guy uses thus software:
http://www.phpcow.com/demos/demos.php
Imagine what: the phpcow guys are responsible for stealing the CNN template...literally.
http://cnn.phpcow.com/
The guy is using this template.
Take a look at the source code...both the CSS and images are copied from CNN.

 

[JEsports]

Now that is interesting that a "professional" design company would steal designs though. Thanks for the info

 

[VisualDigits]

interesting read, nice find

 

[manish]

They have ripped the entire internet... well almost. Nice find!

 

[BLazeD]

lol - interesting

 

[Bender]

can anyone explain me why they are still in business after this joke?
http://www.phpcow.com/demos/demos.php
They are messing with some giants, and nobody shut them down?
It's frustrating, because when you do all you can to be fair (we buy the pictures used in our designs, we never sell the same template twice, etc) you see others doing the exact opposite...and nobody cares?

 

[NameRegistration]

They'll do. It's a matter of time and when they find him I wouldn't like to be in his shoes.