[thelist] Copyright best practices for redesigns

[Stephen Rider]

On Wednesday, July 16, 2003, at 12:00  PM, Seb wrote:

> Of course, the thing about copyright is that derivative works are 
> permissable, so it's fine to copy a layout, graphic, etc., as long as 
> you make it sufficiently different from the original that some 
> creative effort can be shown.

I'm pretty sure there are <understatement type="major">a 
few</understatement> copyright lawyers out that who would disagree with 
this statement.

While I believe the bulk of your email is correct, (regarding a website 
generally falling under work-for-hire)...

You can not legally take someone else's copyrighted work, do just 
enough that "some creative effort can be shown", and sell it.  You'll 
get your buttocks handed to you in a lawsuit if they choose to sue.

That's a general statement; not just specific to websites.  Even parody 
(which is legally protected in the U.S.) must be _significantly_ 
different from the original.

Steve