Can website user agreement and privacy policy be copied?

[Kevinweng99]

What is the name of your state? CA

I am building a website that is similar to other existing ones like writerlance.com. Since the nature of the website is similar, I find their user agreement and privacy policy will be just as good as anything if I were to draft my own. Can I just copy their website user agreement and privacy policy? Will I be sued for Copywrite infringement?

 

[Country Living]

Are these school assignments?

All three postings sound like homework questions.
https://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=328836
https://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=328837
https://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=328838

 

[divgradcurl]

What is the name of your state? CA

I am building a website that is similar to other existing ones like writerlance.com. Since the nature of the website is similar, I find their user agreement and privacy policy will be just as good as anything if I were to draft my own. Can I just copy their website user agreement and privacy policy? Will I be sued for Copywrite infringement?

You could be sued for copyright infringement.

 

[Kevinweng99]

ok. Let's be practical. Let's say I take some user agreement from exsiting website. How diffirent in the wording it has to be to avoid any infringement?

Come on this is a bit ridiculous. What can be diffirent between CBS's user agreement and NBC's? What copywrite we are talking about?

 

[divgradcurl]

ok. Let's be practical. Let's say I take some user agreement from exsiting website. How diffirent in the wording it has to be to avoid any infringement?

Hard to say. The more different, the better, I guess. There isn't any percentage difference or any other sort of exact rule that says what is enough. Technically, starting with their wording and changing it to suit your needs creates a derivative work. What you should do to minimize any chance of an infringement suit is use someone else's as a guide, and rewrite it in your own words.

Come on this is a bit ridiculous.

Probably, but that's copyright law for you.

What can be diffirent between CBS's user agreement and NBC's?

I don't know. It's not copyright infringement, however, to create your own user agreement that just happens to look a lot like someone else's -- and in fact, it might be difficult to create something that doesn't resemble someone else's. It is infringement, however, to simply copy someone else's work. That's the way the law is.

What copywrite we are talking about?

The same copyright law that protects books, movies, and artwork. 17 U.S.C. 101 et seq.

 

[Kevinweng99]

Thank you very much for bearing with my ignorance. I get the idea now.