Webpage layout copyright protected?

[webster47]

I built a website loosely based on the layout of another website. The graphics and content were very different and were created by myself. The only similarity is the placement of text and graphics on the page. The other site's owner wrote to insist I pay him for use of his "template".

Can the layout (arrangement of elements on the page) of a webpage be copyright protected?

 

[racer72]

Yes, the layout of a website is included in the copyright of the site. Some companies spend a lot of money on the graphics used in the sites and to see someone plagarize the site is against the law. You need to change your site.

 

[webster47]

Please re-read my post and then answer again. As I said the graphics and content I used were my own and totally different. The only similarity was the ARRANGEMENT - the LAYOUT ON THE PAGE. Essentially this amounts to the arrangement of the tables used in layout.

Think of a newspaper - headline at the top, main story at the right, photo in the center. Is that *arrangement* or *layout* copyright protected? I'm not talking about the Newspaper's name, the words in the article or the actual photo. Just *where* they are placed.

Consider that a majority of websites have a title banner at the top and link menu down the left side. Who owns THAT copyright?

Considering my explanation, is your answer different?

 

[boogle]

As long as you are using your Own graphics

and content I believe you are in the clear. I have seen many FrontPage themes based on Amazon.com's layout. I think it would be impossible to copyright a theme, minus the graphics, because with so many web sites out there it is Highly likely that some sites are going to look like others and there would be people suing one another left and right over layout copying.

For a more educated answer, however, you may contact a web site design company or two and ask them (stress that you're using Original, not copied, graphics--some people tend to overlook that tid bit).

Anyway, I wouldn't pay this guy a dime without further information. Now, if you copied his page into a program such as FrontPage and use the same HTML coding he May have a valid point . . . .

 

[ALawyer]

There also is a concept of Trade Dress, but those cases are more difficult to win.