is the clone of another website illegal??

szhang

szhang

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Hi Guys,

I've had a question looming over me for a while now, is the clone of another website illegal??

I own a fiverr clone called sevenerr and the design and features are the exact same. Is it illegal to own a site like this? Are they allowed to sue me over it and take me down or acquire my site or domain? I currently use a fiverscript on the site.

Your advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 
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if the design is the same i would think its a no brainer. You should create your own design for it as im pretty sure they cant sue you over features.

After all facebook has the tag photos feature and there is a website called tagged.
 
Fiverr could definitely pursue legal recourse against you.

Fiverr could argue that your infringing on their copyrights, stealing their intellectual property, and doing damage to them by purposefully confusing the consumer.

Chrysler sued GM over the HummerH2 grill, claiming that it was too close to their grill and that would confuse consumers. What you've created is a far more obvious plagiarism than that.
 
Well, you could begin by doing some trademark and patent research. Also, what about images and text? How close are they? The devil is in the details. Most likely they will simply send you a C&D letter but if you are successful they might want more.
 
it is only illegal if the site is copyrighted. in law school we learned the famous case of the scissors. a long time ago a barber had a good idea. he took an ordinary pair of scissors and welded a little curl of metal to one of the sides. he did this to make it easier for him to use the scissors to cut hair while working a comb, etc.

he patented his idea and the guy who had the patent for scissors threw a fit. sorry, the court said, the alteration made was enough to render a new device and the barber won the case.

the moral? how much does one have to alter a website to avoid copyright infringement? my guess is this hasn't been definitively decided by the courts yet.

if i were you i'd make a few minor changes and then do what you like. if they complain then worry about it at that time. if they have no copyright mark shown on their site, then don't sweat it.

odds are nobody is ever going to find your site anyway.
 
from their footer:

FIVERR, $5 GIG, GIGS, I Will ... For, The Things People Do For $5, DamnQuickPay, Fiverr graphics, logos, scripts, terms of use, instructions, designs and other service names are the trademarks and copyright of Fiverr International Limited
Click to expand...

as long as your graphics, scripts etc are different then it's fine....look at tenbux, etc...
 
Okay, thanks for the great example.

Is it alright to even have the domain name sevenerr (.com)?? I do plan to alter the site and come up with different features. But, does the domain itself infringe on copyright laws or makes it illegal at all?

Thanks for the advice guys.

Muriel1972 said:
it is only illegal if the site is copyrighted. in law school we learned the famous case of the scissors. a long time ago a barber had a good idea. he took an ordinary pair of scissors and welded a little curl of metal to one of the sides. he did this to make it easier for him to use the scissors to cut hair while working a comb, etc.

he patented his idea and the guy who had the patent for scissors threw a fit. sorry, the court said, the alteration made was enough to render a new device and the barber won the case.

the moral? how much does one have to alter a website to avoid copyright infringement? my guess is this hasn't been definitively decided by the courts yet.

if i were you i'd make a few minor changes and then do what you like. if they complain then worry about it at that time. if they have no copyright mark shown on their site, then don't sweat it.

odds are nobody is ever going to find your site anyway.
Click to expand...
 
LOL ! Here in Germany we cloned every possible american/english website.
Fiverr, Bash, Digg, Facebook, Twitter, Digitalpoint (lol same design too), chatroulette, grooveshark, LinkedIn, Blogger, Flippa, freelancer etc... (from the top of my mind) with no credit to the original and pretty much the same design and exact same features.
Even McDonalds, Coca-Cola, Windows and all.
And a lot of us are translating BHW's WSO and re-selling them too, that's pretty funny.

France does that too but even 100 times worse than us :)

just to say, don't worry about cloning. Or come over here to germany :)
 
No it is not. Go on as you like. Everything is free in this world. Do what you like. Never have a glimpse of fear or stress.:)
 
If you are in the US, you could receive a visit from the feds. In most other countries, you could get away with it even if you retain the images and other designs of the original site on yours.

A good way of doing things is to use the style of the other site and then create your own. Of course, it could be expensive but it makes you establish your own identity.
 
Just find a good offshore host and it will be fine. :)

Look into hosting in the netherland or sweden
 
if you have the guts to keep it going and no legal letters arrive in emails, mails or calls made. then go on with it. We have been copying websites ourselves since early 2000's. micro sites that is. everytime the owners complains, we just copy the next big thing aside from them. works for outranking them too.
 
I don't see a problem with this. The clone site is not the same code as the original site. Just to protect yourself, I would change the design and make the domain different. Fiverr shouldn't be able to sue you over the idea. Think about it, Google does this shit all the time. Google ripped off, twitter, Groupon, the iphone, Map Quest, etc... You should be good as long as you don't make it exactly the same.
 
If it's in the US. Expect to get a C&D letter.. If it was me, you will be hearing from me soon..
 
Hey,

I am senior advertising major and we just had 3 week discussion on copyright and trademark violations. Obviously the source code, images, all of that needs to be different but your domain name COULD "cause confusion to a reasonable consumer."

An example, the Susan G. Komen foundation currently owns the trademark "Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure" and "Susan G. Komen For the Cure." They are currently seeking legal action against other organizations using "For the Cure" as part of their name. Will they win... we won't know for another couple of years, but the time/money/court costs will add up well into the millions.

Your domain could be considered confusing because it contains "err" just like fiverr. If you changed it to sevener with only one r you would be much safer, but there is still a risk. The courts must decide if "err" is a descriptive phrase or not.

Go to USPTO.gov and search trademarks for Fiverr, it will give you a good idea of what they have ownership of.

Or at the end of the day ask yourself, is it worth the risk?
 
Dude let me throw this golden nugget at you. On the interwebz is legal until caught, so make sure to cover your ass.
 
a little late i know......

but, great advice everyone. well appreciated from your fellow BHatter
 
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