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Is it legal to copy a website design? I'm a developer not a designer, and I found a very cool website.

I made an exact replica of the website every shape, navigation is in the same place that the original, the two website look to be the same.

But I coded it from nothing, I never copied a line of code or any images, icons, text, font from the website. The only thing I used from them is their colors.

I don't know if it's important but the original website come from a U.S. company and my company is based in France.

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  • Why do you need to use their colors? Slightly change the hex code and you should be safe. Normally the copyright law includes the content. Images, text and so on. The code can't be under it since you can't really make it different. Except for the back-end code but I don't think you have an access to it from the front-end.
    – Grasper
    Sep 28, 2017 at 14:10
  • Yes I will do this, and I copy 0 line of code from the site, but you can see Dale M answer he don't really agree with you
    – Robert Tripoux
    Sep 29, 2017 at 14:52
  • you can read their privacy but you aren't using their layout as far as I know. Especially if you use some css framework i.e. foundation.
    – Grasper
    Sep 29, 2017 at 15:30

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This is copyright violation. The layout of the website is protected by copyright: you can't copy it without permission.

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  • Do you have some source ? I don't understand how this is possible because the majority of website are wordpress or squarespace and they all use the same template.
    – Robert Tripoux
    Sep 27, 2017 at 6:43
  • You said "without permission"? By signing up to those services they grant you permission under their TOS
    – Dale M ♦
    Sep 27, 2017 at 7:45
  • Yes I understand but I'm just taking inspiration from the design of the website. I don't copy anything. It's like drawn with pen a work of art.
    – Robert Tripoux
    Sep 27, 2017 at 9:26
  • @RobertTripoux If I paint a portrait, that's my copyright. You can't make a pencil sketch of it without permission or a fair use exemption.
    – Dale M ♦
    Sep 27, 2017 at 11:48
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    @RobertTripoux The source code is protected by copyright, and you avoided copying this. But the website itself is also copyrighted, which you did say you copied in your question.
    – Brandin
    Oct 2, 2017 at 11:29

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