Author: Kabir Bedi

The world of website designing is as complex as it is extensive. In fact, it can stretch as much as the imagination of website designers. However, often it happens that inspiration gets too close to plagiarism and that accounts for violation of copyrights.

Imitating others' copyright works is a serious offence and many website designers get themselves into a mess because of sheer ignorance of web design copyright laws. The world wide web is a popular place. However, people still are ignorant about the copyright laws pertaining to website design and website content.

According to the copyright laws, web design and web content that already exists on a particular website cannot be copied by anyone to any other website. The copyright laws also cover imitation of color scheme, links, graphics, logos and other patented elements of the website.

Violation of Web Design Copyright Laws

Web design copyright violation can be accounted for in two situations.

If a person owns a website or wants to create a new website and selects carious design elements from one or more than one websites on the internet. All or even some of the elements of the new website are borrowed from several already existent websites on the internet. This accounts for copyright violation of the websites and the owner of the newly designed website can be pursued legally for the same.

Second scenario arises when a company outsources its web design requirements to an external service provider. The company can advise and guide the concerned designers about what they want the website to be like. They can provide company particulars and propose color and theme suggestions.

However, the resultant website will be the product of the designer and not the company. Often, companies fail to declare copyright claims over the deliverable and this leads to conflicts in the later stages.

The existing website design, content, colors, themes, links of any website on the internet belong to their particular owners and cannot be used by other designers for their own website without a signed and written consent of the owners. Any imitation or plagiarism will account for violation of copyright.

Web Design Copyright Laws

Here are some common concerns of web design copyright laws.

If a company or a website designers intends to use or copy the design or content of another website, it has to sign a written contract with the owner of the other website before or immediately after the design process gets completed in order to avoid violation of copyright laws.

As per the web design copyright laws, if an employee designs a website for the company they work for, then the copyright of the website design belong to the company and not to the individual.

All websites should have a royalty free and non-exclusive license that legally entitles the web developer to maintain and upgrade the website. However, the original designer would continue to be the legal owner of the web design.

If the designer or company imitates the design of a non-patented website, then they are free to claim copyright to the design. The designer can further improvise and alter the web design for clients. However, all the confidential information provided by the previous owner needs to be deleted.

The copyright laws of website design is a serious issue, violation of which can have grave consequences. Thus it is always advisable that the website owner and the web designer sign a legal agreement before the start of the project so that there are no issues later.

About the Author:
Kabir Bedi is a professioanl web developer who works as a senior web consultant with LeXolution IT Services. The company is an industry leader in Outsource web design services and he contributes his in depth knowledge about the web industry in order to formulate effctive web solutions for clients. "