Yes its true, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. That was my thought when I saw
this design contest over at SitePoint. Here are some highlights:
Some blog sites styles and layout I really like are:
ukoffer.com - (my site)
shoppingdiscount.co.uk - (Frosties site)
Links – In some blogs they use affiliate links, how do they cover up affiliate links e.g here http://www.ukoffer.com/ they have this link, which redirects? http://www.ukoffer.com/u.php?121
Sitemap – like here http://www.shoppingdiscount.co.uk/sitemap it should list all the previous posts, when the page grows too large these should then be listed on connected pages by number [1] [2] [3] [4] etc
So I guess we should be watching out for yet another new discount code/offer website that looks like mine (and Frosties). The owner of the new site (MyDiscountDeals.co.uk) is also the owner of a very popular UK discount code site that I talked about
here.
The question is, should this sort of copying of website designs be allowed? Well it probably depends on how much the finished product will look like my site. If its a blatant rip off, then I will be in touch with the offending party. If its only "inspired" by my site then there's not much I can do about it and I wouldn't really want to. I enjoy healthy competition as long as people don't take liberties. I guess only time will tell on this one.
 What I'm listening to right now: Taio Cruz - "Like A Star"
P.S. If anybody is wondering what happened to yesterday's "5 reasons" post I accidentally deleted it when trying to delete a draft post with a similar title. Oops!
Welcome to my blog. My name is Kieron Donoghue and I am the founder of ShareMyPlaylists.com, ContentNow.co.uk and some other stuff. I have no idea why I'm blue on this photo though but I like it!
I’m not supporting this but what you’re basically asking is, is this legal, as we’re not a self regulating body. With more and more people using WordPress/Joomla/Templates/etc, isn’t it inevitable that there are ‘similiarities’? Unless we buy a custom theme and thus own the copyright, I may not like it but there’s probably not a lot I can do about it.
Perhaps the next stage is to tighten up the legal side, ie. as mentioned, copyright the design, register trademarks, move from sole traders to limited companies etc? Just food for thought.
Kieron – I like you but this makes you look like a b&@$h! What is the point of this post? that you are aware that your site is being looked at and emulated? so what! I tell you what, I am going to copy your site – I am going to use your cool shading and have a 2 column theme and I am going to put boxes at the top of the side column and they are going to be shaded very similar to the way yours is, all I am going to change is the color and the way the boxes are shaded and there is not 1 damn thing you can do about it legally! sure you can bitch but you are already doing that, you will not get any were because I will have 500 sites that have been around longer than your site with the same general look! Your design is not as original as you think and it would be impossible to prove that I stole an original idea from you! All you could do is send a C&D letter and I wipe my ass with those every day!
Kieoron all I am saying is you would have no case unelss they copy you 100% down to the color and if they did that they are stupid – it would not help them and they could copy you for free why pay someone? so I just don’t see the point of a post like this it just makes you look silly – that is the best I can describe it
Google has yesterdays post cached if you want it.
My 2 pence. As a template designer at Price Tapestry Templates, I get asked to make a template like site A or site B. I purposefully do not design an exact replica because of copyright issues. I don’t even look at their code. I just code from the ground up, achieving similar effects. I leave out stuff that is too complex or unnecessary. Sometimes even the big sites have flaws!
A worthwhile point is that the interweb has always been about ‘borrowing’ other people’s site ideas. As soon as you added a Stripe Ad, so did several other high profile affiliate bloggers. Widgets also facilitate in making similar designs.
Ultimately, if it was a blatant copy (such as your flower site last year), that infringes copyright in my opinion. If the layout and design are inspired from (not copied), then I cannot see a problem personally.
I find it interesting though that the My Voucher Codes chap wants a site like yours. That indeed is flattery!
Chris – you seem angry, you need to relax a bit.
The point of my post is that I found it amusing that my site (and Frosties) is being quoted as having a design that a popular discount code site owner likes. Thats it really. He hasn’t done anything wrong and I’m not bothered if my site gets used for inspiration. If it gets copied 100% (like a few of mine have done in the past)then yes I will be annoyed and I’ll put a stop to it, like I have done before. However as I’ve just said this post is merely an observation, nothing to get upset about.
Patrick – thanks, I’ve retreived the post now. Cheers!
Kieron – it is not an observation, it is a veiled threat. If you were simply observing that people like your blog layout, or that person likes what you were doing you would stop there instead you added that crap about what is copying. (You have been in this business long enough to know there is only so much you can do with a site layout.) and if they did you would send them a stern letter, LMFAO! If he is a true competitor you are basically saying you are watching him and if he does something with his site that you don’t like you will send him toilet paper. I am saying get over yourself, you are good but not that good!
p.s. – I am not angry – you could not print a comment of mine if I was angry, that would look like this;
$*&#^%#&$%&$@#$^@!#$^#$%&%*&*(&*%$^#$^@$^@^#$^@$^$#%^##
Chris – its not a veiled threat at all. In his Sitepoint forum contest he clearly lists mine and Frosties site saying he “likes” them. I don’t mind that. If he wrote some guidelines saying that he wants someone to create a carbon copy of my site then yes I would be annoyed and I would take action. But he is not saying this, he is merely saying he likes my layout. I doubt very much that the finished version will look too much like my site at all.
I don’t know what you’re references to toilet paper are about. In the past I’ve had my sites copied blatantly and I’ve always managed to stop them.
But again – just so you understand – I don’t think that the intention of the Sitepoint contest was to copy my site 100%. I just thought it worthy of a mention in my blog that someone listed my site worthy as citing as a design influence. You try creating a new blog entry daily, sheesh!
I’ve had my design ripped three times now:
http://www.prblogger.com/2006/05/someones-ripping-my-design/
http://www.prblogger.com/2007/01/someones-ripping-my-design-part-ii/
http://flickr.com/photos/prblogger/414765689/
Russia, Japanese and Spanish. Nothing I can do about it really, unless there’s a Global Design Copyright Police I don’t know about.
I checked out this site, I will not link to it here, but the pages look very spammy, so what ever the design I would hope google would pick up on this keyword stuffing
First up – I am not Angry Chris… maybe I should post under Frostie or Chilled Chris
I discussed this with Kieron and can back him up on what he is saying. We both said how nice it was to be used as ‘shining examples’ of what another, successful affiliate wants to achieve.
There are no threatening undertones in this post nor was there during our conversation. If you read Kierons blog from beginning to end, you will see that in the past he has given out a lot of valuable information for people to enter the same arena he already dabbles in.
It was merely an observation!
I think this kind of thing goes on all the time. I bet Mark at myvouchercodes.co.uk can say the same things 100 times over with many sites appearing looking similar to his. Surely as long as nothing is a direct copy, then there is no issue?
http://www.mydiscountdeals.co.uk/
http://wwww.ukoffer.com/
http://www.shoppingdiscount.co.uk/
Do they really look the same? I would say- no not at all!
Is there anything wrong with another affiliate (not copying directly) but using examples to show his or her web designers what they are tryig to achieve?
Isn’t Frostie’s a generic WP theme that he had on his blog before the ‘summer fruit’ style, or did he design it himself then use it on the discount site? If it’s a theme then surely anyone can use it; if he designed it then it’s protected by copyright as it his work. It can provide inspiration but not be copied pixel by pixel.
I used to get mad when people copied my sites or products but now I just aim for traffic and conversions. Anybody can build a site but making money is a different ballgame!
All themes I use on the majority of my sites are freely available. Remember ShoppingDiscount was set up as an experiment to see if its possible to make money without spending a penny. This includes PPC, backend and frontend functionality. This particular theme is called “GlossyBlue”.
Remember the title of this post “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”. Noone is complaining, although the way the comments have flared up, its taken the discussion way off course.
It might be troubling to you, but you can’t do anything about it. Plenty of the big sites have had their designs ripped off blatantly and the big boys can’t do jack about it. I’m talking about CMSs that duplicate sites like Digg and MySpace down to the detail and function.
Then of course lots of people don’t know what copyrights, trademarks and patents really cover. For example, you can not copyright things like titles or designs. You can patent a design, but the onus and expense is put upon you to defend it. So these types of claims would probably look patently ridiculous. Amazon tried to claim a patent on their one-click sale for years. In the end it was brushed off as a rubbish claim even though they did it first. Then of course trademarks. For most of us they’re useful for logos and that’s about it. You’ll have a nearly impossible task of trying to trademark a phrase. Donald trump tried to trademark, “you’re fired”. Only an ass like him would try to trademark a phrase that’s been in the common vernacular for a century.
The point really becomes moot if they happen to be in another country, especially one that doesn’t recognize these kinds of legal claims. So at the end of the day, all you can do is be flattered and outcompete them. I guess publicizing the fact that they ripped you off help as well.