You Can Steal A Style?

[PTP]

Okay so I have a question about userlookups.

This happened to me over the weekend. I liked the userlookup spotlights design so decided to do my own version of it. Now, I spent about 7 days on this lookup, coding it..making it, etc. However, she neomailed me and told me to take it down as it was the same style.

Now is it possible to steal another Neopians userlookup with the same STYLE of lookup as you. We're not talking same theme, same color, same neopets, etc, We're talking, plain and simple, style. So if you make a lookup with a square in the left hand corner, a main image, and a square in the lower right hand corner .. and then you come across someone with a circle in the left hand corner, a main image, and a circle in the lower right hand corner ... is it reportable because they have the same style .. image in the right left .. main center .. image in the lower right .. EVEN IF everything else is different?

I always thought that if you repositioned everything, recoded the layout to make it your own, use a different theme, and a color scheme .. that that was alright. Apparently now if someone has the same style as you, you can tell them to take it down?

I'd really love to hear some opinions about this.

[mazil]

Mm, I do a lot of CSS and design stuff for work... and I think it's a very hard thing to judge. Some people say no design is truly original (and that would include CSS I guess!).

It sounds like the design is pretty much your own, in terms of images and things. But if you copied the CSS and then only changed a few things (attributes - the positioning, colours, background images etc) but kept the underlying structure the same (the "selectors" - eg "#ban" ".TITLE") then that might be called stealing I guess.

But again, it's pretty difficult to say ... there's only so many different ways to do the same thing in CSS, so it's always going to turn out quite similar.

[PTP]

Mm, I do a lot of CSS and design stuff for work... and I think it's a very hard thing to judge. Some people say no design is truly original (and that would include CSS I guess!).

It sounds like the design is pretty much your own, in terms of images and things. But if you copied the CSS and then only changed a few things (attributes - the positioning, colours, background images etc) but kept the underlying structure the same (the "selectors" - eg "#ban" ".TITLE") then that might be called stealing I guess.

But again, it's pretty difficult to say ... there's only so many different ways to do the same thing in CSS, so it's always going to turn out quite similar.

Nope .. Title and all of it were changed and placed in a different order. Positioning was altered. The only things similar were the image banner image thing which was different by geometrical shapes and a right hand side bar instead of a left. I basically redid the coding and did my own images. I even went as far as to make sure all the fonts were different styles and sizes.

[jellyoflight]

What a load of bull. Tell her to go crying back to her mommy.

[PTP]

See but I can't as I don't want to go and get all reported and frozen. 5 yr old account is a lil bit of a value to me

[Leraje]

It's still a load of bull, as jellyoflight stated. But you can tell that to them in a polite manner. I'm quite certain that you are not under any risk of being punished, even if that person reports you. I remember that TNT said that they fully investigate such occurences, and there is no way that you could be charged with any sort of theft.

[PTP]

It is complete bull ... I have since neomailed this individual back as she sent me a long list of things I needed to change in order for her not to report me and I basically told her that I liked her userlookup and used it as inspiration but due to her attitude and self-centeredness .. she wasn't worthy to use as inspiration anymore.

I mean .. Im sorry .. but do you seriously have no life that you have to say you call claim to a Neopets style of pizelated lookup ... palease!

[moogie]

Could you doa service for us non-neopet playing people and post links to the two user-lookups? Thanks.

From what it looks like, you didn't do anything wrong. You didn't steal any of their code.

[PTP]

Sure but it won't do any good now as I have since changed mine

[Aquin_Solar]

It is complete bull ... I have since neomailed this individual back as she sent me a long list of things I needed to change in order for her not to report me and I basically told her that I liked her userlookup and used it as inspiration but due to her attitude and self-centeredness .. she wasn't worthy to use as inspiration anymore.

I mean .. Im sorry .. but do you seriously have no life that you have to say you call claim to a Neopets style of pizelated lookup ... palease!

This is why i dont bother coding my lookup, to many people on Neopets have their own stuff and if they see even 1 thing similar, they will either steal it, or report yours because they are jealous that its to similar, or that their version doesnt't look as good. When i finaly finish this song, that will be about the only unique thing in my profile. People on Neopets are to self-centered most of the time. Its still amazing how many people play this game, and how hard it is to get some stuff because of the frequency.


I'm sorry to hear that you put all that work into it. Thats so stupid. I have the mind to give the person a piece of my own feelings for you, but i dont have the heart lol. Besides shed probably just report me all the same :p.

Also sorry i just realized this topic sorta died a while back, but i wanted to give my own feelings toward it :p.

[Sakura]

Well somebody once said that a smart person will make up his own brilliant design. But a smarter person will take that design, improve it, and make it his own. It's certainly not blantant plagiarism or anything like that. Yeah. She's probably just insecure and bitter, tell her to get over it.

[Shoyru_Lover]

The great philosophers, artists and visionaries of the past have said that plagiarism is the work of geniuses because that is how they learn and subsequently develop and improve.

[ahoteinrun]

If it's 25% changed, it is technically not plagerism/theft. However, when dealing with items that are trademarked (not copyrighted) the rules change. So putting a mustache on mickey mouse, is still theft of mickey mouse (and yes, Disney will come after you. be afraid).