Yes. And if you have a quick search on Dribbble for "newspaper", "gears" or "talking head", you'll find dozens of similar images that predate both the LayerVault and Flat UI designs.
The issue isn't whether the images are similar, or whether the Designmodo folks deliberately copied LayerVault's assets (I'd say they did). The issue is whether LayerVault's assets were original to begin with, and I think it's fairly obvious they weren't. And that's okay! Certain symbols (like interlocking cogs or a face and speech bubble) work because they're used so commonly. What's problematic is when somebody mistakenly believes that their particular rendering of a commonly-used symbol is original and attempts to claim ownership over it.
Yes. And if you have a quick search on Dribbble for "newspaper", "gears" or "talking head", you'll find dozens of similar images that predate both the LayerVault and Flat UI designs.
The issue isn't whether the images are similar, or whether the Designmodo folks deliberately copied LayerVault's assets (I'd say they did). The issue is whether LayerVault's assets were original to begin with, and I think it's fairly obvious they weren't. And that's okay! Certain symbols (like interlocking cogs or a face and speech bubble) work because they're used so commonly. What's problematic is when somebody mistakenly believes that their particular rendering of a commonly-used symbol is original and attempts to claim ownership over it.