20 comments

  • Geoff YuenGeoff Yuen, over 6 years ago

    Apparently today is steal-someone-else's-website-design-day.

    37 points
  • Numecca .Numecca ., over 6 years ago

    tldr: Move along; nothing to see here.

    This happened years ago with Curebit and 37Signals. Pass the popcorn: Y Combinator startup caught stealing from 37signals

    My thought five years ago was, "wow, this industry is fucking stupid."

    This happens with everything in the garment industry--EVERYTHING is a knockoff. Companies have built empires on knocking shit off. Have a little perspective.

    My answer today is the same thing. As a designer and human being, I know what it feels like to have somebody steal your shit. You probably won't be thinking about this on your death bed.

    9 points
    • Art VandelayArt Vandelay, over 6 years ago

      Wonder if there could be legal action on this vs the lack of legal protections in the garment/fashion industry (no IP laws for dem clothes)

      0 points
      • Mike Wilson, over 6 years ago

        In this particular case the short answer is no. The long answer is also no.

        Outside of a logo, colors and typographic layouts and image stylings can't be copyrighted...and for good reason. Aesthetics is dictated by broad cultural trends, so to claim any of it is "original" is naive at best. A general rule of thumb (with exceptions of course):

        You can own the rights to the function but not the form.

        Or in the context of a website you can own the content but not the layout/styling of it.

        The exception is in things like logos where the form is the function, i.e. to serve as a corporate identifier. It's why you can make a replica of a Gucci handbag design and sell it at H&M as long as you don't stick the Gucci logo on it. Since any patent that ever existed on the concept of a handbag itself (i.e. the function) has long since lapsed, and the form is largely dictated by trend, you don't see many successful handbag lawsuits unless logos are involved.

        If studiobinder was telling people they are an invision product (e.g. They slap the invision logo in their navbar), then it would be illegal. It'd be almost impossible to make the case otherwise, seeing as the invision design is a really generic landing page.

        0 points
    • Ryan Hicks, over 6 years ago

      Salty much?

      2 points
  • Chapman Bettis, over 6 years ago

    Looks like the studio who built it, Leanometry, says they "work with clients to identify, design, develop and launch products in only 30 days... In other words, we’ll help you cut the feature fat, be lean, and launch in 1/3 the time, and the cost." I guess this is what you get when that's your agency's only differentiator is that you produce things fast.

    5 points
    • Dan WilkinsonDan Wilkinson, over 6 years ago

      I was just about to comment the same quote. They should amend this to something like:

      "Give us money, and we will clone a website in 30 days!"

      2 points
      • James FutheyJames Futhey, over 6 years ago

        Just wanted to say there's a lot of value in hiring a firm to build an outsourced “MVP as a service” (I've done it on contract plenty of times), and 30 days isn't crazy if you know where to spend your team's time (but I'm sure you know this).

        However it's kind of crazy that someone would go this route, given that you can buy a template of comparable quality for $10.

        0 points
  • Joe Blau, over 6 years ago

    The site from yesterday was a lot closer but this is still pretty bad.

    2 points
  • Lee Williams, over 6 years ago

    If you look through their stuff, each project is simply a repackaging of the last. The marketings sites are all the same combined with the exact same dashboard. http://leanometry.com/portfolio/

    1 point
  • Kots Asobo, over 6 years ago

    Kinda gross. Reminds me of: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGYAsacvrQc

    0 points
  • Jay Ramirez, over 6 years ago

    This is just wrong on so many levels.

    0 points