Is My Site Legal?

I have been looking high and low concerning cloning laws...
and every thread i visited across the net agrees to disagree...
"its legal" - "no its not legal" - "the FBI will visit you..." ROFL...

1: We both have the exact same theme.
Yes, legally purchased through the same company.

2: Is our layouts similar: our layouts start with
the same purchased theme....

3: Did I tweak some code here and there to
look similar to the other site, absolutely...

5: Did I use their exact css coding: No.

4: I am i using their colors: If you mean by plain
colors like red, green, blue, then yes, maybe
not in that order.

5: Did I take any of their graphics/art work: No.

6: Am I using any of their content: No.

At least they cant say I stole their theme...
legally, they did not create the frame/layout...

 

Where you find that FBI will visit you? Egar to see that #rofl

 

Are you copying their logo/name/trademark/customizations ?

are you using very similar domain?

 

1: Their Logo > No
2: Their Name > No
3: Their Trademark > Unlikely they have a trademark...
4: Their customizations: That is difficult one to answer... The designer is
doing all the css work. I am not sure if he has straight out copied their code...
I will have to ask about that; I would like to think he is using his own coding style...

The theme was purchased, so the layout is already similar. The only thing they did was
add highlight color trims to make it look a little better; their header is a solid color...So I do
not think you can claim a solid color as your very own, nor did I take any artwork, and to
be honest, I do not think there is any art work, most everything is using color schemes.

 

Will you be in direct competition with them or even in the same market?

 

Not even close.
not in the same market.
not in the same niche.

 

Anybody can sue anybody for any reason, so there is always a chance of legal action, though I really do not see why the other site would care. When you buy a theme, you know that others will buy and use it, too. Further, you are not in the same markets, so I really do not even see how you are harming them or what claims they would have.

 

In terms of intellectual property ownership, this must be approached logically.
When you buy a theme from a designer they can either:
1) transfer all IP ownership rights (i.e. copyright) of the theme to you (if they do not plan to resell the same theme to other customers); or
2) they can retain the IP ownership rights but grant you (and other customers) a 'license' to use the theme (if they plan to resell the theme to other customers).
As situation 2) applies to you, you must now consider the terms of service of the designer. It is likely that the license does not grant you (or the other customers with the same theme) exclusive use of the theme (as they sell the same theme to several customers), so their will be no breach of copyright.
In terms of trademark violation, you must perform a search of the trademark register for your jurisdiction to see if the theme design forms part of the other company's (i.e. the other website using the theme) trademark. Trademarks generally require registration, so if the other company has not registered a trademark then there can be no trademark infringement. However, if the other company has registered a trademark and that trademark does contain the theme design, then you must consider if a lay person is likely to confuse the two websites and assume that your website was affiliated (I use this term in its strict sense) with the other website. When considering this, an important factor (as alluded to in a previous post) is whether both websites operate in the same market. If not, then there is little chance of a case being brought for trademark infringement.

 

maybe royalty rates would help you?