Although I may be a little preoccupied at the moment with work, I do make an effort to check Mint on a daily basis for traffic and referrer logs. The routine can be rather mundane at times: check active browsers, check uniques, check download counter, and finally arbitrary clicks through referrer logs which leads me to my post today.
It’s on a server, but it doesn’t mean it’s free
Like any other hosted domain: a) there are webpages, b) there is a server, and c) there are lots of directories. To any aspiring or beginning "designers" out there who are contracted out, bartered, or requested to do a favor by a friend, do not crawl through directories on someone elses server in search of work to claim as your own. Very, very, unprofessional.
Do not rip, borrow, use, or pass off as your own
Contrary to what others may have you believe, the interent is not all that grand of a playground. While you may sit at home gloating because a) you found a design to rip, b) you managed to pass it off as your own (from the clients point-of-view), and c) you think you’ve outsmarted the original author… you’re completely wrong. Bask in the spotlight while you can as your laziness will eventually catch up to you in the form of a missed reference to the originating authors server.
You’ve been caught, you carry no weight
If you’ve been caught and have received notice to remove content within a 24 hour window, do not attempt to sway the author or involved parties into extending that period. You hold no rights to the design and only irritate the originating author to make the situation public. CubeFund [ripped vs. original].
Omg! You’re directories are browsable? I guess you’re host isn’t that dreamable then. That doesn’t give the right to rip off though.
Derek, you gotta fix this issue with your directory being browsable.
With all due respect, it’s irrelevant whether folders can be accessed or not, when it comes to IP rights (certainly it helps to lock that down – but still).
Just because a vehicle may not be locked, does not suddenly make it legally free to the next person opening the door.
I’ve had this happen as well – there is a new culture spreading over the internet that believes it has some god given right to everything — the GNU generation if you will. They assume everything is free for the taking.
I can see what derek means – it’s the principle. Sure, having browesable folders would not help, but that doesn’t change the fact that thieving designs is not cool (and has been shown to lead to testicular shrinkage in lab mice).
“there is a new culture spreading over the internet that believes it has some god given right to everything â€â€? the GNU generation if you will”
Ive noticed this also, damn kids.
Maybe since the original design was so generic they thought they’d get away with it.
It all spells out to stupidity in my book. If it’s so “generic” looking, why not code something for themselves? It’s still code snatching no matter how you look at it. If the stylesheet has notes which state “for xxxx company usage”, doesn’t that hint enough that it’s not for anyone else?
I know of companies that have settled lawsuits for ~$40,000 over the use of copyrighted materials. However, those situations weren’t nearly as blatant as this.
Great unfounded statement Robert. If I posted about people ripping content, it was for projects which were not public. There are personal projects, and then there are public. I commend you, you have definitely put a smile on my face.
Please make sure that your comments make sense before criticizing a blog author – spelling, etc. It’s difficult for me to try and backtrack in order to verify if what you’re saying is actually valid.
You say that you contribute your time to public and public projects? I read 2(TWO) of your posts and you go around and fire @ ppl for rip/steal in both of them. Man,you give yourself a prise that you do NOT deserve. You must understand that there are tons of better(MUCH better) designers. Please, keep in mind that this kind of attitude is memorized in community. And your “contributor” sin is that you didn’t reacted and corrected one of your noob blind followers – that Bernard. You should know how to do that,but hey! You’re just a fake. Cheers.