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LayerVault Sends DMCA Takedown Letter re Flat-UI

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Re: LayerVault Sends DMCA Takedown Letter re Flat-UI

#61

Post by shabble »

jeremyjh wrote: post #47
free652 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I checked the colors and they're different. They may look the same, also square/flat interface is part of Windows 8.

I'm pretty sure colors cannot be protected by copyright.

Whilst (afaik) unrelated to the DCMA claim at hand, it is possible to trademark a specific colour, with plenty of examples at [1], and there have been controversial suits over 'infringement' in the past. My recollection is that colour trademarks are much more restrictive in their coverage than other forms, although I may be wrong there.

Edit: Emphasise the trademark-ability, not copyright-ability, of particular colours/palettes.

[1] http://www.businessinsider.com/colors-that-are-trademarked-2...

Re: LayerVault Sends DMCA Takedown Letter re Flat-UI

#64

Post by largesse »

saiko-chriskun wrote: post #57
largesse wrote: post #48

What are the penalties for a false DMCA claim?

There really should be more penalties for this.

Apparently, the notices say "under penalty of perjury", but at the very least you should be able to sue abusers civilly. I'm just not sure that is a great recourse for open source.

DMCA needs reform on this. There needs to be scale of fines for parties that issue takedowns based upon false copyright claims.

Re: LayerVault Sends DMCA Takedown Letter re Flat-UI

#65

Post by nchlswu »

ajross wrote: post #23
bencevans wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Flat UI ( http://designmodo.github.com/Flat-UI/ ) in an open source project along the same lines as Twitter Bootstrap. or another bootstrappable interface framework. LayerVault ( https://layervault.com/ ) are a company that provide a version control system for design work.

Thanks. This isn't directed at you personally, more at the community mindpool: And did Flat UI derive artwork from LayerVault? Is there a connection between the developers? Did they work with the same artist? Certainly some of the icons on the two sites look similar, though I don't see any obvious duplication. A critically important step in any hot blooded DMCA freakout is verifying whether or not infringement took p…

To add some context, LayerVault posted a blog post outlining "The Flat Design Era"[1]. While the term has been used before in various context, to me, the post seemed to ignite a lot of discussion in the tech/design community about flat design (and by relation, skeumorphs, etc.,)

LayerVault is a vocal proponent of the "Flat UI" approach and uses it almost as a signature look and feel for their product. In the follow up discussions, the blog post author has said that no post or discussion fully understands what he meant [2].

I can't read the takedown letter or discussion where I am (for some reason github is blocked). But based on what I've seen, the kit is similar to LayerVault's approach to employing Flat UI. That combined with the blogpost, I wouldn't be surprised if LayerVault felt that their look and feel was infringed upon. Obviously, this doesn't mean that they actually were infringed upon in the eye of the law, even if the kit was derived from LayerVault.

As a designer, I can sympathize with LayerVault's issue with the kit (I'm making assumptions), but with such a design, I really wonder how valid their complaint is within the law.

[1]http://layervault.tumblr.com/post/32267022219/flat-interface... [2]Designer News thread that I have no link to at the moment.

Re: LayerVault Sends DMCA Takedown Letter re Flat-UI

#66

Post by malandrew »

mnicole wrote: post #15
JCB_K wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What he said is that he is "the exclusive rights holder for the artwork contained within Flat UI". Presumably he's referring to Flat UI the UI Kit, not Flat UI the general trend.

TIL solid colors constitute artwork now. Please excuse me, I've got some baseless, reputation-damaging takedown notices to file. Maybe next they can go after everyone that participated in http://dribbble.com/shots/911303-Designer-News-App-Icon-Play...

Yup, like T-Mobile, who owns the trademark on Magenta in Europe.

Re: LayerVault Sends DMCA Takedown Letter re Flat-UI

#68

Post by justjimmy »

Geee wrote: post #56
mnicole wrote: post #3

Am I understanding this right; that LayerVault is trying to claim that they are the sole owners of the flat UI trend? I'm sorry Allan, I've been a fan of yours since before LayerVault was even launched, but this is really low. And if I'm remembering correctly, this isn't the first time you guys have harassed someone about using "your" aesthetic.

It's not about the flat UI trend. If you look at Layervault, their design is really unique and top notch. Flat UI-framework is heavily inspired by Layervault's design. There's no doubt about it. Same roundings, paddings, pastel color scheme, etc. They look visually extremely similar. LayerVault is obviously pissed that a design similar to their unique design will be used by amateur Bootstrappers all over the web.

I think we're all upset more about the attitude and approach of how LV went about this.

You can't patent Colors / Helvetica Neue / Rounded Corner Squares. It just reeks of tactics similar to patent trolls.

I think a while back there was blog theme used that was similar to Svbtle, but there was no take down notice or such nonsense. It generated a decent discussion and conversations about something that's too close in style.

Look at @layervault on Twitter, they are just getting destroyed right now. Even by designers, their main target audience.

If they went along the lines like 'Hey, this is pretty similar to our design. We think it's cool we inspired you but can you deviate it from us a bit more or re-name the project to like Layervault Bootstrap?' I mean why not - have your name in the same conversation as Twitter Bootstrap!

A total botched and missed opportunity.

Re: LayerVault Sends DMCA Takedown Letter re Flat-UI

#69

Post by vicbrooker »

nwh wrote: post #44
ajross wrote: post #14

Can someone please summarize for those of us not plugged in to the web UI framework (or whatever this is) community? I'm seeing entities like "LayerVault" and "Flat UI" and products (?) named "trend" that I've never heard of. Is this an abuse of process I should actually care about or is it just a "who did what?" spit between estranged developers?

Additional to the notes of others, LayerVault have a HackerNews clone of their own called "Designer News". http://news.layervault.com/

It makes me happy that Designer News has (what I consider at least) noticeably inferior design to HN.

Have we established exactly which elements are allegedly infringing copyright? I've gone though both websites and I don't see it...

Re: LayerVault Sends DMCA Takedown Letter re Flat-UI

#70

Post by jmduke »

Geee wrote: post #56
mnicole wrote: post #3

Am I understanding this right; that LayerVault is trying to claim that they are the sole owners of the flat UI trend? I'm sorry Allan, I've been a fan of yours since before LayerVault was even launched, but this is really low. And if I'm remembering correctly, this isn't the first time you guys have harassed someone about using "your" aesthetic.

It's not about the flat UI trend. If you look at Layervault, their design is really unique and top notch. Flat UI-framework is heavily inspired by Layervault's design. There's no doubt about it. Same roundings, paddings, pastel color scheme, etc. They look visually extremely similar. LayerVault is obviously pissed that a design similar to their unique design will be used by amateur Bootstrappers all over the web.

I really really like LayerVault's style a lot and there's no doubt that Flat-UI is influenced by it, but it's not as if LV created this in a vaccuum. Dribbble (which is my main way of watching design trends) has had this stuff pretty common over the past three years.

They look visually similar. As well as dozens of other pieces/sites.

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