monoceros blogsI can understand if someone thought Margaret Mason's Mightygoods was a swell idea and wanted to bring home the concept to Singaporean consumers; after all, it's always nice to have a single site or blog to point us in our purchasing directions. But, the Singapore site just looks a little too familiar. Okay, the colors are different but, that font, and that name...
I'm not sure about copyright laws for design, but I know it isn't right to lift any text directly from a source and use it as your own without citing a reference.
This is from Mightygoods -
This is from Mightystuff -
As a writer, I'd feel quite sore if someone copied my work. It's no small thing, especially when I recall that students have been expelled, and writers sued. Even if something initially inspires your creation, vigorously add to it or alter details to make it your own through and through, not a shadow of someone else's. The Singapore site claims a designer was hired to "customize" the blog, so perhaps it was the designer who chose to make it look similar and the writer didn't realize the similarity. Or perhaps both writer and designer were so inspired by Mightygoods that they felt the original design worked best. Or maybe the Singapore site has an agreement with Margaret Mason. Imitation may be a form of flattery, but it'd still be nice to give a shout-out to the party being imitated.
Posted by Monoceros at September 13, 2006 12:09 PMeeks... it's quite a legal issue even in academic-publishing... that's why we have to reference so much!
Posted by: tiggie at September 14, 2006 2:49 AMYeah, it's not only rudely shocking to see anyone use another's work so liberally and not even give credit, it's also illegal. But maybe it's because of the vague laws within the Internet world and the thousands of miles that separate the locations of writers that convince people it's okay to do what they've done. It's not though. Not at all.
Posted by: monoceros at September 15, 2006 10:44 AM