Legal Question in International Law in California

Re: I am in the process of setting up a neighborhood web site my site will look

This has nothing to do with International law and I don't have an answer except that you cannot reproduce copyrighted material without the permission of the owner.

In any case if it is local concern you have also to follow local laws (CA) rather than International laws

Re: I am in the process of setting up a neighborhood web site my site will look

Without access to all the facts, it is difficult to give you a completely accurate answer. Additionally, you reference "international law" and California law, so there may be some jurisdictional factors affecting the copyright law determination. However, given your statement that your site will look a lot like another site, you do run the danger of copyright infringement. The standard for U.S. copyright infringement, stated very generally, is determined as follows:

1) Is the other owner's work an original work entitled to copyright protection?

2) If so, you are infringing if your work is "substantially similar" to the first owner's copyrighted work.

Feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss your actual facts to determine a more definitive answer for your particular situation.

Re: I am in the process of setting up a neighborhood web site my site will look

Copyright protects EXPRESSIONS of ideas, not the ideas or facts themselves. However, you need to give an attorney more details before he can advise you. So it depends how closely you copy the TEXT, ARTWORK and other expressions on the website.

D. Alexander Floum is an experienced intellectual property attorney and a professor of intellectual property law.

The Schinner Law Group is a full-service law firm, providing assistance in business, corporate, tax, litigation, contracts, intellectual property and related areas of law.

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