For web designers, building and designing a web page is not only a part of their job, but it is also an artwork. They spend their time conceiving the ideas, deciding the fonts, layouts, and making the website perfect.
Plagiarism Test for the Web Page Designs are Essential
It may happen that another organization is using the same layout for their website without any credit and with some minor changes. It is an act of plagiarism in the case of web design. Theft of any artwork and any idea related to an artwork is plagiarism.
Theft of website design is also plagiarism. The actual creator of the web-design can take legal action. To avoid that circumstance, the web-designers and developers can check for plagiarism online.
Theft of Web Design is real—here’s an example.
Website creation is a result of several complicated coding. Conceiving the idea to create a good-looking and efficient website is not only a matter of time, but it is also about perspective. A web developer aims to create a website that looks spacious, easy-to-handle, well-developed.
A nice-looking website can be an inspiration for many other web designers. Web design inspiration can turn into plagiarism when the website design is precisely copied without giving any credit to the actual creator.
It happened when a Sydney-based developer duo, The Mealings, found out that there is another website that is strictly a copy of their website. However, it is designed by another UK based company.
The Mealings’ award-winning website design was featured on famous websites, including bestdesigns.com, admiretheweb.com, etc. They later found out that another designer group by Ashley and Vicky Hutton used their identical webpage.
Everything, including the icons and Brand Mark, was the same. The Brand Mark only had Maidenhead instead of Mealings. It is not only plagiarism, in the case of websites, but it is also identity theft.
Stealing isn’t inspiration.
Stealing another web-developer’s crisp, attractive design, and using precisely the same color, font, and layout is not an inspiration; it is plagiarism. It can also affect the business of both the companies to whom the websites belong.
The brand identity of a company plays an essential role in their business. Copying their website is synonymous with stealing their brand identity. Other developers are allowed to use ideas from another website.
Know the Importance of Plagiarism Check to Protect Brand Identity
The websites should not copy the HTML files, font color and background color, website layout, Font design and size, SEO, page description, etc. If all these things are copied, there are chances that the websites look identical.
It is not a web-design inspiration, but an instance of plagiarism. It can confuse the customers, sponsors of the website, and this can lead to financial loss.
If a developer or website is copying the patented color scheme, brand logo, and website contents, it is illegal. As these things define a blog’s identity, using these things for another website means stealing their identity.
The original website owner can take legal steps against the website owner who has plagiarised their contents. The client may choose a specific website design as the model of their website design.
It is common as they want their website to be catchy and efficient. It may happen because the clients find the website’s structure an excellent example of how they want their one to look. It does not mean that the web-developer has to copy the exact thing.
If the website is wholly copied, it may be harmful to the client’s brand image and the web-developer. In unintentional plagiarism, web-developers can use a website plagiarism scanner or plagiarism detector to check for plagiarism online.
How does copyright work for website design?
For copyrighted and patented content, the laws protect the rights of the original owner on their work. According to Goldstein Patent Law, the law offers copyright holders the exclusive rights to use and copy the content. This copyright is generated at the moment the creation is produced or released.
This act protects the rights of a website developer and owner on their content. Even when the website owners haven’t registered for copyright, they can enjoy equal rights as those of a copyright holder.
Is using website template plagiarism?
Thousands of websites are built on a particular template. In that case, the logo, trademarks, and color schemes of the two websites vary. That does not create any clash between the identities of two website owners. In case a website is having a similar-looking logo, trademark, similar or almost similar color palette for their website, then that is plagiarism.
The websites create the first impression of the companies. Therefore, the website owner should be careful about plagiarised content on their website. The presence of plagiarised content can take away the credibility of the organization.
Websites Have a Crucial Role in Creating the First Impression
Their customers and potential customers may think it to be a duplicate website or a fraudulent site. The web-developers can use an anti-plagiarism tool to check for plagiarism online to avoid plagiarism.
There are both paid and free online plagiarism checkers in the market, but it is always best to go for the one giving the accurate results, instead of the free tools. It helps in protecting the site of the web page owner in the best way possible. Hence, choosing the perfect online tool is the rightest decision any web page owner can take.
