4 ms·
How legal is it? Ok it's MIT license, but if I use a UI design, do I infringe on Microsoft's imtellectual property? Is UI design copyrightable? I have the same
by tajen 11y ago
How legal is it? Ok it's MIT license, but if I use a UI design, do I infringe on Microsoft's imtellectual property? Is UI design copyrightable? I have the same question for another UI framework, which by default comes with the creator's design guidelines: Is it enough to change the color of the header to avoid brand confusion and be safe from infringement?
From what I can gather, UI design patents actually exist. However Apple won against Samsung but lost a case against Microsoft, which demonstrates that it's still important to patent UI functionnality (such as the bounced scroll) in addition to the graphical elements. http://patents.stackexchange.com/questions/4020/protecting-a-user-interface-design-patent-and-or-copyright http://patents.stackexchange.com/questions/4020/protecting-a...
Any further answer is welcome.
- icebraining 11y agoIANAL, but in some jurisdictions, there's something called promissory estoppel - essentially, if you promise something that is expect to lead people to act in a certain way, you can't then sue them later for doing so. Microsoft themselves have successfully used that defense against Motorola Mobility (though that case was relative to the price of the licenses, not whether they could use it at all).
- ingebretsen 11y agoThis is a styling framework. No patentable concepts. The code itself might fall under copyright law (which is MIT license), but not the visuals. If anything would apply there, it is probably more like trademark law, but this seems far afoot.