Much of this (very interesting) discussion has been polarised by views of
'this is right but that is wrong'. UK law on copyright, so far as my
limited understanding goes, is far from this. A recent conversation with a
solicitor revealed that courts judge these matters under a 'sweat of brow'
doctrine which states that if you can prove that you sweated to produce the
results (thus protecting expended labour), then you can hold copyright.
Further invesitigation reveals that this doctrine has been rejected by the
US Supreme court so rules there are different.
This would lead me to believe that if you copy someone's page layout from
scratch but program it yourself (thus tormenting yourself to mental strife)
then you can still hold copyright. The chances are that the source code
will be different in various ways anyway...
Of course, proving that you did this yourself rather than hacked someone
elses code is where the trouble lies, particularly in the digital
age...this is why I always work with a sponge by my side ;-)
The point I'm really making is that the law is less than clear and will
only be sorted out through trial cases...which is what publishers and
others have avoided for a long time!
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