Okay.

First of all, I sent you two emails to [email protected]. I realize that dland email doesn't always work, however, these emails did not bounce back to me, so I am under the impression that you got them and chose to ignore them. Because I don't know if your diaryland address works or not, I'm going to paste this email in it's entirety into your notes page.

So, I signed your guestbook. The first message was not rude; it was simply matter-of-fact. You took the code for my Blink 182#1 template, changed the colors, images, and removed the link back to me.

This is strictly against my terms of service. It is stated on the page where the html code is available, and on my rules page (http://mydesigns.diaryland.com/rules.html).

Whether you agree or not, my designs ARE copyright protected BY LAW. You had no right whatsoever to modify the design OR remove the link back to me. That is copyright infringement. And you can NOT claim that it isn't my code, because it is. I recognized it immediately. I even did a view source, and everything matched my original code. At the time, you even had my right-click disable script still up, using my original wording ("knock it off"). That has since been removed, but it doesn't change anything. It is my code you're using, and it IS a copyright violation.

The following text comes from the page http://whatiscopyright.org - it explains that my designs are copyright protected:

Copyrights and the Internet. Public domain - not! When visiting a web site, it is so easy to click and save with a mouse button when one sees a graphic image that one likes, or to view the source code and copy part of or all of the HTML coding because one "likes the way this or that was done" or one "wants a similar layout", or to copy original writings because "that person expresses this or that so well". The general (and incorrect) notion is that anything that is on the internet is public domain and may be taken without permission from the creator/owner. Some people actually think (incorrectly) that just because bits of web pages may be stored in one's cache, or because certain browsers allow one to do "file save as" moves or anything similar one may use such material as one wishes. This is false.

Just because your driveway is not inside of your house, is it in the public domain? Does that give anybody off the street the right to stay on your driveway without your permission, even if they can see it from the street, or easily access it? The same basic principle applies to material published on the internet. Material found on the web may be copied freely only if the information is created by the (i) federal government, (ii) if the copyright has expired or (iii) the copyright has been abandoned by the holder. Therefore, "internet" and "public domain" are not synonymous. Any work published on the internet is not automatically placed it in the public domain, unless the material in question complies with one or more of the characteristics mentioned.

Material provided by others and used with permission. Midis, graphic images (including web graphics, photos, logos and other digital art), writings, text, HTML, javascripts or other material that you are given permission to use or display on your web site does not entitle you to claim copyright to the material in question. Permission to use someone else's material does not make you the rightful owner or holder.

The copyright notice at the bottom of a website only pertains to the content that one has actually created, not to what was created by another and is being used with permission. Owner's terms may vary, but it is always best to include text on the same page where the material on loan is being used to specify who the real owner is, and that it is being used with permission. To an extent, this would protect you as well as the appropriate owner as it would be notifying the public that the material is owned by someone...if you failed to properly protect someone else's work that you are using and it turns out that someone else swiped it due to your misuse or negligence you may be subjecting yourself to a claim.

Word of caution: If you are not 100% sure that the material is in the public domain (sometimes "free sites" offer copyrighted material), do not use it. Placing little disclaimers that read, "if you find anything on this page that belongs to someone else contact me" or "if you feel that I may be violating someone's copyright please let me know" just don't cut it and are even irresponsible. You may be violating somebody's copyright.

Hey - everyone knows that HTML coding and webpage layouts cannot be copyrighted! Based upon what? I am of the opinion that a webpage layout may be copyrighted if it is actually written and/or designed by the author and has been fixed in a tangible medium by being saved to a hard drive.

If you wanted, you could put your HTML into a text file and print it out, couldn't you? Doesn't that make it tangible - something you can read or look at? However, this only applies if one actually wrote the HTML coding and designed the web page layout by oneself (even if one uses an HTML editor). If one copies and pastes HTML from one web page into another one may not claim copyright. It is not an original work, and may even be construed as copyright infringement.

There is one thing that must be clarified, though. If you see a certain page layout and like the way it looks, you could "legally" reproduce something similar if you write the coding all by yourself without copying any of the source code from the original page. The actual intangible idea may not be copyrighted. What is copyrighted is the tangible result of the idea, which would be the layout written out in HTML coding and saved to a hard drive. That means no copying and pasting of another person's source code.

Here is an example: If I have the "idea" to make a webpage about roses, that idea cannot be copyrighted because an idea itself will always be intangible. What is copyrighted are the tangible works I produce of the idea. These would be the descriptions I write, my photos of roses, and the HTML coding I created to design the page layout - all saved in my computer's hard drive. All of that is my idea fixed in a tangible medium and that is protected by my copyright. However, somebody else could come along, learn of the idea I had to create a web page about roses, and create a web page about roses as well - provided such person wrote his/her OWN words, used his/her OWN photos, and wrote his/her OWN HTML coding to design the page. Further, if such person was "inspired" by my web page layout, and decided to do something similar (similar - not identical), he or she could do that if the HTML were written entirely by this person without any copying or pasting. All of that is legal, whether it is imaginative and creative, well, that is something else. Now, if this person came along, saw my web page on roses, liked the way I did it and then copied and pasted my HTML into his or her own web page without my permission, that is copyright infringement, even if he or she deleted certain things and inserted his or her OWN words and his or her OWN photos. Yes, even if he or she did NOT have a web page about roses, but about something entirely different. That is because my page layout was written out in HTML and set in a fixed form, and the fixed form is what was copied without my permission.

***What if I take someone else's writings, text, HTML or graphic image and change it around to suit my needs? I own the "new" version, right?***

If you did any of that with the original owner's permission, and according to his/her terms and conditions than you own the "new" version. If not you may be committing copyright infringement and/or plagiarism. ---You did NOT get my permission