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Is it legal to more or less "copy" (or euphemistically, be very "inspired by") the idea and UI of a copyrighted program? This question popped in my mind when looking at "Things" which is a Mac-only program.
How legal would it be for someone to make a Windows version of this program with a basically identical UI design and feature set? Where are the legal boundaries of what counts as copyright infringement?
Unless you specify otherwise, I am assuming an "IANAL" for any answer, so you don't have to write that. ;)
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The term “public domain” refers to creative materials that are not protected by intellectual property laws such as copyright, trademark, or patent laws. The public owns these works, not an individual author or artist. Anyone can use a public domain work without obtaining permission, but no one can ever own it.
The term of copyright for a particular work depends on several factors, including whether it has been published, and, if so, the date of first publication. As a general rule, for works created after January 1, 1978, copyright protection lasts for the life of the author plus an additional 70 years.
Copyright exists automatically in an original work of authorship once it is fixed in a tangible medium, but a copyright owner can take steps to enhance the protections of copyright, the most important of which is registering the work.
Not Protected by Copyright: Titles, names, short phrases and slogans; familiar symbols or designs; mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering or coloring; mere listings of ingredients or contents.
Specific elements of a design can be copyrighted. Apple won the "trashcan" icon, but effectively nothing else during the Microsoft/Apple lawsuit over a look and feel. As long as the code is entirely your own, the graphics are your own (and yes, copying too closely a specific graphic element like the trashcan can be a problem) and you aren't doing cloning elements that are trademark/tradedress related, you should be within the law (in the US).
Of course, that doesn't mean that someone can't sue you. Meritless lawsuits are started all the time for intimidation. Also note that patents can cover the interaction of the user with a UI, so copyright might not be your primary problem in some cases.
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In software, copyright covers the code itself and things like text content or images. The issue you should be worried about is not copyright or trademarks, but patents. Copying the general design and feature set may run afoul any patents they have filed. Although it is unlikely that a small company would have filed enough patents to really get in the way of making a Windows or Linux clone.
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If you are looking for design inspiration, and are not trying to use existing bitmaps, you're probably okay. But there may be design patent and trademark issues that protect a particular product from bring confused by a "copy". There may also be specific patents that protect the way the software works.
There's a practical aspect here -- if you are writing something that is "small fries" to the owner of the (ahem) inspiring work, you'll never have to worry about it. But if your business depends on it, you probably should be consulting a lawyer...
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Read this blog entry from the main LLBLGen application developer. Although Microsoft strictly does not copyright its license, it uses legal means to protect their innovation/evolution in this particular UI element.
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