
Ask HN: Any legal issues if a competitor copies your website design? - gitlab_user
I have been used to the GitHub UI for a long time and GitLab just feels weird (where the menus are, how I have to always scroll down, choice of colors, etc).<p>If GitLab were to copy Gitlab&#x27;s UI, would it face any legal issues? Is there a thing like &quot;patented&quot; UI?<p>What prevents someone from completely copying your design?
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sharemywin
Fonts, colors, shapes, phrases/words can be trademarked. copyright might apply
if you verbatim copy something.

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gitlab_user
That's interesting. I'm completely ignorant of these things, thank you.

So it seems GitLab in this case has a strong deterrent to just copy their
competitors' UI. Kind of gives me more sympathy towards GitLab because it's
really hard to deviate from something that has been kind of a standard look
for a code collaboration website.

