[DanBC]

I could understand a DMCA if the icons were direct copies and if FlatUI had not responded to any email requests.

Even then it's a good idea to put up a quick and easy comparison sheet.

But for things like "3 cogs" (cogs are different sizes, different colours, different numbers of teeth, different orientation) it's ridiculous to DMCA it. 3 Cogs is so generic that it's an annoyance to engineers. (Because the cogs are usually drawn in such a way that they cannot possibly turn).

HN is generally pretty good when people rip off a design. Even people like me (who have very little idea about design) respect the amount of work and expertise that goes on. But it's because I have so little clue about design that people need to explain the similarities. If you're the first people to curl a newspaper under then tell me that. Show me what people used to do, and how you innovated that.

[L4mppu]

Comparison image for anyone who is interested. http://imgur.com/ejGIlx0 Left one is Flat UI and right one is Layer Vault.

[rkuykendall-com]

That is not the Flat UI icon.

I remember it distinctly from launch, the cogs were more inside the circle and in a different orientation: http://venturebeat.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/screen-shot-2...

The three icons removed were the cog, the map, and the twitter face.

Edit: Here is a comparison image from further down the page: http://imgur.com/IH1osAD

[nobleach]

Anyone else troubled by the idea of three interlocking cogs? I mean, it's an icon meaning deadlock, right?

[JungleGymSam]

That would make sense if all three cogs were interlocked but they are not. The top two cogs are not close enough to each other.

[DanBC]

Yes! It's something that makes me twitch each time I see it.

I know other people have discussed it, but my search engine skills are too weak to find anything at the moment.

[fnordfnordfnord]

KDE has been using similar gear iconography for at least a dozen years. http://www.google.com/search?q=kde+gears+icon

[naner]

Is this the best example of the "infringement"? If that's the best they got than Layer Vault are looking pretty foolish (insecure, full of themselves, etc). What a joke.

[simonlc]

> HN is generally pretty good when people rip off a design.

Remember Svbtle?

[DanBC]

Yes. Many people supported dcurtis and were angry at the blatant rip off. Also, many people were annoyed at dcurtis and felt he brought it on himself by acting like an idiot.

[hackmiester]

I don't. Can you explain?

[DanBC]

An HN member created a new blog thing; invite only; very designery. They were trying to build a brand for great writing. The way it was presented to the HN audience was sub-optimal - "Here's the great new shiny thing. You can't use it, you're all stupid."

Someone very quickly ripped it off.

There was intense discussion. Some people felt it's fair game to rip off the design. Other people felt it was a poor copy. Others were angry that it was such a blatant rip off (especially because it was so bad).

I've tried to describe this as neutrally as possible, but I understand it will sound pretty biased.

[naner]

Here's an example of

a svbtle page: http://benyu.org/net-worth

obtvse page: http://jackdempsey.me/migrating-to-obtvse

wp-svbtle: http://wp-svbtle.themeskult.com/

I believe obtvse at the time of the dispute was more directly ripping off svbtle than it is now, but I could be misremembering.

The unintentional pretentiousness of svbtle was amusing at the time and I can remember the urge to create a clone and replace the dammned kudos hover trap with a fontBomb[1].

1: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4208102

[C1D]

See here http://howells.ws/posts/view/93/svbtle-vs-obtvse-and-on-copy...