[austenallred]

I love the idea of open source tools, but this goes way too far. This isn't just rebuilding a popular concept, this is taking code that was written by a for-profit company and blatantly stealing it. There's an important difference.

The earlier versions of this repo still used the Trello logo. Trello's CSS is blatantly used, even using trellicons, the custom icon font created by Trello. The entire front-end is completely, blatantly stolen.

If you want to build LibreOffice as a free alternative to Microsoft Word, that's great. But taking Microsoft Word's code and uploading it into an open source GitHub repository? That crosses the line. I don't care what legal ramifications there are or what constitutes copyright infringement or what is legally actionable (heaven knows the law is often off base from what is right/moral/ethical, especially in software). That's another discussion, but this is messed up.

Can you create a task management system in Meteor.js that is inspired by "agile" methodology and similar to Trello? Sure. But blatantly taking code, especially without even putting a creative spin of your own on it, is just plain wrong.

[nadams]

I'm on the fence on this one - I could argue either way (I could probably work a books worth of material).

However, I think it is interesting to note that the idea of "stealing" a design has been done for years. I just don't think many people do it to websites.

Examples - there are companies that bundle premade controls that look pretty darn close to the designs in paid software. Here is an example of one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYzjJHtldec

They may just wrap Windows API - but I've seen ribbon interfaces running on Windows 2K with VB6.

Even if one would argue that falls into "fair use" - consider two more examples:

Zelda Classic[1] - they used original artwork from the original Nintendo game and re-created the game on the PC

Mari0[2] - the original Mario but with portals (including level design and graphics)

Now from what I can tell - Nintendo doesn't shutdown/care about these people because they aren't making money off the games. But if these games aren't infringing on Nintendo's copyright - I don't know what would be.

[1] - http://armageddongames.net/showthread.php?96754-Zelda-Classi... [2] - http://stabyourself.net/mari0/

[zokier]

There are lots of semi-related issues raised in your post.

Generally copying/cloning a design is legally OK, but copying the implementation/execution of that design is not OK. This is well demonstrated in the font industry. You can copy a typeface as long as you do it "cleanly" (ie by not reverse engineering the font files), which is why there are lots of cheap copies of common fonts. This is probably the most relevant aspect for this project. They can copy the look'n'feel of Trello as perfectly as they can, but they can not copy Trello assets, CSS etc.

Then there is the Ribbon. Being software Microsoft has it patented which makes clones of Ribbon more in the gray area. On the other hand the enforceability of such patents is somewhat questionable.

Lastly the games. In addition to copyright infringement I suspect there is also risk of trademark infringement. What makes trademarks interesting that they are thought to need enforcing to remain valid, so companies generally are less willing to a blind eye to tm infringements. Also unlike copyright which considers where the work comes from, trademarks generally consider only what the work looks like and if it can be confused to the original trademark.

[tedunangst]

A year ago HN lost its mind after full screen Mario was shutdown. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6703002

[nadams]

I think it's interesting to point that out that the source is still available (on github no less) - I think Nintendo was unhappy because they were collecting donations (at least one of the comments mention this). The projects I mention don't appear to even have a paypal donate button.

Honestly, I have a feeling that Nintendo has talked to the authors of Zelda Classic and Mari0 at some point and made sure they understood where the line was drawn.

[DanBC]

> I just don't think many people do it to websites.

The now dead "pirate sites" had galleries of comparisons between an original site and a rip-off of that site. Some of them were blatant, even hot-linking assets. (A weirdly risky strategy with goatse potential).

[300bps]

Hmm. I've spent some time making my own Trello clone but mine has changed a little more than the one in the OP. First of all, mine is called Trellu. Check it out and let me know your thoughts:

http://goo.gl/n8Ca0M

[Jugurtha]

Hmmm, the intro video of the founder explaining Trellu is weird. He reminds me of a cropped Joel Spolsky. I don't know why.

[ndesaulniers]

Looks like they got a DMCA notice: https://github.com/libreboard/libreboard/issues/92#issuecomm...

[mwg66]

If the authors have genuinely copied CSS and icons (I haven't checked) then I would expect Trello Inc. to pursue the authors for copyright infringement (justifiably).

The point is to be very precise with the criticism. Is the work stolen (protected by copyright law) or is it just a convincing clone?

[syrnick]

They have clearly original Trello content checked in the repository.

[mwg66]

Fine. That's infringement!

[davexunit]

There's nothing wrong with making something that looks very similar to Trello, though there is something wrong with using their CSS and icons. Why does it need to be a "creative spin"? The UI works well, so copy it (by writing your own implementation, of course).

[hysan]

I want to agree with this sentiment, but after watching how gamedev has progressed in the mobile space, I can't find a good argument against this. Straight up cloning has become common practice in today's industry (assets are switched but with striking similarity to the original), yet I don't see as many people frowning on this practice anymore. At least outside of tech circles.

So yeah, to those of us who understand what goes into development, cloning is ethically reprehensible. But once you step outside of the tech world, I believe the ethics of this become much more murky.