If you copy artwork, page layout or slogans for example from another business´s website and place it on your own site what recourse does the original site owner have?

I guess infringment of copyright laws (if it is mentioned the work is copyrighted by someone 'or, all rights reserved' on there home page) then that consitutes fraud.

Here is a quote from a portion of a lengthy article that is from the following site that should be of some help here. Copyright Law and Fair Use (http://www-sul.stanford.edu/cpyright.html) There is a section of the copyright law of the United States that has to do with "fair use" of copyrighted material.

"Fair use" of copyrighted material is allowable in certain instances.

Please note that I have cited the reference for the quote. Copying the small section of the lengthy article and citing reference to it is something that can be considered to be "fair use" of copyrighted material that I have quoted. I also am using this small quote to educate you and not to make profit monetarily in any way. That is also something that counts in terms of "fair use".

In short, if you are going to be quoting and copying many things to use on your website that are from someone else's website or other source, than you can face infringement of copyrighted material. Doing such a thing can allow the original holder or creator of the copyrighted material in whatever form to seek to press charges against you.



What is fair use?

Fair use provisions of the copyright law allow for limited copying or distribution of published works without the author's permission in some cases. Examples of fair use of copyrighted materials include quotation of excerpts in a review or critique, or copying of a small part of a work by a teacher or student to illustrate a lesson.
How can I tell if my copying is allowed by fair use provisions of the Law?
There are no explicit, predefined, legal specifications of how much and when one can copy, but there are guidelines for fair use. Each case of copying must be evaluated according to four factors:

The purpose and nature of the use.
If the copy is used for teaching at a non-profit institution, distributed without charge, and made by a teacher or students acting individually, then the copy is more likely to be considered as fair use. In addition, an interpretation of fair use is more likely if the copy was made spontaneously, for temporary use, not as part of an "anthology" and not as an institutional requirement or suggestion.
The nature of the copyrighted work.
For example, an article from a newspaper would be considered differently than a workbook made for instruction. With multimedia material there are different standards and permissions for different media: a digitized photo from a National Geographic, a video clip from Jaws, and an audio selection from Peter Gabriel's CD would be treated differently--the selections are not treated as a equivalent chunks of digital data.
The nature and substantiality of the material used.
In general, when other criteria are met, the copying of extracts that are "not substantial in length" when compared to the whole of which they are part may be considered fair use.
The effect of use on the potential market for or value of the work. In general, a work that supplants the normal market is considered an infringement, but a work does not have to have an effect on the market to be an infringement.

Ok that clears it up. Thank you.

You're welcome!

I copy and paste things all the time to posts in this website. But, I do so sparingly and I always cite the references to the site from where what I copy and paste originated from.

Also I was going rate your amswer but got this odd message,

"You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Clough again."

Also I was going rate your amswer but got this odd message,

"You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Clough again."

Hmmm... That's interesting, because I don't see where you have rated me before recently, if at all. But, I'm not really sure how that whole rating thing works anyway. It used to count for things but doesn't really very much anymore to my understanding. Anyway and anymore, I think that it's just some kind of courtesy to people. My bright green things underneath my name haven't advanced in months, even though I now have 748 reputation points, so I think that the system is flawed. If the site is going to use these sort of things, then I think that they should work. But, oh well... I really wish that the rating system wasn't there at all because of the way that so many people abuse it by giving a rating rather than by giving an answer in a post.

But, thanks anyway... It's the thought that counts in this instance!