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I'm setting up a commerce website. I really like the Overstock website, and I was wondering if could simply crawl the website for the webpages, remove Overstock's logos, and use their website as a template.

Is this legal, or can it get my website shutdown? How much code is a developer allowed to use before it's considered stealing?

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  • How much money are you allowed to steal from a bank before the police chase you?
    – ionFish
    Commented Feb 21, 2013 at 3:02

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Downloading another site's code, removing their branding, and re-uploading as your own site will get you in trouble sooner or later. Don't do that.

Besides, it won't work. Complex sites have more going on than just the final HTML output. There's a ton of moving parts and server-side code just to get to the output. You are strongly encouraged to build your look and brand and if Overstock influences you, great. If you aren't able to build it yourself, a quick look around e-commerce template sites will reveal templates that are inspired by Overstock and you can purchase one of those.

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  • Very well said. I have seen some of the template sites; I didn't initially think they were as good as the big box store websites, but I'll just work on them as I develop the site and make it particular to my needs. Thanks!
    – Sal
    Commented Feb 21, 2013 at 4:08
  • Keep looking and also pick an e-commerce platform that is widely used and has a good Dev community. You will find a good base template that can be modified further and look the way you want it to look.
    – JCL1178
    Commented Feb 21, 2013 at 4:16

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