Is it possible to clone any website for personal projects (non-profit and giving credit to the author) and add it to the portfolio?
It seems like a silly question, but I’ve had this doubt about whether it’s legal to use logos, icons, images of companies without their consent even though I’m not making money from it.
All this arises from seeing that everyone makes copies of the same thing (YouTube, Twitter and Netflix clones) that although they’re not all exactly the same, I find them repetitive and I want a way to stand out, so I decided to make a clone of the Ubisoft homepage.
Even though I was checking the Terms of Use, Copyright, etc. (First time in my life that I read all that voluntarily), there’s nothing about projects like this, I contacted support and they sent me to read the same thing but I still can’t find anything.
I checked Xbox, Activision and Rockstar Terms too but it’s a bit more of the same.
I just want to copy the main pages for practice, post it on Linkedin and mention the challenges and achievements I had to increase the chances of getting a job in one of those companies or just getting a job anywhere.
Ps: The question also came to me when I saw the projects on FrontendProject com
If it’s just practice, sure, go for it! However, using any copyright/trademark inside your portfolio from a company that did not hire you and permitted/granted you access/license to use any of their copyrights and trademarks can be a slippery slope.
I can’t speak to any legal recourse since I’m not going to pretend to be a copyright/trademark lawyer. However, to a recruiting/hiring board for any company, it might matter to them.
One of the major negatives is from day zero, you’re showing that you’re willing to use copyrights/trademarks you had nothing to do with for a presented project. This could throw up liability red flags for a company.
The best projects to have in your portfolios are ones you can explain on the spot how/why you did something, what each line/block of code is doing, what you learned doing it, or how it helped your company/client. Also (again, depending on the recruiter/hiring board) be ready to replicate sections of anything inside your portfolio, or something similar off the top of your head.
I think where Trademarks are concerned, companies HAVE to challenge. Otherwise the strength of their trademark in court is weakened.
Steal like an artist comes to mind.
You take inspiration from, but do not clone exactly what they did.
There are free opensource assets online you can use for portfolio projects.
I think exact clones can be great for personal learning, but I would NOT put an exact clone in my portfolio.
Not just because of the copyright issue, but because the problem is already solved.
If you spend time on their website, you likely have a few things you find annoying. They would be new problems to solve, ones you can find new solutions for.
Thank you so much for your answers guys!
But I have a new question, since it’s not ok at all, can I just change the logo and assets for random assets and a new logo that I find in internet and it can be ok?
If you’re applying for developer roles, graphical design will not be a skill you need to showcase. Algorithm and structure design of your code might be.
Whether or not it’s legal is iffy. Probably not. “Cloning” websites is really only useful as an educational exercise, so the easy solution is just not to publish the results. A company is unlikely to ever see it, but if they do then they might send you a Cease and Desist.
