It depends also what you mean with copy. The code has copyright but the rendered pixels don’t (other than if something like an image was created pixel by pixel). So if the code is different but the output looks the same it’s not copyright infringement (can still be trademark).
I think that’s dependent on jurisdiction. This comes up with fonts where what you said applies in the US but in Europe, the actual visual result of the software also counts and is protected (afaik).
I don’t know any jurisdiction that gives copyright to the rendered output of html/css. There can be other IP (patents, pattern, trademark but doubt they apply for a normal saas ui)
I don’t really see why it’s hard to believe that the design of a website wouldn’t be protected. Obviously a digital painting is protected, so hand writing svg code to generate an image would also result in an image that’s protected by copyright. And why would a html website not be protected?
The law doesn’t really care about how you create the work as long as it is an expression of your own creativity.
> Es ist allgemein anerkannt, dass der Gestaltung von Webseiten unabhängig von der Digitalisierung ihres Inhalts ein Urheberrechtsschutz zukommen kann, sofern die Gestaltung die gemäß § 2 Abs. 2 UrhG erforderliche Schöpfungshöhe erreicht (OLG Frankfurt a.a.O.; OLG Hamm, MMR 2005, 106; OLG Düsseldorf MMR 1999, 729; LG München I MMR 2005, 267). Dies kommt aber grundsätzlich nur dann in Betracht, wenn die Gestaltung der Webseiten über das hinausgeht, was bei ordnungsgemäßer Erstellung eines Webauftritts im Internet handwerklich zu leisten ist.
