June 2005
 
 
 
 

An interview with Tim Murtaugh:
pirated sites

www.pirated-sites.com
 
 
All images have been used with permission. All images are copyrighted and strictly for educational and viewing purposes.
 
 

How did you get into the design business?

I started web development while working for a non-profit in Colorado. Being a non-profit employee means that you often have to pick up other skills in lieu of hiring new people, so I taught myself Quark, Photoshop and HTML. I'm certain I wasn't very good, but somebody had to do it.
 
 
  Example 1 - Original
 
 
What motivated you to create pirated-sites.com?

I was looking for a new personal project, and, at the time, design theft was a big topic on sites like K10K and Pixelsurgeon and Dreamless. It seemed like K10K was getting ripped off every other week, so, I figured why not spotlight these thefts? Calling attention to the issue is the only way to educate people about it, and being called out as a possible thief is a sure way to lose business, so why risk it?
 
 
  Example 1 - Rip
 
 
How can designers protect their creative assets?

Unfortunately there is no way to protect anything 100%. If someone can see it, they can take it, end of story. There are ways to make it more difficult, however. Liken it to a house: If you leave your door unlocked, the thief has the run of the place. If you lock the door, the thief has to step up his efforts, making it more difficult (but not impossible) to get in. Raising the barrier to entry means that effort is required, and the thief has to assess if the reward is worth it. That having been said, I've been asked this question enough that I wrote a little piece about techniques to protect your assets (and all the ways they can be gotten around). It can be found here.
 
 
  Example 2 - Original
 
 
What’s the most blatant pirated design you’ve seen?

Many, many of the examples on Pirated Sites are incredibly blatant, so it's hard to choose. The most blatant *pirate*, however, was a company called Glythor. Their first site was clearly a close copy of Sony's site. They were called on it, and a few months later they redesigned – to something that looked just like MarchFirst's site. You can view the screenshots here.
 
 
  Example 2 - Rip
 
 
Where do you get your own design inspiration?

I don't do much designing these days, but when I do I take cues from folks like Michael Heilemann, Shaun Inman, and my main man Mike Pick, the designer of Cloud King, my art gallery site. When I want a wider scope, I hit sites like CSS Vault, Netdiver and Well Vetted.
 
 
  Example 3 - Original
 
 
Are there any particular designers that you admire?

I admire people like Jeffrey Zeldman, who has taken this new medium and made it his own. I admire the crew at 37 Signals for demonstrating that usability can be graceful and minimalism is to be aspired to. I admire Jim Coudal for something he said at South by Southwest: Fire your clients. If you are your own client, you can do whatever you want.
 
 
  Example 3 - Rip
 
 
For information about Pirated Sites, please visit:

www.pirated-sites.com
 
 
 
 
 
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