Comments on: Kayak broadside hits Microsoft's search redesign

Does the new look of Microsoft's Bing travel search tool veer too close to that of search engine Kayak.com? Kayak thinks so.

[rrod182]

This reminds me of another lawsuit.

[Sadien_Inc]

Ironically, most copyright lawsuits are "strikingly similar." ;)

It does appear that there may be a trade dress issue. However, what I found interesting is the fact that the two images above are not "strikingly similar." They do look somewhat alike. Yet, as many people here have commented, many travel sites have "like" layouts.

I think Kayak has a long, uphill battle, if they wish to pursue legal action in this matter.

As with many of these suits, "legal action" may be a red herring. The idea that Microsoft may be a defendant for copyright infringement caught my attention. And honestly, this is the first I've ever heard of Kayak.com.

Which, may be the Kayak's true intention. Nothing says "look at me" like a publicized lawsuit.

Sadien Staff
Sadien, Inc.
http://www.sadien.com

[MyRightEye]

Still ripping off GUIs since 1985....

[catbutt5]

@dan10000
Apple was invited by Xerox to see that primitive little more than a mouse on a screen demo and told that Xerox had no plans to develop it further.
If you're going to try to use history to argue your point... don't pick one that when told in full, proves how misinformed you are.

[mbenedict]

@catbutt5

Uh, no. In fact Xerox SUED Apple in Federal Court for $150 million. See the case: Xerox Corp. v. Apple Computer, Inc. Apple ended up paying Xerox to license its technology, although the original suit was thrown out on a technicality (Xerox filed the suit too late.)

If you're going to try to use history to argue your point... don't pick one that when told in full, proves how misinformed you are.

By the way, Apple LOST its copyright-infringement suit against Microsoft. Apple had actually entered a secret deal with Microsoft, giving Microsoft the right to license Apple's GUI elements, while in turn Microsoft would write software for the Mac.

Apple then tried to renege on the deal, AND LOST. The Federal district court ruled against Apple, and the decisions against Apple were upheld by the appellate court. See: Apple Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp., 709 F. Supp. 925, 926 (N.D. Cal. 1989).

[puterhead]

Don't see them winning this one in court, or it even going that far to begin with. That said if you look at the pages side by side you do get the impression that its a 95% copy right down to the rounded corners on the result boxes and the layout of the information in them, the right hand collumn controls that are not consistant with other microsoft sites etc.. Kayak should be feeling very flattered at the moment.

[CDubber]

Microsoft, leeching off the design work of someone else? What??? I'M SHOCKED AND APPALLED!!! :|

[El_Segfaulto]

Ford, Toyota et. al. do the same thing too! It's insane! My GMC has a steering wheel and horn, but these copycat companies decide to get rich of the "doing something because it's a good layout" scheme.

[MadLyb]

OK, am I the only commenter to ever use a travel system?

They ALL look like this.

[Vegaman_Dan]

Bingo. Travelocity, Priceline, etc- they all look like this.

Go figure. I had never even heard of Kayak before this so I'm not entirely sure this isn't just a publicity stunt on their part.

[jaybarrow]

I only book flights online... and I've never seen designs so similar as these.

Microsoft has done it again... ripped off a UI and slapped their label on it... SP2

[Vegaman_Dan]

I book flights online as well and see the same basic design at Travelocity, Priceline, etc.

Perhaps you haven't run into enough sites in the travel industry yet.

[El_Segfaulto]

How many ways are there to display information on a search? What would you prefer, a little man with a flag performing semaphore at the bottom of the screen? The filters have to be somewhere, and as English speakers we are trained to read left to right. It's similar, but no more similar than dozens of other travel and search sites.

[catch23]

If Apple did? Heck, Apple cut and pasted and entire OS (because the one they wrote was so crappy not even they could use it).
Just ask Konfabulator about how nice it is to work with Apple...

[ancre007]

This sounds like a desparate ploy by Kayak to stay in business.

[tech_crazy]

So, it is okay for a big corporation to copy someone else's stuff blatantly and without compensation to them? Unless there was something of unique value in it, do you think there would have an attempt to mimic it so closely?

[cowatson]

Bing Travel looks like Farecast.com did before Microsoft purchased it. What I do notice in the comparison is the superiority of Bing Travel; the predictive modeling in the top left and the quick links to other travel websites in the top right...probably why Farecast won webbies as best travel site.

[servermaker]

Never heard of kayak.com prior to this. What their brand now means to me is: "professional publicity wh0re." As in Paris Hilton is so kayak.com. When these clowns cease functioning as a travel company, their website may be worth some money for a celebrity gossip blog.

[ZetaZeta_]

Or as a kayaking and state park / river information portal. ;P

[ZetaZeta_]

Ironically Wayback Machine has 1997-2001 being exactly that... o lol

[ZetaZeta_]

There are only a few ways to skin a cat (or rather, there is generally a "most intuitive" way to present a certain type of data).

Compare a standard Google Search's results page with Yahoo... They were even more similar in Google's early days.

Sometimes it's not about the GUI. I don't care about it nearly as much as the accuracy of the search results.

Had Microsoft used the exact same interface, but made each flight/ticket/price box in a 2-box-wide grid instead of a stack or something stupidly small, it wouldn't be an issue at all. Put Priceline's filters on the left instead of the right, and you have almost the exact same UI yet again. The ads on the right are specific to all bing searches, so they don't even count. (To an extent, the filters/related/etc. box [context sensitive box?] on the left changes per search, but it's throughout bing as well).

Also, according to wikipedia, kayak.com was founded in 2004. Live Farecast started in 2007, and it had this UI.
Why did they say nothing for 2 years? I never used them, so can anyone confirm they even always used this UI?

[Sumatra-Bosch]

Wow, Kayak has copyright on tables?

[webdev511]

Farecast was founded in 2003.

I think every website that has someone else coming out with a similar layout and object placement should sue. It's not like the courts have better things to do.

Kayak, is getting their moment in the spotlight. If their service is good, then they might stay there.

[rusrom]

All logical, studied, right-brained roads lead to this design, so both of them arrived at the same place--a very dull place. From the boxing of similar information to easing comoforot level and eye strain with grey-blues, these are just both the uninspired rendering of the state-of-the-lowest-common-denominator art in website 101 today. Bing didn't copy Kayak. There's not enough of interest there to bother copying. They both got to the same place by taking the most boring path of least resistance to resolving the same design problem. To presume, or even lend credibility, to claims that Microsoft copied Kayak is to give faaaaar too much credit to the design they're in dispute over. At best they both solved the same problem in the same way, both providing absolutely nothing new, interesting, or engaging to the language of design. Much ado about nothing!