It's not like a new car company starts with someone else's body shape until they can design their own car or copies their TV ad for a few months. I can appreciate that Square might've OKed this or look kindly on a temporary copy from a startup, but for about the same level of effort they could've differentiated their site a fair bit more (even just a different hue for the background).
The Tesla Roadster, IIRC, uses a Lotus body. But they actually licensed it from Lotus.
I'm not sure if I'm missing something here - looking at code/designs and tweaking them to learn is one thing, but is basing a funded company on something so blatant now considered OK? I'd like to know if this is the thought pattern for people who are designers or programmers.
Is Square within the YC stable, is that it?
Should I be doing this with my side projects, to piggyback on that success?
(Keep in mind that I'm assuming in this case that they don't have permission.)
"Why would they need permission?"
That's what I've been replying to.