When creating an original a website or app is there any way to protect the layout?

first thing you do is draw your layout in a sheet of paper, because if you do it right away in the pc, you will waste lots of time just finishing your desired layout, (lets say you have a finished sample layout in your papers now.) second thing, you can use paint for very simple picture editing but i would recommend that you used adobe or corel draw. this softwares will help you a lot in terms of photo editing. i also suggest that you used macromedia dreamweaver or microsoft frontpage for website development. From this softwares will help you to create the desired design you wish to have. and if you do want to have the codes, MS frontpage or dreamweaver will provide you. HTML codes are the ones to use in website development, and its not hard to find in internet. you can check and see a certain webpage code by doing "right click on the page and click on view source" or save the webpage on a folder in your computer. Then open the Notepad program. from there open the webpage you just saved. and then all codings will be displayed. i hope i do help with your question.....

If someone reproduces a website layout, and idea, then this is illegal.

Unfortunately there is no way to protect a website layout from being reproduced, but you can make it difficult, for someone to copy it.

There is nothing you can do about it. All you can do is come up with a logo and get a trademark for your logo. Then they cannot use the logo. Well sort of. They can still make a parody of it. Say for example your website is "My Book Review Site"; there is nothing stopping them from making a site called, "My Stupid Book Review Site". The site can otherwise look exactly like yours.

Many people have gone around registering web sites with names like "Sony Sucks Donkeys". They want Sony to buy the site from them and then take it down. They are not breaking the law. They are making money doing it.

No, anyone can copy, just like you can create your own facebook if you want. Although you cant use their name or icons etc.