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Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
Copying code directly without permission is a copyright violation.
Mimicking a patented process is also grounds for a lawsuit.
That said, you can make products that have similar functions so long as you aren't copying too closely. For example, Lemmy vs. Reddit. Both are social media platforms allowing posting and up/downvoting. But the nuts and bolts are significantly different.
Mimicking a patented process is also grounds for a lawsuit.
Just note that at lest within EU, pure software patents are illegals. It's still a bit tricky because you want to sell globally (including places with software patent) and that it's possible to patent device/process using software. So, to my understanding you can't patent let's say A game where you build a maze and put tower to defend-it, and use XP to make your tower bigger, but you can't patent let's say a device using sensor, servo an algorithm to let a car drive itself.
As long as you aren't coping the source code directly it's generally ok.
Having an OSS version of existing closed source software is a thing.
Examples are Gimp and Photoshop, Libre/Open office and Microsoft Office.
AOSP and Android, or LimeageOS and Android, or - okay there are a dozen different non-Google OSs
Isnt aosp literally android?
It's the core, yes, but as well as everything else they touch Google has been gradually making more of AOSP private. Android, in the format Google ships it, has a lot more bells and whistles than barebones AOSP, which is basically whatever Google lets everyone play with. But there are other FOSS alts
Yes it is completely fine and legal.
You'll only have a problem if the application has features that are patented and the patents are enforceable. Or if you are impersonating a trademark.
Just look at the gaming industry. Every few years, a new idea is made by someone, it gets super popular, and before you know it there are 20,000,000 clones of that original game all with slightly different tweaks to the visuals while playing exactly the same.
Like before we called them "action-RPGs," they were colloquially known as "Diablo clones."
Note that I'm not looking into making a product, just learning
Pretty much anything will be legal if you don't release it, though in any case it's also good to distance yourself from IP (Intellectual Property) as much as you can.
Make everything from scratch (not just code), use different names, don't look at their version after you started (no side-by-side), and add your own ideas/changes. Don't even reference terms (particularly on a release page) related to the original, and don't release/announce/tease anything until it's done (a DMCA can stop your project in its tracks, but if 100+ people already downloaded it likely cannot be stopped).
Cloning functionality is legal, but the tricky part is trademark for various terms and processes.
