Hello,

I'd like to ask if I were to develop a web that uses either Windows or Macintosh icons, is it legal? Not a commercial site but just a portal or community.

Anybody? What I mean is my web contains those icons. Any ideas?

If you use any object, item or content specifically belonging to Macintosh or Microsoft, without the permission of the company, you run the risk of being legally liable, regardless of whether your site is commercial or not. Now, it's another matter entirely whether you'll be found, reported or if either one will even care. But you are at their mercy if they choose to act.

I would consider finding or having made for you a series of icons similar to those created by MS/Mac, but unique enough to not infringe upon copyrights. That's about the safest way to go, I think.

If you didn't purchase a royalty free license for those icons/images then of course you cannot use them. Unless you've either created them yourself or had them custom designed by someone else then you really have no right. Chances are, Windows/Mac icons are widely used everywhere without authorization but it only takes 1 time for them to pick the needle out of the stack to prove a point with a nice lawsuit :)