Copyrights, CC, GNU GPL – Infringements

  • Hi all!

    This is both a notice, and a question for other WP theme designers.

    I designed the News Print Theme which you can find on it’s own page in my blog. I clearly state this:

    Except where otherwise noted, this software is:

    • Copyright Richard Dows
    • Licensed under the terms of the CC/GNU GPL
    • Provided as is, with NO WARRANTY whatsoever

    In a nutshell, the GPL means that:

    • You may freely use the works for any purpose, including commercial ones
    • You may freely make derivative works provided that you leave the proper attribution and copyright notices
    • You may freely distribute the works and derivative works provided that you make the source code readily available under the same terms

    Now I culled this from others’ theme pages, and it seemed fairly straightforward. My question is – are there better ways of licensing? Should I put something more to make sure that people understand that my copyright should not be removed?

    The reason I put this forward is because the blog/domain Movietype.com has infringed my copyright, removing both my name, and the link to my site/blog. See for yourself, they claim the copyright is theirs. In fact they even changed the “Powered by WordPress”, changing the WordPress link to their own domain (again).

    I have written CC regarding this, and received a reply, that essentially CC doesn’t cover it because I haven’t written it correctly on that page. Clearly I need to alter my page.

    I have written GoDaddy.com about the infringer incidentally, so hopefully I will see his domain closed down, or him removing my theme, or restoring my copyright.

    So beware, this might happen to you. And if it has, what did you do, and how can I make my own copyright more airtight? Should I stop offering my themes for free, and charge people?

    Thank you,
    Richard Dows

Viewing 4 replies - 16 through 19 (of 19 total)

  • Well said petit! I’ll give that an Amen!

    If you require a link – that’s not free-ware anymore. It’s “linkware”.
    I have a link, but I never ask for keeping that link to my site in the theme(s), because I don’t feel it’s compatible with the whole idea. If I can remove the link to www.ads-software.com on my blog (and I can, legally!) then it would be the same for whatever theme I made up.
    However, people (=users) are mostly nice and they keep the link there even after they have modified the theme a lot.

    niziol, I could not have written that better. Your post sums up every extraneous thought I was having while going through this thread earlier.

    Thank you ??

    Thread Starter jbbrwcky

    (@jbbrwcky)

    Thank you all for your opinions.

    I have rewritten my theme accordingly now, specifying that my name, and “attribution” (as it was stated in my download page anyway) be kept in the footer.

    I’m sure many of you, if you design themes and spend a lot of time on them, can understand the ire I feel when I see one of my themes being used and it says Copyright to them, with no mention of the theme name, link to the download page, or my name, giving proper and due credit.

    I appreciate your honest opinions, rather than some who openly challenged any legitimacy I may have had regarding my own theme and the manner in which I released it. If you’ll notice I did ask for ways to make sure my own rights were maintained and more airtight, even though I’m a nice guy and release the theme for free.

    Thank you!
    Richard

Viewing 4 replies - 16 through 19 (of 19 total)
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