1
Will_H
Mr. Theme = P.O.'d
  • 2007/9/20 3:29

  • Will_H

  • Friend of XOOPS

  • Posts: 1786

  • Since: 2004/10/10


Well, I love to surf around and see people using my themes, I absolutely hate to see that the majority of them have removed the credits. Regardless of whether or not I have specifically requested this to not happen... still does.

As a result. I have adopted a new License for all of my work.

If you downloaded one of my themes prior to 09/19/07, you are lucky.

However, as of 09/19/07:

You must accept this before you can download!!!!

Quote:

Please be aware that we have two main types of website templates on our

website: Linked and LinkFree templates.

* Linked templates allow you to use our templates at no charge.

* LinkFree templates cost but you don't have to link back to Mr. Theme

Designs.

For those wanting to use our Linked templates, you must agree that you will

not modify, or hide the Mr. Theme credits. You also agree that you will not

claim the work, or graphics, as your own.

If you wish to remove the hyperlink to http://www.mrtheme.com, you have the option of

paying a Link Removal Fee. You can do this at any time. This Fee is shown in

the Theme's README file, this file is packaged with every theme that falls

under this Licence agreement. By violating linking terms you fully understand

you are committing copyright infringement, and are in breach of contract.

Violators will be subjected to a $10,000 federal fine for copyright

infringement. Mr. Theme Design will pursue any offender to the full extent

allowable by law.

Definitions:

* "Mr. Theme Designs" is the sole owner of the copyright and all other

rights to the website templates found on http://www.mrtheme.com.

* "Software Product" is all files included with the website template

distribution archive.

* The "Licensee" is the individual who downloads or receives the website

template.

* "License Fees" are monies paid from the Licensee to Mr. Theme Designs

for the right to invoke this License Agreement for a specific implementation

of the website template.

Application of License:

By downloading and using one of Mr. Theme Design's Software Products or

installing the Software Product on any machine you are legally bound by the

terms of this License Agreement.

Any material downloaded or otherwise obtained through the use of the website

and service is done at your own discretion and risk and you will be solely

responsible for any damage to your computer system or loss of data that

results from the download of any such material.

Permitted Uses:

* Provided that any required License Fees have been paid, this License

Agreement allows the Licensee to download the Software Product for the purpose

of installing the Software Product on the Licensee's website.

* The Licensee may install the Software Product onto a single website.

* The Licensee may also retain one copy of the distribution file of the

Software Product for archival purposes, provided that this archive is not

redistributed in any manner.

Restrictions:

* Due to the digital nature of the Software Product, there will be no

refunds after you have downloaded the Software Product. ALL SALES ARE FINAL.

* The Software Product may not be resold (this includes being displayed in

a website builder as a template for sale or displayed on a web site design as

a web site for sale), offered for free, given away or redistributed in any

manner whatsoever, this includes disassembling the web template in order to

use or sell parts of it..

* Our templates may not be resold

* Purchasing a Software Product License allows you to place the Software

Product on one (1) single web site. If you want to put the Software Product on

an additional web site, you must purchase an additional License or you will

violate the License Agreement.

* You absolutely may not sub-license, assign, or transfer this License to

anyone else without prior written consent.

* You may not claim intellectual or exclusive ownership to the Software

Product, modified or unmodified.

* You may not use any portion of the Software Product in any other

application or redistribute the Software Product under the same or another

name.

Disclaimer of Warranty:

The Software Product is provided on an "as is" basis without warranty of any

kind -- either expressed or implied -- including, without limitation, any

implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Mr.

Theme Designs does not warrant the performance of the software or that the

software will meet your requirements or operate error free.

Title and Copyright:

The Software Product remains the property of Mr. Theme Designs. The Software

Product is licensed, and not sold. By paying License Fees, the Licensee is

granted the right to use the Software Product as described in this License

Agreement, but the Licensee does not assume any rights of ownership or other

rights in and to the Software Product.

Consequences of License Violations:

Should the Licensee use unlicensed copies of the Software Product without the

expressed written consent of Mr. Theme Designs, the Licensee is in violation

of this License Agreement. If the Licensee was using any portions of the

Software Product which ordinarily require the payment of License Fees, the

Licensee agrees to pay to Mr. Theme Designs the License Fees necessary to

license the unlicensed implementation according to the schedule of License

Fees available at the time from the Mr. Theme Designs web site. Additionally,

Mr. Theme Designs may require that the Licensee immediately and entirely

remove any implementation of the Software Product that is in breach of this

License Agreement. In addition, the Licensee shall be liable for the payment

to Mr. Theme Designs of court costs, attorney's fees, punitive damages, and

any other legal remedy appropriate for the situation.

Should the Licensee distribute, sell, or otherwise make available any portion

of the Software Product or any modification which is determined to be the

Software Product according to any other sections of this License Agreement,

the Licensee shall be liable for the payment to Mr. Theme Designs of the

equivalent cost of License Fees for the Software Product or for all monies

collected by the Licensee in violation of this License Agreement, whichever is

more. In addition, the Licensee shall be liable for the payment to Mr. Theme

Designs of attorney's fees, court costs, punitive damages, and any other legal

remedy appropriate for the situation.

Jurisdiction:

This License Agreement is governed by the laws of the State of Maryland

located in the United States of America. Both the Licensee and Mr. Theme

Design submit to the jurisdiction of the courts of the State of Maryland. Both

the Licensee and Mr. Theme Designs agree to commence any litigation that may

arise hereunder in the courts located in the Judicial District of Montgomery

County in the State of Maryland.

Mr. Theme Designs reserves the right to change and/or modify these terms

without prior notice. Understand this is a legally binding contract, and

violation will have legal consequences. Should this license be violated, your

acceptance of this document will be used against you in a court of law. You

will be held responsible for chargeback fees, court costs, attorney fees and

any other costs that arise from violation of the License Agreement.


So yeah, a big thanks to all the wonderful people that think its cool to commit copyright infringement.

the IMAGES people, dangerous stuff - stealing graphics.

Pretty soon, there won't be any free themes left....

2
debianus
Re: Mr. Theme = P.O.'d
  • 2007/9/20 9:04

  • debianus

  • Not too shy to talk

  • Posts: 179

  • Since: 2006/12/17


Quote:
Well, I love to surf around and see people using my themes, I absolutely hate to see that the majority of them have removed the credits. Regardless of whether or not I have specifically requested this to not happen... still does.


It is a shame.
I believe that you must publish who are doing it.

3
aph3x
Re: Mr. Theme = P.O.'d
  • 2007/9/20 14:17

  • aph3x

  • Theme Designer

  • Posts: 834

  • Since: 2004/12/26


Thats a very complete document, i like it :)

Yeah i only released 2-3 themes that had a MUST keep credits but say from a 10 sites found, only 2 had credits intact lol so i didn't bother to do that anymore...i might license future works or sell them at 1$ each
Everything I'm not made me everything I am
The Themes

4
Will_H
Re: Mr. Theme = P.O.'d
  • 2007/9/20 15:25

  • Will_H

  • Friend of XOOPS

  • Posts: 1786

  • Since: 2004/10/10


Quote:

debianus wrote:
It is a shame.
I believe that you must publish who are doing it.


Well, technically... Prior to implementing this license there were no legal obligations intact for keeping my credits intact. Just a request. I had hoped that users would respect the amount of work that goes into publishing a theme. (On avaerage it takes about 8 hours of work to publish a theme, and another 2 to do a matching imageset. Not to mention all the work that I put into my cbb template set.)

So identifying those websites that removed my credit would be childish... IDK, its just very offensive to claim someone elses work as your own.

All of my new themes will be safeguarded against it, I am in the process of developing a new theme that will break if credits are removed. essentially it will check to see if the credits are intact and if they are not it breaks (probably be replaced by a get a license page) then call home so that I can keep a record of those sites that do remove my credits.)

So once again development of new themes has been haulted so that I can work on this. I will share this with the other theme devs in the community, when it is finished.

Quote:

DefianceB0y wrote:
Thats a very complete document, i like it :)


Thanks. Its a pretty basic, but very thorough, license agreement.

Quote:

DefianceB0y wrote:
Yeah i only released 2-3 themes that had a MUST keep credits but say from a 10 sites found, only 2 had credits intact lol so i didn't bother to do that anymore...i might license future works or sell them at 1$ each


I have a list of about 50 websites that have removed my credits....

I am considering the same. Its a real shame... I wanted to continue contributing my work for free.. but people just have no respect whatsoever.

My hands are tied, I cannot release stuff knowing that 95% of the people that use MY work.. claim it as their own... I dont mind people that add their own credits next to mine, but replacing them is a big no-no.

Oh well, it is what it is. I will update you when I finish the protected theme template.

5
tom
Re: Mr. Theme = P.O.'d
  • 2007/9/20 15:38

  • tom

  • Friend of XOOPS

  • Posts: 1359

  • Since: 2002/9/21


I'm not arguing here, but I always read the GPL in the following way.

If a product is GPL, any derivatives must also be GPL, anything which relies on the GPL code to function must also be GPL, and once released as GPL you cannot withdraw that right for others distributing work.

I also read the GPL as saying that credits must remain in tact when distributing copies and derivatives, within the source code, but as such don't have to be visually displayed to the end user (ie when using it on your own site and not distributing).

I could be wrong and stand corrected if so, but this is how I've always read the GPL that XOOPS and products relying on XOOPS to work must form the same licence. I was also led to believe that images used within themes could be licensed separately due to them not being dependant on the code to function.

Anyway all that aside, thanks for your contributions back, much appreciated.

6
aph3x
Re: Mr. Theme = P.O.'d
  • 2007/9/20 16:13

  • aph3x

  • Theme Designer

  • Posts: 834

  • Since: 2004/12/26


No one said anything about already released items, only the future are being talked about.
It'll be absurd to start and modify everything done so far and re-release with new license
Everything I'm not made me everything I am
The Themes

7
script_fu
Re: Mr. Theme = P.O.'d

This looks like it will hold water here in the USA. Not quite sure about anywhere else tho. I know the code cannot be protected due to XOOPS being gpl but the images are 100% protected here in the USA.

You can find anyone useing your themes Will with google. All you half to do is use very unique names for each graphics.

Im sure Bs will be along to give advise on google search. She really is the bomb on finding things.

Bravo...

8
aph3x
Re: Mr. Theme = P.O.'d
  • 2007/9/20 17:14

  • aph3x

  • Theme Designer

  • Posts: 834

  • Since: 2004/12/26


LOL and what..all the sites that are charging for XOOPS themes are breaking the GPL...i doubt it...tis' my work i release it however the hell i want to release it!
Everything I'm not made me everything I am
The Themes

9
script_fu
Re: Mr. Theme = P.O.'d

Quote:

DefianceB0y wrote:
LOL and what..all the sites that are charging for XOOPS themes are breaking the GPL...i doubt it...tis' my work i release it however the hell i want to release it!


Im confussed are you talking about my post?

10
aph3x
Re: Mr. Theme = P.O.'d
  • 2007/9/20 17:29

  • aph3x

  • Theme Designer

  • Posts: 834

  • Since: 2004/12/26


not only ur post...judging by it no one can sell a theme ergo all themes/modules selling sites break the license...as is XOOPS code in it?! LMAO what about the rest of the code which needless to say is far more than bunch of smarty.
Themes and modules are 3rd party XOOPS components and they can be distributed how the coder pleases to do so.
Everything I'm not made me everything I am
The Themes

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