WordPress supports copyright violations and theft

[MiroslavGlavic]

How would twitter/facebook go about making a claim for someone in Indonesia or India? Twitter/Facebook's servers are somewhere in the USA. US laws don't apply in Indonesia and India.

[chipbennett]

How would twitter/facebook go about making a claim for someone in Indonesia or India? Twitter/Facebook's servers are somewhere in the USA. US laws don't apply in Indonesia and India.

They wouldn't need to. They could simply issue a DMCA takedown notice to wordpress.org, to remove the trademark-infringing theme. No need whatsoever to go after the theme developer.

[Ryan]

US laws don't apply in Indonesia and India.

This is true, but does not matter. Copyright law is fairly standardised(ish) internationally so they'd be breaking the law no matter what country they're in.

Of course, someone breaking the law and being able to hold them accountable for it are two entirely different things.

[MiroslavGlavic]

Ryan and Chip:

One of the Facebook themes, it's author is using that facebook theme on his own website. How would twitter/fb go about doing the dmca (which is US based)?

Anyways I e-mailed themes at wp when I made this thread, I got an e-mail about an hour ago...from someone at WP, he will ping the authors about this issue.
Good or Bad?

[Ryan]

One of the Facebook themes, it's author is using that facebook theme on his own website. How would twitter/fb go about doing the dmca (which is US based)?

There are many ways to take down sites like that. The easiest approach is to file a complaint with their host. Most hosts will remove sites which are breaching copyright. Firstly it would pay to alert the developer, as it's possible they're just a moron who doesn't realise you aren't allowed to steal stuff (a lot of people are actually this retarded!). If the host is in the USA, then filing a DMCA takedown would be the next step (after talking to the author, then alerting their host). Beyond that, you can threaten legal action and beyond that you can follow through on the legal action.

Good or Bad?

Good. How could that possibly be bad?

We still don't know 100% for certain that they aren't allowed to use the design ... it's highly doubtful, but you never know, they might be Mark Zuckerberg's cousin or something like that and hence have permission ... stranger things have happened

[davecoveney]

Just to mention the legal standpoint in the UK...

The publisher carries liability for copyright laws, not the author. A publisher can really get it in the neck if everything published is subject to editorial review yet still breaches copyright. Given all themes are reviewed, often extensively, this suggests that whoever clicked the 'OK' button will have known that the themes are copies and, therefore, potentially in breach of copyright.

I hope the foundation is getting a lot of donations, because if a rights holder decides to take a hard line on this they'll be winning a lot of damages.

To me the reason to question this is not ones own irritation at copies, but that something that damages the WP project will damage us all.

[MiroslavGlavic]

To me the reason to question this is not ones own irritation at copies, but that something that damages the WP project will damage us all.

This is exactly why I made this thread. Also I had issues like this coming from India and Indonesia in the past. The reason why I mentioned the countries is because Twitter and Facebook are US based. The other sites are not. I am 100% sure those authors did not ask T or F for permission, the guy who is using the FB look on his own website is doubling his troubles. If people go "meh, whatever" then things like this will go on.

[hafiz]

I'm from Indonesia, and I wrote about this here:
http://www.wplover.com/1396/theme-de...-the-right-way

I don't know precisely how the law applies in my country, but I'm pretty sure copyright infringement is illegal here just as it is everywhere else. Now, some people who do this quite probably don't know any better about the issue and the best we can do is to explain to them why it's not alright.

I do hope for WordPress.org to be more strict about this, though. One of the requirements for a theme to appear there is "The theme is your own original work." which clearly is not the case for the clone themes they accepted.

[MiroslavGlavic]

I'm from Indonesia, and I wrote about this here:
http://www.wplover.com/1396/theme-de...-the-right-way

I think I seen your article before you posted it here.

The reason I posted the countries is to have that part of the discussion on how to go after people like those authors I mentioned in my original post. Maybe Twitter/Facebook might have the money to go the legal route.........At least those three authors did not copy Microsoft's look, then they would be in real trouble. MS has money.

What does a small timer (who doesn't have thousands upon thousands to spend on lawyers) can do? Unlike twitter/facebook/microsft, I am sure Jeff doesn't have the amount of money they have.

What "pisses" me off the most is the fact that someone clicked the "approve" button at WordPress Headquarters.

Either someone was clicking approve fast because they were in a rush or they just didn't care. This can affect all of us in the community.