Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 19

Thread: WordPress supports copyright violations and theft

  1. #1
    MiroslavGlavic is offline Here For The Peanuts
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Toronto, Canada
    Posts
    174

    Default WordPress supports copyright violations and theft

    Yes or No?

    Go search for TWITTER or FACEBOOK on http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/ or on the admin panel on your site

    http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/retweet this is the first one for twitter

    Now for facebook look alikes

    http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/smells-like-facebook
    http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/facebookwb

    Smeels like facebook's first line on it's description: The exact Facebook clone theme for Wordpress.

    I made the title like it is for a reason............comments?

    I will never use a theme, plugin or any services from: sunsivan, Nazieb and iayman

    Sunsivan's Author URL is a site in India, has 2 themes

    Nazieb's Author URL is a .com but after looking for a minute or two he is from Indonesia. His domain is a complete clone of facebook, has 1 theme

    iayman's profile says no themes but the search said he made facebookwb, his domain is a wp<something>.com

    both Nazieb and iayam run WordPress services according to their websites...interesting.

    iayman's domain is registered in Egypt.

    I AM NOT SAYING ANYTHING BAD ABOUT INDIA/INDONESIA/EGYPT OR IT'S PEOPLE.

    These people basically took someone's look, I am sure without permission, and had their themes uploaded to WP's extend.

    I don't know how the whole process works exactly, I am sure the steps are:


    1. Create a theme
    2. a lot of somethings that I don't know
    3. voila it's up on WP's extend
    I am sure part of #2, an actual human being looks at the themes and tests it right?

    So what happened on these situations? I got noticed on these themes I think via weblogtoolscollections (I never get their name right)'s theme selection posts.

    Someone care to explain please? I am sure Jeff would be pissed if I copied WPTavern's look without asking him. At least they didn't copy Microsoft's look? (who'd want their site to look like Microsoft anyways but that's another thread ).

    I could call them weasels, thieves, <censored>, <censored>, <censored>,and so forth but I won't.

    If you were twitter or facebook, what would YOU do?

    Is there a way to report those themes? I only looked at the first page of search results for each term by the way.

    Someone at WP's extend stepped in doo doo when they let these three themes inside.

  2. #2
    Otto's Avatar
    Otto is offline On The Rocks
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Memphis, TN
    Posts
    862

    Default

    Considering how often FB changes their look, it's not like any theme could keep up with it anyway. :P

  3. #3
    MiroslavGlavic is offline Here For The Peanuts
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Toronto, Canada
    Posts
    174

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Otto View Post
    Considering how often FB changes their look, it's not like any theme could keep up with it anyway. :P
    I hate the new facebook change that started a few days ago.

    Anyways back to topic: I am sure other sites are copied and on WP's extend area.

  4. #4
    conorp's Avatar
    conorp is offline Kegger
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Australia
    Posts
    506

    Default

    I AM NOT SAYING ANYTHING BAD ABOUT INDIA/INDONESIA/EGYPT OR IT'S PEOPLE.
    It is not relevant at all where those people are located.

    Plus it would be really easy to rip of Jeffs design, its based on a free theme
    The lord of every land, rising for them,
    The Aton of the day, great of majesty.

    Great Hymn of the Aton

  5. #5
    Omar is offline Hello World
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Bolivia
    Posts
    5

    Default

    If you hate these themes so much why look them up, let twitter or facebook fight there battles if they decide to.. its not like there making you download it and use it...


    gota love seeing someone always trying to provoke discussions this way lol

  6. #6
    Ryan's Avatar
    Ryan is offline WordPress Legend
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    New Zealand
    Posts
    2,797

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Omar View Post
    If you hate these themes so much why look them up, let twitter or facebook fight there battles if they decide to.. its not like there making you download it and use it...
    That's not really the point here. I think the point being made is that WordPress.org seems to be approving these themes which clearly are in breach of copyright.

  7. #7
    andrea_r's Avatar
    andrea_r is offline WordPress Rockstar
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Eastern Canada
    Posts
    1,325

    Default

    this came up with a Twitter ones, which grabs the blog look directly from Twitter's API. Kinda negates the whole copyright thing.

  8. #8
    Jeffro's Avatar
    Jeffro is offline WPTavern Forum Admin
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Ohio
    Posts
    2,358

    Default

    You might be interested in the following discussions:

    http://www.wptavern.com/clone-themes-are-bad-mmmkay
    http://www.themelab.com/2010/01/31/w...mes-your-take/
    Themes that Mimic Copyrighted Design

    I'm guessing nothing will done until the copyright holders actually make a stand and enforce their copyright. Until then, let them play with fire.

    As an aside, I think one of the guidelines on the theme repository should state that the design should not mimic or be identical to a copyrighted design. But then, this would be subjective and may lead to more trouble.

  9. #9
    chipbennett's Avatar
    chipbennett is offline WordPress Legend
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    St. Louis, MO
    Posts
    1,993

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Jeffro View Post
    You might be interested in the following discussions:

    http://www.wptavern.com/clone-themes-are-bad-mmmkay
    http://www.themelab.com/2010/01/31/w...mes-your-take/
    Themes that Mimic Copyrighted Design

    I'm guessing nothing will done until the copyright holders actually make a stand and enforce their copyright. Until then, let them play with fire.

    As an aside, I think one of the guidelines on the theme repository should state that the design should not mimic or be identical to a copyrighted design. But then, this would be subjective and may lead to more trouble.
    I think that might expose WordPress to greater legal liability, because they are implying that they review and approve theme content with respect to copyright/trademark violations. (In much the same way that fraternities don't take car keys from people when they show up to their parties - because in so doing they would assume responsibility for the sobriety of the driver when they give them back their keys as they leave.)

    IMHO (IANAL), their best approach is to claim that theme authors are responsible for repository-hosted themes (much like web hosts claim no responsibility for the content of their users), and to enforce DMCA takedown notices as they are received.
    WP TurnKey - Turn-Key WordPress installation and maintenance services
    WordPress user since 2005 | @chip_bennett | chipbennett.net | cbnet Plugins

  10. #10
    Jeffro's Avatar
    Jeffro is offline WPTavern Forum Admin
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Ohio
    Posts
    2,358

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •