I have a general question that pertains to copyrights or licenses, not Mybb or it's themes and plugins.
Say if I wanted to create a theme or edit an existing one, but used said theme of someone else's as a template for the new one, would I still be required to display the authors copyright?
What I'm trying to say is if I used someone else's existing theme as a template for a new one, but I created my own images and button set, and modified it to the point where it no longer resemble the theme you used as a template?
Is there a point where you can change something to the point, that it is not really any longer considered the work of the authors theme you used as a template or guideline, but yours instead?
In such a case like this would I still be required to display the copyright of the the authors theme I used as a template or canvas, or could I then implement my own copyright or no copyright in the footer other than the Mybb copyright?
Quote:Is there a point where you can change something to the point, that it is not really any longer considered the work of the authors theme you used as a template or guideline, but yours instead?
yes,there is.. but it's quite a relative term, means that the original must be manipulated in a way that it can be seen as a new intellectual property of its own ("Threshold of originality").. too fishy to work with on a safe basis...
nevertheless: the last time i looked, there was a clear tendency by (at least german) courts, not to give html/css/themes/layouts any copyright protection at all, because these things would not manage to reach the required "threshold of originality" to get this sort of protection by the law...
(2008-10-22, 02:07 AM)Xtreme2damax Wrote: [ -> ]I have a general question that pertains to copyrights or licenses, not Mybb or it's themes and plugins.
Say if I wanted to create a theme or edit an existing one, but used said theme of someone else's as a template for the new one, would I still be required to display the authors copyright?
What I'm trying to say is if I used someone else's existing theme as a template for a new one, but I created my own images and button set, and modified it to the point where it no longer resemble the theme you used as a template?
Is there a point where you can change something to the point, that it is not really any longer considered the work of the authors theme you used as a template or guideline, but yours instead?
In such a case like this would I still be required to display the copyright of the the authors theme I used as a template or canvas, or could I then implement my own copyright or no copyright in the footer other than the Mybb copyright?
If the "original product" was released with the GPL license (and I'm solely referring to GPL at this point to any type of "product"), you may take the release of the "original product" and modify it, and use it by yourself, removing any copyrights if you like.
However, if you were to
release your modified version of the "original product" then you will have to release your "modified version" under GPL
with the original copyrights from the "original product" and also state where you have modified it.
For clarification on this in terms of MyBB
themes based on the MyBB default theme, we will allow you to use the base MyBB theme and templates to modify at your own desire, and we will allow you to redistribute these with any license you want (not restricted to GPL).
As a disclaimer, this is currently the knowledge I have on this issue of copyright, and as I am not a lawyer I do not claim this information is 100% accurate. In addition, the above may be changed at any time.
Thanks for letting me know, I appreciate it.
What about using only a small part of a theme? Like an editor theme?