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General Talk: Public Domain designs - have copyrights in them!?

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  1.  
    • CommentAuthornbarger
    • CommentTimeJul 4th 2008
     
    So I noticed when I search under the public domain on the site that some of the designs have copyrights on them. Am I entitled to remove the copyright and assume they are public domain? I went to one person's template, ( Deiter) and it says on it if you want to get rid of the copyright then you have to pay me $7!! I am assuming if they say public domain I can do whatever I want with them right? Thanks really appreciate the clarification.
    Nathan
  2.  
    If a template is listed as Public Domain then you are, in short, free to do whatever you like with it.

    Once a template is submitted to Open Designs it is held on this site under the license chosen by the author. It is up to the submitter to ensure that they choose the correct license.

    If the template is later found to not be in the public domain, then the submitter may be held liable as outlined in paragraph two of the Public Domain dedication.
    •  
      CommentAuthorJeremyD
    • CommentTimeJul 4th 2008 edited by JeremyD on the 04th July 2008 at 19:52:24 EDT
     
    Additionally, some designers leave their name on public domain designs in the hopes that someone will keep a link up anyway as a courtesy. As for the $7 thing... o.O that's screwed up, in my opinion. Especially if its a PD design.
    • CommentAuthorbluecafe
    • CommentTimeJul 5th 2008 edited by bluecafe on the 05th July 2008 at 02:48:18 EDT
     
    What if the template states "copyright by the author " only .. what license applies here? Is such a template considered public domain?
    http://www.opendesigns.org/preview/?template=1665

    It asks to keep a link to the author in addition to a sponsored link. Removal is allowed against payment.

    edit: sorry .. I am blind .. just noticed cc license.

    P.S. .. just wondering .. is there a rule in place about sponsored links or not?
  5.  
    Posted By: bluecafeP.S. .. just wondering .. is there a rule in place about sponsored links or not?

    Yep there is, I missed the readme.txt file in that template.

    I've removed it pending a reply from the author and will also be going through the rest of that authors templates submitted after the 25 May 2008 (that's when the rule came into place) to check if the others include that.

    Thanks for letting us know of that one :)
    • CommentAuthorwfiedler
    • CommentTimeJul 5th 2008
     
    •  
      CommentAuthorNickyD
    • CommentTimeJul 5th 2008 edited by NickyD on the 05th July 2008 at 09:05:04 EDT
     
    Posted By: bluecafe is there a rule in place about sponsored links or not?


    Glad that was cleared up. I had emailed Sean about it(template 1665) via our email form, but did not hear back. So I was not sure if he was away for the holiday (in the states) or the email form did not work. I was not sure if I should post about that specific template, although I thought is was a beautiful template. Glad it was addressed.
    •  
      CommentAuthorgnome
    • CommentTimeJul 5th 2008 edited by gnome on the 10th July 2008 at 10:11:35 EDT
     
    Wolfram: unless I am missing something, there is nothing bad about 1670 (besides contrast). GPL is a fun license for website templates, because any website design based on one is GPL licensed as well.
    Edit: rephrased
    •  
      CommentAuthorSean
    • CommentTimeJul 6th 2008
     
    @NickyD: If you need to email me, do it directly or via my site's contact form as the OD email system is still being worked on, so it's not reliable.
    • CommentAuthorwfiedler
    • CommentTimeJul 6th 2008
     
    Jason, there are advertisments in the template. I'm not sure, if this is allowed.
    •  
      CommentAuthorgnome
    • CommentTimeJul 6th 2008
     
    Wolfram: I knew I was missing something. I checked, and it doesn't look like the script adding rel="nofollow" is running, which is a problem, unless it works in mysterious ways.
    •  
      CommentAuthorSean
    • CommentTimeJul 7th 2008
     
    @gnome: check with Christopher on the nofollow script as that's something he was working on and would have more information for you/everyone on it.
    •  
      CommentAuthorNickyD
    • CommentTimeJul 7th 2008 edited by NickyD on the 07th July 2008 at 11:03:12 EDT
     
    Thanks Sean, will do.

    So, what is the final verdict on links/ads?

    I could be wrong, but there appear to be some on kohout's 2 designs on the present home page (Template 1671 and 1672). Is this okay? Just curious, and nice designs by the way.
    • CommentAuthorXSQueen
    • CommentTimeJul 7th 2008
     
    @all: also curious about the sponsored links/adverts, esp since 1670 has sponsor type text and linkback (cheap hosting adverts) ..
    • CommentAuthorfernbap
    • CommentTimeJul 10th 2008
     
    GPL is a fun license for website templates, because any website based on one is GPL licensed (with no exceptions) as well.


    err... i think you should rephrase that.

    You can use a GPL tool to make a copyrighted document (are images made with GIMP GPL too?). Websites have 2 components: design and content. Even if the design is GPL, the website will NEVER be GPL
    •  
      CommentAuthorgnome
    • CommentTimeJul 10th 2008
     
    I know that you can use a GPL tool to build non-GPL stuff. If you modify a GPL-licensed template, your design is required to be GPL, unless I am misinterpreting the conditions of GPL. The content would not be, but the design: yes.
    • CommentAuthorcopsworld
    • CommentTimeJul 10th 2008
     
    Posted By: wfiedlerWhat about this template?

    http://www.opendesigns.org/preview/?template=1670


    Did anyone notice the price of his 'unlimited' hosting on that template?? bigsmile

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