Removed themes for copyright reasons

[DeanMurray]

I've noticed that a number of themes have been removed from the various WPS galleries the last week.

I was wondering what the criteria is for deciding what to delete. I see that most of the themes that resemble WinAmp or Ipod have been removed. Some themes with characters from TV, games or movies have been removed.

Can themes with a sport team logo be added?

Just want to be clear on what cannot be added to the gallery.

[Bagder]

You cannot make a WPS and include other's materials without their permission.

If you copy images from somewhere, you must have their permissions for you to use them and redistribute them. The motives or who made the pics are not relevant.

[Cassandra]

To add a little more information, it's OK to use images that are explicitly allowed to be reproduced (ie most images distributed under Creative Commons licenses, or images that have been explicitly placed in the public domain by their creators) or original artwork inspired by a particular design.

It is not OK to use copyrighted images or photos, themes created by screen grabbing and editing, or themes that contain logos and/or trademarks.  

There are always going to be grey areas.  These are just guidelines.  If you create and/or distribute themes that we believe violate someone else's copyright, then that's up to you, but you can't host them on the wiki.  Sorry.

[talos321]

So was the the rockamp removed because it resembled
a winamp shape (their default themes are not like the wps.)
Or was it a screenshot of a theme that someone created
for winamp and proper permissions were not obtained?

Also cheers to Dean above whom created one of the few themes that are useable
while driving.

[DeanMurray]

Thanks Talos.  All I did was port some existing themes to the 240x320 screen that I liked.

Hope you're not wearing headphones while driving. Safety first  

I fully agree that copyrighted material cannot be used without permission.  I just wanted to see what guidelines are being used to decide what is beyond "inspired".

[Cassandra]

So was the the rockamp removed because it resembled
a winamp shape (their default themes are not like the wps.)
Or was it a screenshot of a theme that someone created
for winamp and proper permissions were not obtained?

In that specific case, comparing the theme to the original application indicated that the theme was a clone of the interface as opposed to merely being inspired by it.  It's a judgement call, but we decided to err on the side of caution in that case.

[madsic]

In that specific case, comparing the theme to the original application indicated that the theme was a clone of the interface as opposed to merely being inspired by it.  It's a judgement call, but we decided to err on the side of caution in that case.

If that's the case then how come you haven't removed the many themes that explixitly use images and icons from WMP 11 (the black glass/aero look)? Surely that would be clearcut case as opposed to 'inspired by...'?

[lights0ut]

Following Cassandra's reasoning, all the blackglass themes do not explicitly state they are a WMP 11 clone, and are only based on the playback buttons. Some of the themes take a bit more inspiration than others from WMP 11, but they are not clones, Rockamp was more of a clone than a WPS inspired by a program's interface. I agree that this is somewhat of a grey area though.

[talos321]

This also goes into question since Winamp themes can
be used on other players besides winamp. I would assume
that all winamp themes are inspired by winamp but of course
winamp themes can look like a round egg with wings that flip
out for equalizer, playlist etc. I can understand having to get
permission from the artist whom made the original theme.

 I've also noticed that some of the themes have Mario Bros, Windows Icons etc.
Which to me aren't inspired rather ripped off. Many of the wps themes
also look like an apple playing screen.


This isn't to question authority or anything. I was going to try my hand at a
few themes and the question remains if they will be considered inspired enough
to be considered copyright violations or if they are ok.  I'd hate to go though
the effort and then have them taken down.

[Llorean]

Part of the situation is that a lot of themes are "questionable." I'm sure once clear guidelines are worked out we'll be able to post a set of rules so you can know fairly securely in advance whether a theme will be able to stay up or not.

Probably many of those themes you're asking about being questionable will be gone too.

As a general set of expectations:
1) All art in the theme should either be your own work, or should be released under a license that allows you to reuse it. This includes icons and text, technically.

2) You shouldn't be reconstructing someone else's art. This means that if you created the art yourself, but it looks almost exactly like say, the Winamp default theme, or yes, Windows Media Player, it's likely to get taken down.

Now, for example, if a winamp theme is released under a Creative Commons license that allows you to, you could reuse the art from it. But in those cases you'll probably need to provide some mention of what license the media you used was under.

As is clear, we're going through some changes, and these rules are neither final nor based on anything other than my personal opinion of what is likely to be or not be accepted.

[Chronon]

Although, I believe that parody is considered fair play.  The Evolution Control Committee has defended its right to appropriate and remix icons from pop culture as it creates parody and no prospect exists for it to be mistaken for the original product.

To wit:


So, we shouldn't assume that any and all appropriation of privately controlled media is illegal.  I'm not making any statements about themes currently in the wiki or any that have been removed.  I'm just pointing out that in some cases, image re-use is protected.

[Avid]

Wouldn't the Invader Zim theme be violating copyright too?

[madsic]

Although, I believe that parody is considered fair play.  The Evolution Control Committee has defended its right to appropriate and remix icons from pop culture as it creates parody and no prospect exists for it to be mistaken for the original product.

To wit:


So, we shouldn't assume that any and all appropriation of privately controlled media is illegal.  I'm not making any statements about themes currently in the wiki or any that have been removed.  I'm just pointing out that in some cases, image re-use is protected.

Well, the American copyright doctrine of fair use and it's protection of parody is probably applicable in principle to the examples you mention. However, a) I believe we're legally in Sweden at least as far as hosting goes (and I don't know anything about Swedish copyright law apart from what the piratbyrån says... ) and b) nothing that Ive seen in the wps galleries would remotely qualify as 'parody'.

In general, I second Llorean's suggestions. Open source projects shouldn't be about second rate rip-offs of commercial applications.

[lights0ut]

.... Open source projects shouldn't be about second rate rip-offs of commercial applications.

agreed, I'm sick of seeing vista or OSX clones on KDE-look.org and GNOME-look.org.

[Chronon]

In general, I second Llorean's suggestions. Open source projects shouldn't be about second rate rip-offs of commercial applications.

I also completely agree with this.  I wasn't making any sort of broad justification that the project _should_ include any particular instance of image re-use.  Your point that the servers operate out of Sweden is well taken.  Does this mean that Swedish law is the only relevant law here?  

Suppose I wanted to make an Evolution Control Committee theme.  Would this be allowable?