Removed themes for copyright reasons

[Bagder]

Your point that the servers operate out of Sweden is well taken.  Does this mean that Swedish law is the only relevant law here?  

Two of the servers are located in Sweden, others are not and I expect that lots of these files will be redistributed by other sites as well.

[Chronon]

So it sounds like a difficult prospect to devise a concise set of rules regarding what's allowable.   I guess it's not that big of a deal to exactly define things now.  If someone wants to make a WPS and has some doubts then they can discuss it on this (WPS and Customization) forum, right?

[Llorean]

Actually, as a project, as far as I know the goal is to comply with US copyright law. I don't know when this decision was made, or why US law was chosen, but I don't object to it.

Besides, Copyright is the only reason the GPL holds, it's based entirely on it, so a GPL project that wants its license to be effective needs to pretty much respect copyright wherever their product is distributed.

[Chronon]

Actually, as a project, as far as I know the goal is to comply with US copyright law. I don't know when this decision was made, or why US law was chosen, but I don't object to it.

Besides, Copyright is the only reason the GPL holds, it's based entirely on it, so a GPL project that wants its license to be effective needs to pretty much respect copyright wherever their product is distributed.

Interesting.  I'm less confused.  But I feel like I'm getting a mixed signal from what you say.  First you say that Rockbox has chosen to comply with US copyright law, but then you also suggest that in order for GPL to be valid it needs to respect the copyright laws wherever the product is distributed.  So, are you saying that Rockbox really needs to respect the (logical) union of each (every) country's copyright laws?

I'm not trying to be a pest.  I'm just trying to get a feel for what GPL compliance really requires.  

[Bagder]

I don't think adhering to the commonly globally used copyright rules should be much harder than following (our perceptions of) US or Swedish laws.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berne_Convention_for_the_Protection_of_Literary_and_Artistic_Works

Let's just not include other people's works and we're safe.

[AlexP]

Actually, as a project, as far as I know the goal is to comply with US copyright law. I don't know when this decision was made, or why US law was chosen, but I don't object to it.

Probably because it is the most restrictive, so if we are OK with US law we will be OK with everything.  That and the US thinking it can apply its law in other countries.

[Cassandra]

I'm not sure that we're operating according to any specific law as such, but for a little context, please bare in mind that the Rockbox project has been cease and desisted in the past.  For those that aren't aware, we were asked by representatives of Wizard Software to remove voice files generated using a legally purchased copy of AT&T Naturally Speaking.  We weren't at all convinced we were breaking any laws, but the project simply doesn't have the money to cover any legal costs incurred in fighting any potential legal action so the decision was made to comply.

The environment we operate in is very sensitive to IP issues, and it's important that the project be seen to be respecting the intellectual property of others.  In making decisions about whether or not to remove material from the wiki, we apply common sense and judgement, which aren't legalistic concepts.  If people are going to start rules-lawyering they should be aware that there is a more consistent approach we can take, which is to stop hosting themes entirely.

[Chronon]

Cassandra,

Thanks for bringing that up.  That does help provide some context to all of this.

I think I understand the basic situation a little better.  I have done a little reading up on this -- I am surely not a lawyer.  And it seems that these issues are all tried on a case by case basis according to whether or not they satisfy some certain criteria (e.g. the Berne three-step test).  Given the individual nature of the way cases are tried and the lack of resources for the project to deal with litigation (whether or not Rockbox is at fault) the only sensible course of action is to give any gray areas a wide berth.

Although, it seems that since themes are essentially a user customizable extension of Rockbox and not intrinsic to its function that it may be okay if they were hosted off site too.  Surely it makes the most sense for any themes that are hosted on Rockbox servers to exemplify the ideals of GPL.

As it stands we can define what sort of themes are definitely allowed -- those composed of original graphics arranged in an original layout (and using original or generic text).  Deviations from that seem to enter a legally gray area.  I agree that it's totally up to the administrators to determine what should be associated with the core Rockbox project.