Style license

[PauGNU]

Hi all,

I've been looking for cool phpbb styles and found this one:
http://cksource.com/forums/

Well, that's the forum of the ckeditor website and they have created their own style. I asked them for having the code of that style but they said that it was under copyright so they won't share their style.

My question is this: can they do that? I mean, I guess it depends on the phpbb styles license. As far as I know, if the code is GPL and they modify it, they have to share the code if ask for it (not in cases of private use, but the Internet is not private use at all). So I guess it depends completely on the phpbb styles license.

Thanks!

[Christian 2.0]

As far as I know, if the code is GPL and they modify it, they have to share the code if ask for it (not in cases of private use, but the Internet is not private use at all). So I guess it depends completely on the phpbb styles license.

Prosilver itself is GPL, although any edits they made themselves aren't.

I'm not 100% about the code they used, although the images are definitely protected by an unsigned intellectual copyright. They aren't obliged to share them with you, and can file a DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) Copyright Infringement complaint against you if you ripped them for use on your own site without permission. It's probably worth mentioning that DMCA violations include re-producing images to make them look like originals, your site can even be suspended for "looking" remotely like theirs if they accuse you of it. It's probably also worth mentioning that if the party filing a complaint against you also forwards the same complaint to Google, your site will incur a hefty penalty or even complete removal from their rankings if they adjudge the complaint as valid.

Even if were able to force the code out of them one way or another, they can still file a complaint against you for re-creating the corresponding images. At the end of the day it is a nice style, but you have to remember somebody somewhere will have spend a decent amount of time coming up with the design concept and then coding it. It wouldn't be fair to just come along and cause them all kinds of inconveniences by trying to force them to share the style, or waste their time filing DMCA complaints against you.

[PauGNU]

Thanks for the clarification, Christian.

I have to say, though, that we all spend time programming and sharing our code with the community and we don't ask for money for the code itself. That's the reason I don't understand why they don't want to share the code of that style. I mean, it's not the style the reason because the forum is worth it, it is because all the work they do with ckeditor.

However, I know that we cannot force them to free whatever they do. But I cannot see the point in this case.

Thanks anyway!

[Christian 2.0]

That's the reason I don't understand why they don't want to share the code of that style.

Simple. Unique content is at the heart of every decent website. A good way to start is with a unique style which nobody else has got, a style which nobody is bored of having seen it on hundreds of other communities.

[Lumpy Burgertushie]

remember, just because something is GPL does not mean you have to distribute it at all.
however, if you want to distrubute it , you have to do it under GPL as well.
also, you can sell it as long as you give the buyer the source code when you do and allow them to do whatever they want with it as well.

in other words, I could sell you a copy of phpbb if I wanted to and if you wanted to buy it.

I could also sell you any style that I created that is under the GPL even if I just changed the colors in prosilver for instance.

luck,
robert