Regarding Wordpress Theme Thievery
Would you provide supportive services to someone for free so that person could make a living doing what they do? Say, if someone ran a clothing store, would you sew all the garments and set them on the curb with a free sign so that shop owner could take your work and sell it without paying you a penny for it? What about a deli? Would you bake bread to give away for free so they could use it to sell sandwiches to make money?
I’m sure the answer would be no to both cases. Then why is it that some people who run Wordpress sites seem to think that they can take themes which have very specific copyright restrictions on them, change those themes as they please, remove all credit to the original author (who put their personal time and effort into the work), and then present it as their own on a commercial blog?
I don’t know why either, but that’s exactly what I found twice this week regarding my Bogart theme, which has a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License attached to it. The first was a site that made some alterations to Bogart by adding a few new class selectors, images, and changing the ordering of columns in the index template. All credit to me was removed from the theme template (except in the CSS file where no one would see it). The second didn’t change a thing, aside from removing my copyright in the footer.php file, and replacing it with their own.
In both cases, the sites are set up as commercial blogs using Google AdSense ads to generate income. In other words, they’re using my free bread to create sandwiches that are making them money. This isn’t right. When something’s not right, I fight.
I’m pleased to say that in the case of the first site, I was able to get the matter resolved the day I contacted them. As it was told, the original owner of the site changed my theme before selling the entire blog to another company. In this case, the new owner did the right thing, and we were able to agree on a fair license agreement to use my work. Even though he didn’t change my work himself, the new owner was still using my core code base, and recognized this fact. I have tremendous respect for this individual for doing the right thing without hesitation.
The second, which I just learned of this evening, has been notified of their infringement. I am still waiting to hear from someone. There was no way to contact anyone directly and emails sent to very generic accounts for the site have bounced back. The site appears to be a link-bait type of set up with tons of keywords and links to other spammy blogs. I may have to pull a DMCA take down on them if they don’t respond.
Update: The second site has responded, and have added my theme credit link back to the footer file.
The point of all this is simple. If you want a cool looking Wordpress theme for your site, especially if you’re hoping to make money from it — think before you start making changes to someone else’s work. Ask yourself “Did someone else put their own time in effort into this nice looking theme? And would they be pissed off if I removed their credit before I put it up on my site?” Your id would tell you yes in both cases.
Simply because something is available for download on the internet, that doesn’t mean it’s free. Just like music, poetry and art, code is owned by the person who created it (or whoever they wrote it for). So do the right thing. If that Wordpress theme has a credit link in the footer, and you want to use it for free — then leave the link right where it is. By putting that little link where we do, we theme authors are simply asking to be paid for our work in recognition via clicks back to our sites. And if you don’t want the link, then contact the author to work something out. Even if it’s just a little scratch in their Paypal account, getting a few bucks for their labor of love will make the day for most theme authors.
The moral of my rant? That Wordpress theme was made public for a reason — because somebody with talent wanted to share it with you and the rest of the world. If it has some restrictions and a copyright notice attached, then honor it… Because that’s the right thing to do — both morally and legally.
10 Responses to “Regarding Wordpress Theme Thievery”
I feel your frustration. Although, unlike you, many designers do not include any restrictions on the use of the free wordpress theme. Personally, I’ve always kept the link in the footer.
Though I agree with your reaction in both cases and definitely sympathize with your frustration, I do have a quick question about your license.
The question I have is with the no derivatives element of the license. Though I certainly think you should be attributed, I know that whenever I use a WP theme, there is almost always some heavy editing I have to do before it looks right for me, many may interpret that clause as meaning no changes can be made.
Does it bother you if people change colors, alter layout or edit the CSS so long as the attribution remains intact?
I’d be interested in your thoughts on this…
@Jonathan - It does not bother me if an individual alters the layout, or modifies the CSS to their liking. What does bother me — and was the reason for my choice of the non-derivus version of the Creative Commons — is when individuals base their “new” renamed work on the frame of mine. This has happened too many times already. I can only imagine how many other WP theme authors it’s happened to.
As long as the attribution link with theme name remains in the footer, and, the name of the theme is not somehow changed (i.e. - Bogart II, Bogart Rebooted, Bogie), then a user can do as they wish with the theme.
@Susan - I’ve yet to see a *free* WP theme that doesn’t have a credit link back to the author’s site in the footer — but then, I’ve not been looking too hard either. Could be there are some out there.
Jim: Thank you for answering that question, I agree with you on all points. Perhaps though there is a need for a new CC license targeted at themes so that these types of terms are more clear. Any thoughts on that?
@Jonathan - Having thought on your question a couple of days, I believe a CC license option that allows modification of an original work to some *reasonable* extent while retaining attribution to the original author could be beneficial not only to Wordpress themes, but similar types of work that lend themselves to being “molded” to suit the needs of the end user.
But with that kind of abstract freedom, where does one draw the line of what’s acceptable use? Modifications that one author might freely allow could be considered crossing the line by another.
Perhaps what would best suit this kind of situation is a general CC license which allows a licensor to embed, or add their own stipulations of what’s allowable regarding the work? Or even better yet, let the owner of a work mix and match different terms of the different CC licenses to their own liking.
Still, no matter how hard an author tries to retain control of a work, while still giving some freedoms, there will always be those who have no regard for the work at all. They will pilfer as they please, without any consideration of license attached.
I am in the process of learning css and php and I want to know what exactly is considered copyright in a WordPress theme? I am learning by taking code from another theme in the tutorial at WordPress.org. I will use it on my first theme. It’s not my code. Am I stealing that code?
The CSS I am making with an add-on program that works with my Dreamweaver program. I paid for the CSS add on which layouts out the CSS for my WordPress site. Who’s CSS is it? Mine or the add-on software maker?
In photoshop, I am making the header, adding colors and all that stuff? Is that mine? I not sure I understand what will actually be mine?
I see your point 100%, IF you didn’t take pieces from anyone elses work. Now I just read an article from a well known WP designer who says he takes code from here and there, gets ideas on his layouts and colors from other websites. Is he stealing?
The other thing that confuses me is how many ways can a layout be spun. Is a layout owned by someone?
What exactly makes a theme mine?
Can anyone set me straight on this?
Great questions, and ones that every Wordpress author should ask when developing a theme. While I’m not a copyright lawyer, the answers as I understand the law are…
Most Wordpress themes have some kind of license attached to them that allow for some kind of use, many of which let you change the theme and make it your own. My two other themes do. If you find a theme you’d like to base your own on, it’s probably a good idea to contact the author and find out what their stipulations for reuse are.
If the code in the Wordpress.org theme tutorial gives you specific permission to copy the code verbatim and use without attribution, then you’re not stealing it. You are reusing the code provided by the author with a specific license. If I’m not mistaken, the tutorial allows for this. It’s not your code, but you’ve been given the right to freely redistribute it without saying where you got it.
If you’re deciding what the CSS does in your theme by using a Dreamweaver add-on, then the CSS belongs to you. You coded it with the assistance of a tool, making it an original work.
Same thing with the Photoshop document. You’ve created an original work using a specific medium, and it belongs to you. However, there could be argument for infringement if you were to use a recognizable copyrighted image — in part or whole — as a visual element of your PSD document. Best practice, if you shot it with your own camera, or drew it yourself, it’s yours.
Getting ideas for a layout from others isn’t necessarily stealing, though there is a fine line in this area. While inspiration comes from many places, simply copying and pasting code that someone else wrote without their permission is plainly theft. Without seeing what the other theme designer has “borrowed” from other themes, I can’t really answer that question. But if he’s copy and pasted code, then he’s clearly in the wrong. As a personal decision, I will never copy and paste code, no matter how small it is. Yes, I may study how something is done to understand it and learn from it, but will always write the entire block of code myself.
It depends on what you’re calling a layout. If you’re equating design (a visual representation) with layout, then, if you designed it, it is your work with all the benefits of copyright law should you choose to enforce it. If your work is original, it’s yours — just like a painting, photograph or literary work.
But, like I said — I’m not a copyright lawyer. I could easily be wrong on some points. My bottom-line personal choice is to make all parts of my theme work original, coded and drawn from scratch. That way I’m confident I’ve not cheated someone else out of any effort they put into a work themselves.
Unfortunately, not every moral compass points true north. What I think is theft, may not be to someone else (and I don’t mean that in a holier-than-thou way). I’ve always found that common sense is the best guide. If I didn’t create it, I don’t own it. If I need code I did not create, I license it.
Thanks for responding Jim. I am not much for legalities in such matters, but I am for ethics, for justness and uprightness in life and action, that’s why I asked these questions. Your answers make sense and I agree that common sense is the best guide, but these issues are very confusing.
I am thinking about buying a developer package from a WP theme company called iThemes. They state that if a person buys the developer package, that person can do anything with those themes, except sell them directly, which confuses me even more.
Lets say I buy the package, change the visual look and so on, maybe making minor adjustments to code. Now what? Can I give away or sell the WP theme that I changed or is that considered selling their theme directly?
You seem to know much about this topic even though you are not a lawyer. Can you tell me what I cannot do with a developers package and what I can do with a developers package?
For me this is a very interesting topic. The more I dig into the WordPress theme designer circle, the more I realize that there could be many thieves in the community.
Interesting that you finish your comment with the statement you do. Yes, there are some blatant plagiarists, as there are in any circle, but I don’t think it’s so much intentional theft, as it is naiveté. The internet age tends to lend itself to the notion that if it’s available online, it must be free.
As for purchasing developer packages — be very wary of what you do buy. I’ve heard rumor of some “premium” themes containing malicious content. Research very carefully before you lay down your money for something.
Finally, there’s no way I could possibly tell you what you can or can’t do with a particular premium theme you choose to purchase. That’s all in the license agreement that you agree to when you buy it. You should ask the developer who produced the theme you’re interested in directly what he/she will allow you to do. That way, it’s spelled out in black and white.
Good luck!
great discussion hope to see some additional comments here:)
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