GPL - Is this possible with the copyright reservation?

Good point.

As far as the fonts are concerned: they are not applicable for online communication.

We've contacted the copyright owner about this project to see if they have objections against sharing this theme on drupal.org. I suggest we wait for their response to see if they have any objections or special conditions?

Perhaps a text on the project page that says that this theme can only be used for projects for the Dtuch central government suffices. We could also strip all visuals from the theme and point to "Vijfkeerblauw" or GIS for obtaining those resources.

Am I mistaken or does it say that images are considered data and therefore are not subjected to GPL?

I think we only need to consider the 'visual identity' which comes down to the CSS. Is there any objection to leaving out the 'starterskit' contents provided by Communicatieplein and making it a mandatory 'plug-in like' download? The only thing we're interested in is the underlying modules and structure. This makes sure that Communicatieplein can keep their 'starterskit' updated, and we can keep this theme updated.

If I can help in this matter, let me know.

Thanks for clearing that up.

the most logical way to solve this would by having the template on d.o and the copyrighted material as sepearated copyrighted elsewhere (either a download or a p.o. box). this would work, the reality is that there will never be1000's of sites using this theme.

however, if even the look and feel is copyrighted and non GPL compatible (aka can not be in CVS) it will never be hosted on any sites outside the control of "the rijksoverheid" and will never be open. catch22 I think. I can imagine the dutch goverments doesnt want any non govermental site using their template and thereby potentially faking an identity.

If I read http://rijkshuisstijl.communicatieplein.nl/index.cfm/english/background/... however, I think it will never hit GPL. Dead end I am afraid.

We asked the owner of the Visual Identity (Vijfkeerblauw) if they allow us to publish the theme on d.o.
We'll await their response before publishing the code.

AFAIK, simply allowing you to publish the theme (making an exception for you in this specific case) isn't good enough for drupal.org. The visual identity needs to be licensed (or dual-licensed) under GPL, which means that it's not an exception for you, but a license for anyone, anywhere, anytime.

am sure baris ment by asking them to publish on d.o, asking them to (dual) license it under the GPL. It will never happen though once they do understand the GPL :-(

hint http://www.geenstijl.nl/mt/archieven/2010/03/overheidje_spelen_bouw_je_e... :-)

best to have some kind of procedure in place where people know what to sak to who once they need a starter theme for a Dutch Rijksoverheid.

I just spoke with rijkshuisstijl.nl and they thought they gave permission as authors to publish the theme on drupal.org, leaving the logo out and alter that for another one. If we indeed have written permission from the RVD to publish this Drupal theme on drupal.org under GPL then there is no issue anymore. We should replace the logo by a neutral logo, not related to the Dutch government.

Hanno, could you please ask them to send a written permission (or e-mail) to confirm this? We tried several ways of contacting them, but after their first deny we didn't get any response. We're still willing to share this, but only with their permission.

The contactperson will phone me back later today with details. I will ask her to check explicitly if it is ok for them to publish this theme without the logo under GPL and to send a written permission.

@heine yes, the theme without the official logo would be reusable for everyone like all other materials of the government (http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/copyright), but fake identities (using domains, logos and/or names of governmental bodies as sender) stay illegal.

If it is not possible we could publish the theme at rijkshuisstijl.nl, but publication here makes more sense for distributions and maintanance.

all, this is GREAT news and the CC0 license IS even compatible with the GPL :-) http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#GPLCompatibleLicenses

Once written permission is in, something to be proud of, thanks all!

Note that this is not finalised yet. I spoke with RVD today and there are possibly some issues. They will send me an email with more details about dealing with publishing this theme. Will get back on this.

Any updates on this issue? Should we (Baris?) close this project?

Sorry, I was on Holidays but a short update. In the email they mentioned several issues to host and develop the template in the public domain and that needs further discussion. For now, they see two options:
* Host the theme on www.rijkshuisstijl.nl as for example a zip-file
* Host the template on drupal.org without specific rijkshuisstijl elements
I will call them and get back on this.

EDIT: contact person is back from Holidays in September.

Hi, building a subsite for a ministry, needs to be Rijkshuisstijl - is this theme available for download somewhere? That would be the cat's pajamas!

Talked recently with RVD and there is willingness to centralise the theme. Will bring you in contact with them.

Well, there is progress in this. The RVD is willing to publish the code so that it is possible to do bugfixing and suggest improvements. Still under consideration are the legal aspects, to make sure they can take legal measures against false gov sites. The legal department will have a look at that.
If that is an issue, I think we might cover that by having some configurable settings (logo, position of the logo, colors etc). In that way, in practice, it will be more like a framework base theme like Zen. When installing, you still need to do some configuration to get the look n feel of RIjksoverheid. Instead of configuarion, another option is the suggestion in #3 although I didn't research if that stylesheets are convertable to the Drupal theme.
Still to be researched are the images used in the theme other than the logo (icons like these ).

As a heads up: Sogeti worked on a new version of this theme with a solution where the Starterkit provided by the Rijksoverheid can be places in sites/all/libraries. The Drupal module just provides integration (using the CSS files and icons from the library).

This solves all issues and I understood van Hanno that we have a green light to publish the theme on d.o.

The theme is not finished yet, but I understood from Sogeti that they plan to release it soon.
Will be D7 of course.

The problem is now solved as the currently released version (by Sogeti) needs the starterkit to be places in the libraries directory. The theme itself doesn't contain logo's etc.

thanks all, thanks Overheid, Baris, Hanno and Soget!

Great. I informed the RVD today about the release.