From the code:

        <!-- Please don't delete this. You can use this template for free and this is the only way that you can say thanks to me -->
          <!--<p id="dont-delete-this">Design by <a href="http://www.davidkohout.cz">David Kohout</a> | Our tip: <a href="http://www.goodmood.cz" title="Absinthe, Becherovka, Slivovitz store">Absinthe Store</a></p>-->
	<!-- Thank you :) -->
            <p id="dont-delete-this">All rights reserved. Design by <a href="http://www.ebizontek.com/">Ebizon Technologies</a>.

This sort of direct copyright theft is not really acting in good faith.
Porting someone elses work and putting your company name over top of theirs is not what Open Source is about.

Comments

sudeepg’s picture

sudeepg commented
Status: Active » Closed (fixed)

Fixed now.

I just wanted to say Drupal theme developed by Ebizon. Anyways, fixed and removed all reference of Ebizon from page.tpl.php.

dman’s picture

dman commented
Status: Closed (fixed) » Active

However - it's still removing (hiding) the original artists attribution - which he specifically asked you not to do.
IF the theme was GPL, then yes - you can still remove that notice if you want.
But that notice being there means that the original artist did NOT intend to release the theme as GPL in the first case.

I think this is still not correct. You need explicit permission from the author to re-release their work.
Without that, you could be getting drupal.org into trouble for even hosting it.

Crell’s picture

Crell commented

If the original theme is not under a GPL-compatible license, then it cannot be placed in Drupal's CVS repository. Period. If the original author has not explicitly released it under the GPL, then I'm afraid the theme will have to be removed.

ebizon, please get confirmation from the original author that he is willing to release it under the GPL. If it cannot be obtained in the next week, we will have to remove the theme. Sorry, but the CVS repository policy is very clear and we cannot and will not host non-GPL code.

--Larry Garfield
Director of Legal Affairs for the Drupal Project

sudeepg’s picture

sudeepg commented

Hi.. this is becoming tough :)

The HTML template is downloaded from: http://themebot.com/website-templates/html-templates/3809-redfire-2
that says "No restrictions" under License. Therefore, I thought it would compatible with all the Drupal licensing terms. Please clarify if it is ok to use it on Drupal.org or else I'll remove it.

thanks,
Sudeep

dman’s picture

dman commented
Title: Please clarify the licensing for this theme port. It appears to be an unlicenced rip. » Please clarify the licensing for this theme port.
Status: Active » Closed (works as designed)

I accept that "Free - no restrictions" is indeed GPL-compatible. Which makes it OK.

However that was not clear in the actual source code that was being distributed which said "Please do not remove this attribution".

I was asking for a clarification of the license. To be safe, legal, and to be polite to all concerned.
This is now clarified enough for me - thanks.

I appreciate you've done this port in good faith, but the appearance of propriety is as important as propriety itself - so we need to be clear about licenses. Sorry for the doubt - but we need to watch these things, and proof must be supplied.

Maybe a license.txt or a credits.txt file along with the distribution that contains a copy of that URL or that text (or even better - the project page) would avoid such concerns in the future.

sudeepg’s picture

sudeepg commented

:) Great!!! Also, thanks for all your hard work for Drupal and on drupal.org. I appreciate that.