Removing the Siteground link in a Jooma template

[thejoomlaguy]

Is there an option for this and if so, how much is it and how do I go about it?

Thanks

[Costa]

Hi

Tax is on the right track, see http://forum.siteground.com/showthread.php?t=4745

Costa

[thejoomlaguy]

Thanks guys,

I know I could remove the link but I was actually wondering if there was a legit option (which is why I asked how much it was) as I don't wat to break the TOS but know some template providers offer a link free versionl option for a fee.

Oh well, it doesn't look like there is one after reading a link from the thread mentioned above.

[Costa]

Hi thejoomlaguy

It does look as if the link to siteground has to stay. A while back I purchased a template from Joomlashack and even though it was a paid template, the link to Joomlashack had to stay in place, albeit discreetly! Just part of thier T&C's.

Slightly differerent shift on the topic....Any ideas??
Not sure about the legality, but I was wondering if one sets about modifying a template when does it become your own work and become detached from the original developers T&C's...? Only a thought??

Cheers, have fun

Costa

[Dimo]

Hi Costa,

You can check our Terms of use (http://www.siteground.com/terms.htm) > Free Templates regarding the use of our templates :)

If you are planning to build your own template, please check the following page, which contains many tips on how to build a Joomla template:

http://dev.joomla.org/content/view/1136/79/

[birger]

Hi Costa,

You can check our Terms of use (http://www.siteground.com/terms.htm) > Free Templates regarding the use of our templates :)


Hi Dimo,

I'm a bit confused about your free templates. I downloaded your free Pizza template, and I noticed that inside the template it says that it's released according to GPL v2 which you can read more about here: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html

Now... If the template is released according to the GNU GPL v2, as it says, I should be fully allowed to modify the template any way I want, meaning I can remove the links to Siteground as long as I state inside the file that I've changed it, and when.

I'm not too sure that your TOS ranks higher that GPL. Why would you release templates according to GPL if you don't want them to be GPL anyway? Could it be so that you used a GPL template as base for your templates (which makes your templates GPL by default)? Saying that we're not allowed to remove the links to you would be a GPL violation.

And also, just as a note, once something has been released under the GPL, you cannot "un-license" it, meaning that you cannot remove the GPL references in your templates and then claim that they're not released according to GPL.

Also you claim that you hold copyright of any modified templates, but the GPL seems to say that I may claim copyright of my own modifications, making your TOS claim another violation of the GPL.

Having notified you of this, I hope you won't be too disappointed if I remove the links to Siteground from the template I downloaded from you. Being a nice guy, I will still state inside the template code that it's based on your template.

Best regards,
Birger

[Costa]

Hi all


Thanks Dimo for the link to template construction - much appreciated :-)


Hi birger

Your post makes good reading - very interesting. I seem to remember a similar topic on one of the Joomla forums. On there, users were discussing the implications of offerering components and mods etc., on a paid basis because the mod and components are based on GPL scripts and as such should have been free. Obviously in this case the developers were trying to recoup some payment for their time and knowledge. I am not an expert on the legal aspect, by no means - just interested.

Best regards to all

Costa

[birger]

Hi all
Hi birger

Your post makes good reading - very interesting. I seem to remember a similar topic on one of the Joomla forums. On there, users were discussing the implications of offerering components and mods etc., on a paid basis because the mod and components are based on GPL scripts and as such should have been free. Obviously in this case the developers were trying to recoup some payment for their time and knowledge. I am not an expert on the legal aspect, by no means - just interested.

Best regards to all

Costa

Hi Costa,

I can understand that someone might want to get something back for what they have created. You are, in fact, allowed to sell a GPL licensed template or charge a fee for downloading it, but you are not allowed to restrict people from distributing it or changing it in any way, or to claim copyright of their modifications of it.

If these templates are actually based on someone else's GPL template, Siteground's TOS goes against what free software and the GPL is all about. It's not very nice to take someone else's freely available work, modify it, and then not allow others to take the same advantage that you yourself have taken.

If you want to restrict people from changing your works, you should neither base them on other's GPL works, or release them as GPL works. You could in that case build a template from scratch or base it on a template released according to some other license that allows you to set those kind of restrictions.

[sgforumadmin]

I would like to shed some more light on this case. First of all the SiteGround templates are not based on someone else's work. They are build from scratch from SiteGround designers. We allow the users to modify the templates by any means and in any way to fully cover their website needs. All we would like to keep is the proof that these templates are created by SiteGround and not by anyone else. That is why, we do not allow to have the links pointing to SiteGround removed.

As we understand that this is against the terms to the GNU/GPL license, we have changed the template license in the zip file. It is now "SG TOS", which means that the templates are released under the SiteGround Templates Terms of Use (http://www.siteground.com/tos_popup.php?id=7) now.