06-14-2003, 10:30 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Selling Themes With Photos You Didn't Take? Bad Theme Maker! Bad!
I saw this package for sale at Pocket Themes, and I felt the urge to rant a little. This practice has been going on now since themes first came out, but this is one of the more brazen examples of it. Now I could be wrong here, but I'm going go out on a limb and guess that Peter Jackson didn't give permission to Prismesoft to sell these themes.
Prismesoft seems to be particularly aggressive in selling the work of others - their site has several theme packs for sale, and I see no copyright information or permission from photographers. Does Prismesoft really think that cropping a photo and making a theme from constitutes a work that they can sell? Contrast that with the unique work being offered by Ray Elder. I really like seeing artists creating themes and selling them - they created the work, and they should benefit from it.
I personally don't have a problem with people creating themes from commercial works and giving them away - just like McDeb did with the Nemo pack. I'm sure the lawyers from the movie studio would disagree with me, but the marketing man in me says that someone doing the work to extend your brand, then give it away for free, is a good thing.
So if you're making themes based on the creative work of others, and selling those themes, go get a real job. :roll: If you don't have the creative instincts to create your own work, go find a royalty-free photo site, pay for a license, and create your themes the legal way.
UPDATE: It turns out that not all of the themes that Prismesoft sells are made from copyright images. Several of the packs are made with royalty-free images, which is great - that's exactly the kind of thing I like to see! I apologize to Prismesoft for unfairly judging all their themes as being based on stolen images - but there's still that Lord of The Rings pack being sold... :wink:
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06-14-2003, 10:44 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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And, for what it's worth, I put my money where my mouth is and I purchased the "flares" theme pack I mentioned - the themes look AWESOME. :mrgreen:
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06-14-2003, 10:49 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Apr 2002
Posts: 378
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Selling Themes
That's tellin' 'em, Jason. I'll add my AMEN.
__________________
"It's alright to pick your friends, but not to pieces."
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06-14-2003, 11:13 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 58
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So sayeth the Sheppard...
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06-14-2003, 11:17 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Glisson
So sayeth the Sheppard...
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What's that supposed to mean? :? I'm not sure if you're insulting me or if you agree with me. :lol:
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06-14-2003, 11:24 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 98
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Happens all the time - there were loads of unhappy people years back when companies gathered up lots of DooM WADs from BBS's (remember those?) and the internet, and just published them on CD as 'new and original' for over $30 a pop - no credit given to the original authors. It's even happened to me with similar CDs with Half-Life maps and tools. It's not quite the same thing, but the principle is the same.
People try to make money off others when they can - this is just another example. It's a huge shame. Unfortunately there's not much that can be done...
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06-14-2003, 11:26 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by David Johnston
People try to make money off others when they can - this is just another example. It's a huge shame. Unfortunately there's not much that can be done...
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True, but one thing that can be done is just what I did - educate people to ask whether or not what they're buying is stolen or legitimately created, and to support the original artists who have something to sell.
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06-14-2003, 11:28 PM
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Swami
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 4,303
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Agreed. I've just been out hunting for good themes today and I got quite a few of McDeb's themes.
If anyone is selling themes, then the original artist/photographer should get thier cut. It's only fair and is the right thing to do.
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06-14-2003, 11:33 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 21
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Not to mention the fact that all of the traffic generated from this post appears to have slowed Pocketthemes' servers to a crawl... I clicked the link to the offending theme about 15 minutes ago... still waiting :lol:
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06-14-2003, 11:40 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 784
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Same connection prob here too...
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Linear Mode
