@Bitfade - I think with GPL theme copycats, if it was on a major marketplace we’d look to speak to the operators of the marketplace and make the case that its a bit unsavoury - even if it is legal. However if its just a random site onselling GPL themes, I think any author who chooses that license needs to understand they are accepting that this is a completely legal thing to do.
I was talking about envato in house rules: when author reports a copycat of his own work being accepted on TF, you do require a DMCA from him before taking any action.
So my question was: how you’re going to handle GPL theme copycat reports on themeforest
Innocent question: What’s the point of WooThemes joining the board? They are not bringing traffic to the site (instead, they are getting traffic). They are not giving special prices and from what it looks, you don’t get the help desk support that they provide (since you didn’t buy from their site), their items doesn’t look like they are off to a good start (maybe people are buying from their main site) and it’s quite expected that this idea is going to cause a controversy.
Business deals are great, but I can hardly see any gains in this one.
In fact you do, if you buy from TF, create an account at Woothemes (it’s free) and then there is a button to add a TF license key, which will give you access to their support system.
I got that the 100% GPL License & Exclusivity aren’t tied together already yesterday. Now the hypothetical part… If I were to release a GPL WordPress Theme from this account and started a company with my good friend. Now my friend wants to use the theme I am selling here for a client. He/She buys the theme and is also now offering this theme for sale on our company’s website.
A simple question – would this break the GPL & Exclusivty Terms or not and if it breaks them, then please can you tell me how ?
Hey Kris,
It would possibly depend on a variety of things, such as who owns what, and who has a controlling influence where, etc. Really you’d need to seek legal advice about this, it’s not something we can categorically answer about a fictional scenario.
I got that the 100% GPL License & Exclusivity aren’t tied together already yesterday. Now the hypothetical part… If I were to release a GPL WordPress Theme from this account and started a company with my good friend. Now my friend wants to use the theme I am selling here for a client. He/She buys the theme and is also now offering this theme for sale on our company’s website.
A simple question – would this break the GPL & Exclusivty Terms or not and if it breaks them, then please can you tell me how ?
Hey Kris,
It would possibly depend on a variety of things, such as who owns what, and who has a controlling influence where, etc. Really you’d need to seek legal advice about this, it’s not something we can categorically answer about a fictional scenario.
Thank you for the answer, Japh!
Legally I know I have every right to do so, but I just want to know what’s Envato’s stance on this ?
Thank you for the responses Jremick, Collis and Japh. It is good to see you guys getting on top of things and responding to member issues. A lot of companies would just ignore it. /tips hat.
PS: I live in Melbourne and the application forms for the Review team are where…
Legally I know I have every right to do so, but I just want to know what’s Envato’s stance on this ?
Hey Kris, I imagine we’d have to take these on a case by case basis. It would really depend on the specific scenario whether we believed the agreement had been breached.
As far as the GPL goes you may legally have every right to do so, but as far as the exclusivity agreement goes, they’re not the same.
Legally I know I have every right to do so, but I just want to know what’s Envato’s stance on this ?
Hey Kris, I imagine we’d have to take these on a case by case basis. It would really depend on the specific scenario whether we believed the agreement had been breached.
As far as the GPL goes you may legally have every right to do so, but as far as the exclusivity agreement goes, they’re not the same.
That’s why I asked the question, because of the exclusivity… But it was all hypothetical, so let’s put this behind and go on with our daily lives.
Thanks for being open and honest. The fact that the founder of the company is still actively talking to the community is one of the reasons I stick around. You guys are doing a great job coming up with ways to build the community and increase sales. I love woothemes and I think this partnership will help them become better as well. I’m sure getting rejected a few times will make them take a step back rethink a few things.
I remember when Magento was brought on board and there was an uproar about it. The emotions will soon die down and everyone will get back to doing what they love to do, and that’s build great quality themes that will sell like hotcakes!
Skim reading through 5 pages of posts, is it true that woothemes are getting elite author commission rate as a non-exclusive theme seller?
Their commission rate is not public. However, Envato admitted that their rate is not standard 33% as for others non-exclusive authors. Read the full Collis’ post on first page of this thread
I remember when Magento was brought on board and there was an uproar about it. The emotions will soon die down and everyone will get back to doing what they love to do, and that’s build great quality themes that will sell like hotcakes!
we already doing what we love to do
no emotions here. you make this looks like some sort of teen drama. really funny
I remember when Magento was brought on board and there was an uproar about it. The emotions will soon die down and everyone will get back to doing what they love to do, and that’s build great quality themes that will sell like hotcakes!
No emotions here. Isn’t US the country where respect for freedom and equality are basis of national culture and policy?
||+764334|Dream-Theme said-||
No emotions here. Isn't US the country where respect for freedom and equality are basis of national culture and policy? :)
Good point I don’t see this as being “equal” or not “equal” though. It’s a business decision that was made to help grow the marketplace. They admitted to making a few mistakes and let’s hope they learn from them
||+764334|Dream-Theme said-||
No emotions here. Isn't US the country where respect for freedom and equality are basis of national culture and policy? :)
Good point I don’t see this as being “equal” or not “equal” though. It’s a business decision that was made to help grow the marketplace. They admitted to making a few mistakes and let’s hope they learn from them
If you do not mind, I’ll explain. For TF author it is big journey to get 70% commissions and “Elite” badge. “Elites” are getting perks described here: http://elite.envato.com but those are deserved. TF guidelines are same for everyone. Still Woo received unprecedented preferences and got away with violations for which any other author would be permanently banned.
P.S. Please note, that I have nothing against guys from Woo - they are doing great stuff. E.g. our support portal is based on their SupportPress. But their second coming to TF was… “a bit weird”
I’ve followed this topic from its start, but I follow it as a fellow author from other Envato marketplaces and I have to say something as an “outsider”.
I don’t know anything about woothemes and what’s the deal, and I don’t know anything about ThemeForest upload standards, but after reading all these comments I can only come to the following conclusion:
Envato added new author to the marketplace to promote a new type of license
all items got accepted during the review process, although some of them are of lesser quality
mistake is confirmed by the officials (Collis himself) but themes are still up for sale
moreover, newly added author enjoys larger, non-standard commission rate, while all the hard-working people here, some of whom contribute to the marketplace(s) maybe even way more than newly added author, had to work their a**es off to achieve the benefits of high commission rates and other.
The only reason for Envato to do such thing is in order to expand the marketplace. Looking from other marketplaces’ perspective, ThemeForest gets the most attention from the officials (and I’m not saying it’s not justified, after all TF is earning the most) but many things are starting to “fall apart” here, bigger review queues (12 days on AudioJungle atm, I hear it’s way less on TF so maybe you don’t know about it), years long lack of better search, and what not, and it all yells “slow down the growth until you patch up some things first”. Keyword here being “slow down” not “stop”.
My 2cents, as a totally non-TF author. And I stand corrected if I’m wrong.
