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Topic: PunBB is free ... but some people don't appreciate to keep Copyright

http://forums.journalintime.com/index.php

Not really cool

in french

franchement mec ton site est sympa, mais de la à retirer le copyright de Rickard, c limite moyen ...

Re: PunBB is free ... but some people don't appreciate to keep Copyright

They removed the copyright. Not nice!

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Re: PunBB is free ... but some people don't appreciate to keep Copyright

Now the question of the day is, can you actually copyright an opensource work?  Since their technically is no owner (owned by all), their is then nothing to attach the coptright too.

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Re: PunBB is free ... but some people don't appreciate to keep Copyright

GNU GPL wrote:

The GPL, the GNU General Public License, is a means of implementing a concept called Copyleft. Copyleft attempts to negate copyright for the purposes of collaborative software development.

When an author releases a piece of code under the GPL license, she is granting recipients of the source code the following rights:

* anyone can use the code anywhere, in any situation
* anyone can redistribute the code to anyone else, as long as the source code is included and the distribution license remains the GPL
* anyone can create a derivative work of the code and redistribute it, as long as the resulting source code is also made available at redistribution time, and as long as the resulting source code is licensed under the terms of the GPL.

Im not sure if punbb is released under the GNU GPL, but if it is, then it makes me think they can remove, modify, change and update to their hearts content.

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Re: PunBB is free ... but some people don't appreciate to keep Copyright

Ya,  PunBB is released under the GNU GPL, so that would mean that while the removing of the copyright isnt really respectful, its hardly illegal or in anyway wrong.

Re: PunBB is free ... but some people don't appreciate to keep Copyright

I agree Rod. It's not very cool. However, I have no problem with it. See this.

ShayneB wrote:

Now the question of the day is, can you actually copyright an opensource work?  Since their technically is no owner (owned by all), their is then nothing to attach the coptright too.

It doesn't matter what license you distribute it under. Someone is still the copyright owner. It is not "owned by all". Everyone has rights to do what the license says, but there is still an owner of the copyright. I could for instance release a version of PunBB attached with a commercial license since I am the copyright owner. I am the only one who can do that.

"Programming is like sex: one mistake and you have to support it for the rest of your life."

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Re: PunBB is free ... but some people don't appreciate to keep Copyright

Rickard wrote:

It doesn't matter what license you distribute it under. Someone is still the copyright owner. It is not "owned by all". Everyone has rights to do what the license says, but there is still an owner of the copyright. I could for instance release a version of PunBB attached with a commercial license since I am the copyright owner. I am the only one who can do that.

100% accurate, but Paul might have a problem with that because he is a code provider he is technically a copyright holder as well (wouldnt he be?  seing as he is a contibutor to a GPL project)

If you own the copyright on a piece of code, and you release it under the GPL, then you can never revoke this right you gave to others. You can choose to stop distributing the source code, but if someone obtained it from you, they can then choose to continue distribution without your ongoing permission. In that sense, you can't take it back.

...so while you could i guess release a secondary project, like a commercial verison, the current release is free forever and ever and ever.

Interestingly scary smile

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Re: PunBB is free ... but some people don't appreciate to keep Copyright

...or would Paul own the copyright on his code only? which would make things rather confusing tongue

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Re: PunBB is free ... but some people don't appreciate to keep Copyright

I would think that Rickard would let Paul take his ferrari out for the weekend :)

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Re: PunBB is free ... but some people don't appreciate to keep Copyright

hcgtv wrote:

I would think that Rickard would let Paul take his ferrari out for the weekend smile

Mine is on backorder just like my hot swedish supermodel smile

Re: PunBB is free ... but some people don't appreciate to keep Copyright

ShayneB wrote:

100% accurate, but Paul might have a problem with that because he is a code provider he is technically a copyright holder as well (wouldnt he be?  seing as he is a contibutor to a GPL project)

Actually, I discussed this with Paul. I wanted to find out how we would solve the whole copyright issue. According to him, and he is a lawyer after all, the copyright still belongs to me. I "delegated" work to him as if he was an employee of mine. It's as confusing to me as it is to you, but that's what he told me.

ShayneB wrote:

...so while you could i guess release a secondary project, like a commercial verison, the current release is free forever and ever and ever.

True. All versions of PunBB that are released under the GPL will remain under that license (or a compatible one). However, it might be interesting for someone to buy a commercial license of PunBB to e.g. incorporate into their own commercial product. MySQL works this way. I'm not saying this will happen, just that it's a possibility.

"Programming is like sex: one mistake and you have to support it for the rest of your life."

12 (edited by Rod 2004-09-14 23:20)

Re: PunBB is free ... but some people don't appreciate to keep Copyright

I see thing very simply ...

if someone doesn't want to put a copyright, only 2 solutions
1. it pays. Like a shareware which has limitations, pay "can" desactivate the visibility of the copyright

2. he creates his own forum

I would like to remember all this software is free, I would like to remember Rickard is very available, which is, for a lot of us, the first time (I don't know who has created phpBB or IPS ...), I would like to remember PunBB is the fastest and the more adaptive forum ever created (I remember the post of Nibbler about CPG : "punBB is easy to bridge)

So ... GPL or NOT GPL, adapt a work which isn't coming from you by removing copyright sentence is simply STEAL. Point. Nothing else to say.

I remember the intellectual property : "the rights belong to the creator"

Rickard is Punbb's creator, he has ALL rights on this. Thanx him by putting the Copyright in footer (or anywhere else)

Go on Rickard.

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Re: PunBB is free ... but some people don't appreciate to keep Copyright

Some one hate put nother name (person name) in his site (not me), so he remove the copy right, May be resolve it by put link "Punbb Credits" in bottom of page, for punbb "Rickard Andersson" it nice name as holywoods names not like my name zaher dirkey smile.

If your people come crazy, you will not need to your mind any more.

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Re: PunBB is free ... but some people don't appreciate to keep Copyright

zaher wrote:

Some one hate put nother name (person name) in his site (not me), so he remove the copy right, May be resolve it by put link "Punbb Credits" in bottom of page, for punbb "Rickard Andersson" it nice name as holywoods names not like my name zaher dirkey smile.

for example smile

15 (edited by bohwaz 2004-09-15 10:47)

Re: PunBB is free ... but some people don't appreciate to keep Copyright

(french version is at the bottom of this post)

OK, It's not really cool and nice to do it I know. But there's no legal obligation to keep the Copyright notice. I really love PunBB and I'm the first to promote it to other webmasters I know. But I think that it's not really useful to have a Copyright notice on each page. Users have nothing to do with the software inside the forum, they don't care about it.

So, If Rickard really hates me for deleting the Copyright Notice, I will put it again. But my objective of removing the Copyright notice is not to say "my forum is not a script of Rickard, I've made it myself" but just a useless notice that I thought I can remove without being burned on public places. I don't keep a text on my webpages saying "Powered by Apache (C) Apache fundation / PHP (C) PHP something / mySQL (c) Mysql group. / Linux (C) Linus Torvalds", so why keeping the copyright notice of PunBB? PunBB is really cool (again) but I think that the Copyright notice is just useless. I don't think I have stealed anything...

French version:
OK, C'est pas vraiment cool ni sympa de l'avoir enlevé je sais. Mais il n'y a pas d'obligation légale de garder le copyright. J'adore PunBB et je suis le premier à le promouvoir auprès des autres webmasters que je connaît. Mais je pense que ce n'est pas vraiment utile d'avoir un copyright sur chaque page. Les utilisateurs n'ont rien à faire du logiciel derrière le forum.

Mais si Rickard me hait vraiment pour avoir supprimer le copyright, je le remettrais. Mais mon objectif en enlevant le copyright n'est pas de dire "mon forum n'est pas un script de Rickard, je l'ai fait moi-même" mais juste un message inutile que j'ai pensé pouvoir enlever sans me faire brûler sur la place publique. Je ne garde pas un texte sur mes pages disant "Powered by Apache (C) Apache fundation / PHP (C) PHP something / mySQL (c) Mysql group. / Linux (C) Linus Torvalds", alors pourquoi garder le copyright de punBB? PunBB est vraiment cool (bis) mais je pense que le message de copyright est juste inutile. Je ne pense pas avoir volé quoi que ce soit...

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Re: PunBB is free ... but some people don't appreciate to keep Copyright

English version
In fact you are not wrong : but if I take your example, you don't want the copyright appears on all the pages ... OK. Why Not ... but On the INDEX PAGE (the first, so) Copyright doesn't appear too. It appears NEVER.

Why this link ? Via your website, you promote PunBB : and you, you have a FREE and SPEED forum. Simply.

French Version
En fait tu n'as pas tort : mais si je prends ton example, tu ne veux pas que le copyright apparaisse sur toutes les pages. Ok, pk pas. Mais sur la page index de celui ci, il n'apparait pas non plus. Il n'apparait jamais en fait.

Alors pk ce lien ? A travers ton site, tu fais la promo de PunBB, et toi, en contre partie, tu as un forum gratuit. Tout simplement.

Re: PunBB is free ... but some people don't appreciate to keep Copyright

As I've said before, I don't mind the fact that people remove the copyright from the footer. I would of course prefer they didn't, but I won't lose any sleep over it.

Just for fun, I checked out Invision Power Board and if you want to remove the copyright from their footer, you have to pay no less than $275. For vBulletin, it costs $120.

"Programming is like sex: one mistake and you have to support it for the rest of your life."

Re: PunBB is free ... but some people don't appreciate to keep Copyright

lol Rickard... you should sell it wink cash for nothing

i was wondering shouldn't there be a note in the html rather than just the php, so people who want to see what the forum is can even if the copyright in the corner is removed

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Re: PunBB is free ... but some people don't appreciate to keep Copyright

Slightly off topic, but does this raise a design issue? Is the space currently taken up by the copyright potentially too useful to be used for that purpose. Should the copyright be the traditional one line citation right at the bottom of the board?

Sticking a Powered by PunBB in the XTHML isn't a bad idea. Good for search ratings as well.

Re: PunBB is free ... but some people don't appreciate to keep Copyright

personally i am more than happy to give up 3 lines to saying what the forum is and who made it

Re: PunBB is free ... but some people don't appreciate to keep Copyright

In PunBB 1.2, it has been shortened down to two lines and the admin can set whether the version number should be visible or not.

"Programming is like sex: one mistake and you have to support it for the rest of your life."

Re: PunBB is free ... but some people don't appreciate to keep Copyright

Hey guys,
enough bla bla.......

Rickard,
u dont need to do so much ...
2 Versions, thats all:

1. Free Forum with the copyright and
2. u need to pay for remove the copyright!

Open an paypal account and thats it.  smile

Greetings
Michaela

Re: PunBB is free ... but some people don't appreciate to keep Copyright

cherry: But why would anyone pay for that when it's GPL? They could just take the PunBB source, make their own fork and then remove the copyright.

"Programming is like sex: one mistake and you have to support it for the rest of your life."

Re: PunBB is free ... but some people don't appreciate to keep Copyright

hmmm, thats sucks ... big_smile

then u need to remove the download link! Change it so, that nobody have the right, to change the fork.  Make 2 version and thats it!

Sorry, if my answer is so idiotic, but i dont know a lot of the gpl etc ...
However, you must nip this in the bud. smile
Michaela

Re: PunBB is free ... but some people don't appreciate to keep Copyright

cherry i totally disagree, i think Rickard is right to release it as he does although i would hope most people leave the footer as a curtosey