What you're asking for is nearly impossible to define objectively. It is entirely a subjective assessment regarding the significance or degree of difference in design and/or functionality.<div><br></div><div>As for what the GPL requires:</div>
<div><br></div><div>1) Retention of the original code copyright notice and license declaration</div><div>2) Explicit statement that the work is derivative</div><div><br></div><div>That's pretty much it.</div><div><br>
</div><div>Also note: outside of the License/License URI header tags, we don't enforce "proper" (i.e. as recommended by GNU) GPL ownership/copyright attribution. Since most Themes don't really handle this as recommended by GNU, it becomes that much more difficult to enforce "proper" copyright attribution for derivative works.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Chip<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Sep 5, 2011 at 7:33 PM, Mario Peshev <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mario@peshev.net">mario@peshev.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
Hello Cais,<div><br></div><div>I don't argue with the Theme Review team or the guidelines authors - it is just the third time I encounter a similar case and I thought it would be good to define what is a minor and what - a major and significant change (so to speak) so that it is clear that changing a tiny font/background element doesn't do a theme uniqueness. </div>
<div><br>From my perspective the case with what's allowed as a startup material for a new theme and what needs to be attributed and where is unclear. It's completely OK if external sources are referenced for that purpose.<br>
<br>All the best,<div class="im"><br clear="all"><br>Mario Peshev<br>freelance software developer/trainer<br><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/mpeshev" target="_blank">http://www.linkedin.com/in/mpeshev</a><br><a href="http://peshev.net/blog" target="_blank">http://peshev.net/blog</a><br>
<br>
<br><br></div><div><div></div><div class="h5"><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Sep 6, 2011 at 3:13 AM, Edward Caissie <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:edward.caissie@gmail.com" target="_blank">edward.caissie@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
I don't recall exactly where in the guidelines it ended up but you seem to be describing what was being called a derivative work.<br><br>The guideline was written to the effect: derivative works are fine provided they are functionally different or significantly different in design. A minor change such as the background color, for example, is not significant enough whereas swapping the columns of a two-column layout should be significant enough.<br>
<br>Also to note, once Child-Themes are officially approved for acceptance into the repository the derivative works "definition" will likely change as for the most part derivative works are achievable as a Child-Theme than as a separate theme standing on its own.<br>
<br><br clear="all">Cais.<div><div></div><div><br>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Sep 5, 2011 at 6:54 PM, Mario Peshev <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mario@peshev.net" target="_blank">mario@peshev.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
It's a theme by the same author - <a href="http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/nostalia26" target="_blank">http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/nostalia26</a> . Has no sidebar, but it's pretty much the same (index and single post view styling). <br clear="all">
<br><div>He has added credits to the readme.txt file, but it's not just copying, it looks like cloning to me. </div><div><div><br>Mario Peshev<br>freelance software developer/trainer<br><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/mpeshev" target="_blank">http://www.linkedin.com/in/mpeshev</a><br>
<a href="http://peshev.net/blog" target="_blank">http://peshev.net/blog</a><br><br>
<br><br></div><div><div></div><div><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Sep 6, 2011 at 1:51 AM, Daniel Fenn <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:danielx386@gmail.com" target="_blank">danielx386@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div>While I don't do any theme reviews, but does the GPL allows that sort of thing? Also what the link to the other theme that you saw that look the same?<br></div><br><br><br>
<div class="gmail_quote"><div><div></div><div>On Tue, Sep 6, 2011 at 8:45 AM, Mario Peshev <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mario@peshev.net" target="_blank">mario@peshev.net</a>></span> wrote:<br>
</div></div><blockquote style="border-left:#ccc 1px solid;margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;padding-left:1ex" class="gmail_quote"><div><div></div><div>Hello reviewers,
<div><br></div>
<div>I think that an additional section in the Theme Review guidelines is missing and this is the 'I have downloaded a theme/framework, changed the style.css and images and resubmitted' section. </div>
<div><br>I am inspecting ticket 4866 - <a href="http://themes.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/4866" target="_blank">http://themes.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/4866</a> - where the theme is based on another existing theme (looking pretty much the same) and also built on a starter theme. The theme has no specific functionality - the overall functions.php file is like 15 lines of code. Also, text domain if toolbox everywhere which is undoubtedly incorrect for a unique theme submission but even more wrong where most of the code is copy-pasted. </div>
<div><br></div>
<div>What is acceptable when submitting a theme which is almost entirely based on another theme and has no uniqueness? This is not a child theme here (even though a guide what is allowed for child themes is also a good idea) but an existing theme with few tens of lines of code modified and submitted back to the repo.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Thanks,<br clear="all"><font color="#888888"><br>Mario Peshev<br>freelance software developer/trainer<br><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/mpeshev" target="_blank">http://www.linkedin.com/in/mpeshev</a><br><a href="http://peshev.net/blog" target="_blank">http://peshev.net/blog</a><br>
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