[theme-reviewers] GPL Screenshots

Wed Nov 13 13:32:05 UTC 2013

Sorry, that may have sounded a little bit harsh. Of course the review
process will never be perfect and there will be mistakes. No problem with
that ;) Actually the review process is much much better than in the past. I
can only understand Rohit that he complains about that because such
screenshots seemed just fine until now.

2013/11/13 Chip Bennett <chip at chipbennett.net>

> As for "fairness": no Theme developers are "picked out". All-human,
> all-volunteer team. We're going to miss some things sometimes. When we find
> them, or they are brought to our attention, we address them.
>
> As for images used in screenshots: that is part of the reason for the
> "reasonable facsimile" requirement for screenshots. If the default
> installation is too far afield of the screenshot, then the screenshot is
> already inappropriate, regardless of the copyright/trademark status of
> images used to generate the screenshot.
>
>
> On Wed, Nov 13, 2013 at 7:54 AM, Thomas from ThemeZee <
> contact at themezee.com> wrote:
>
>> I guess there are a lot of themes which have images in their screenshots
>> which are not GPL licensed or GPL compatible (some just look like stock
>> photos). I have actually thought about updating some of my theme
>> screenshots with better images, too. Since a lot of themes do that I
>> thought it would be okay.
>>
>> I don't mind personally if such images in screenshots are allowed or not
>> in the future, but I find it is a little bit unfair when some theme authors
>> are picked out to remove their screenshot images, while others are still
>> allowed to use them. As far as I can see no reviewer has ever taken any
>> look on the theme screenshot and therefore every image in screenshots was
>> approved without checking for GPL compatibility.
>>
>> Maybe a good rule would be that any images on the screenshot have also to
>> be bundled with the theme (would be also very fair for users because they
>> can get the theme as displayed on the screenshot). And bundled theme
>> resources are checked against GPL anyway.
>>
>>
>> 2013/11/13 yulian yordanov <yul.yordanov at gmail.com>
>>
>>> Fair use of a picture is when you wrote a post about the movie and
>>> include a picture form it as an illustration.
>>> But what is the purpose of such a picture in the theme's screenshot? The
>>> author simply wants by using a catchy image his theme to be easily spotted
>>> and distinguished among all others, don't he. So it is just a sort of
>>> advertisement not a fair use of a picture. Moreover, using such is a 'mind
>>> trick' - the user is made to associate that nice looking picture with the
>>> theme itself ;)
>>>
>>> Fingli
>>>
>>>
>>> 2013/11/13 Rohit Tripathi <rohitink at live.com>
>>>
>>>> What about Screenshots of Yutube Videos?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ------------------------------
>>>> Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2013 00:12:52 -0600
>>>> From: emil at uzelac.me
>>>> To: theme-reviewers at lists.wordpress.org
>>>> Subject: Re: [theme-reviewers] GPL Screenshots
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Thanks :-)
>>>> On Nov 13, 2013 12:11 AM, "Justin Tadlock" <justin at justintadlock.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>  The last version I downloaded had Spider-Man, Batman, Fight Club, and
>>>> other images.  It also had a YouTube music video.  I might not have the
>>>> latest version though.  I'll check as soon as I get a chance.
>>>>
>>>> On 11/13/2013 12:05 AM, Emil Uzelac wrote:
>>>>
>>>> You are absolutely correct. All non-GPL images were removed while back,
>>>> did we miss any? if so would you be kind and point them to us and I will
>>>> personally remove them.
>>>> On Nov 13, 2013 12:01 AM, "Justin Tadlock" <justin at justintadlock.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>  I'm inclined to believe that this falls under fair use based on the
>>>> few court rulings I've read about similar issues.  I don't care what we
>>>> decide though.  If we're putting a stop screenshots like this, then the
>>>> theme unit test data must be revised to include images and other media that
>>>> are licensed under the GPL.  I know many people, myself included, have
>>>> screenshots that include theme unit test data.
>>>>
>>>> On 11/12/2013 11:07 PM, Rohit Tripathi wrote:
>>>>
>>>> I was asked to update my screenshots for a theme because, a part of the
>>>> screenshot contained an image(post with featured image) from a movie.
>>>> Obviously, the movie is copyrighted to someone else, but I am not
>>>> distributing the poster with the theme. Secondly, I am not violating any
>>>> copyrights too. Screenshots are just demonstrations of a site using my
>>>> theme. What can be a better screenshot than the screenshot of a real site
>>>> actually using the theme?
>>>>
>>>>  Secondly, if the images shown in the screenshots itself have to be
>>>> under GPL then there can be many problems with a large amount of themes.
>>>> None of the themes, declare licenses for the images/site used to create the
>>>> screenshot. I bet most of them are not GPL. But, it doesn't matter we are
>>>> not distributing the images. It only makes the theme looks good. Moreover,
>>>> we are not using paid or pirated images. Also, the images used to build the
>>>> screenshot are not even Default images in the theme, that they would show
>>>> up in theme preview.
>>>>
>>>>  Thirdly, even the components of the Theme Unit test might cause a
>>>> conflict with the screenshot being GPL. For e.g. the *Post Format
>>>> Test: Video*(in theme unit test)*, *if the screenshot contains that
>>>> particular post, then the video would appear in it. The image of the
>>>> Video/or the Thumbnail of the video is not under GPL. So, isn't that a
>>>> problem?
>>>>
>>>>  All I want to say is that, we are all using fully GPL compatible
>>>> resources in our themes. I think, there shouldn't be such strictness on the
>>>> themes. Also, I would completely respect the decision taken by theme admins
>>>> on this. But, I atleast request you to understand the genuinity of the
>>>> cause I bring to you.
>>>>
>>>>  Regards,
>>>> Rohit Tripathi
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Yulian Yordanov
>>> post-scriptum.info
>>>
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