Are free wordpress themes copyrighted?

I am using one of the free themes you can get off wordpress.org and changed around the template a good amount. Do I have to include the "Design by John Doe" at the bottom still? Did I ever have to include it there in the first place? Thanks.

 

hmm good question. I would unless it wasn't there in the first place. Best to go back where you got it from and read the copyright section

 

Okay. Well I pretty much changed this theme up so you cant tell the difference. I changed all the colors, images and a lot of the layout.

 

dpends on the copy right on them..

there's 3 types for worprdres me thinks..

 

Any Idea how I can find the copyright?

 

Where did you get it from?

 

I cant seem to find anything anywhere about copyright,

 

I just checked it out and did it have a link on it when you downloaded it?

 

There was a readme file, but nothing in it mentioned copyrights. If you go to Test Run on the themes page you can find this at the bottom:

Design by David Miller
Wordpress Theme powered by Jim Feist
Home of the most accurate football picks online.

If it were just a "simple design by David Miller" I wouldnt mind, but I really do not want to put a link to a gambling site on my reputable blog.

 

Image removed. I decided to contact instead.

 

I would contact him then. and what is the gambling site?

 

Its in the footer of the demo.

 

You don't have to keep the footer there if you make some changes. I use David's theme too and I emailed him asking and he said its up to you.

 

Alright good because I basically changed around everything as of now. Thanks.

 

Unless you entered into some agreement by downloading and/or using the theme, you do not have to keep anything you don't want.